Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-10
JOHNSON AND EETCHEL READY
Will Meet in the Ring at COlma on
Tuesday.
MICHIGAN BOY Is CONFIDENT
NEGRO In Favor for Several Reasons,
but His weak Hitting IL Serious
FsuIt-How the Two Men
Compare.

Next Tuesday afternoon In the big arena
at-Colma, near San Francisco. lack John
son. heavyweight champion Of the world.
VIII meet Stanley Ketchel, the phenomenal
young pugilist, in a twenty-round glove
fight for the title. For many weeks sport
ing men both in America and in foreign
countries have been discussing this match,
which was arranged last spring on the
spur Of the moment To some Of the best
judges OF pugilism IT looks like a one-slded
affair, with Johnson having a pronounced
advantage in height, weight, reach science
and ring experience. But Ketchel, regard
less of this prevalent belief, will enter the
ring absolutely confident not only OF win
ming, but also of knocking the big negro
out by dint. OF main strength and terrific
smuggling tactics.
Size Of the Two Men.
Johnson Is 81 years old. He stands six
feet one and one-half inches in his stock
ings and VIII weigh not less than 200 pounds
when he strips for action. Ketchel is %
years old, is five feet ten and one-half
inches tail and will probably weigh about
$50 pounds when he steps to the scratch.
Johnson is admitted to be the c~leverest
big man In the prize ring today, not ex-
cepting Jeffries, He is a wonderful defen-
slve fighter-at least this is the conclusion
vi AAUAh ~ uhNIACb Will 4OUlIll .buTHb
and Al Kaufmnn-and he has never been
really extended. He is crafty, cool-headed,
even-tempered and at the same time merci-
less. A natural boxer, he has shown re-
markable skill in blocking blows Of all
kinds and in using stalling tactics. But as
a first-class fighter. in-tSe strict sense of
the word, he has never set the world on
fire.
Johnson is not a siugger. Neither is he
an aggressive rusher who can send home
tremendous wins and hooks while hav-
ing his opponent on the run. He is not a
mixer who revels in hot exchanges at close
quarters. always running the risk of being
dropped himself. But he knows how to
use an effective right hand uppercut at
critical moments, a blow that he has per-
fected until 1t is his stock John
sons gamehess has not been put to a Sc
we're test for several years, for the reason
that he has not faced a man who could in
flict severe punishment. His blocking and
clinching have made it we'll nigh impossi-
BILE to reach a vital spot and for that reason
he Is the first negro to hold the worlds
heavyweight championship.
His Fight with Burns.
Before Johnson won the title at Sydney,
New South Wales, last December, the be-
lief was expressed that he lacked pluck
and stamina. Tommy Burns declared that
the big negro possessed a yellow streak
and would quit under fire. But when
Burns finally faced johnson and was
knocked down with that famous right hand
uppercut to the jaw he discovered that he
had made a serious mistake. Burns
weighed 165 pounds on that occasion, and
was only five feet seven inches tall, so
that he was a veritable pygmy in the
negro's hands. The fact that he went four
teen rounds before the police stopped the
battle caused many ring experts here to
reach the conclusion that johnson was
either a puny hitter or did not try to put
Burns away because OF the moving pic
lures that were taken of the mill. John l..
Sullivan, Corbett, Fltzsimmons. Sharkey
and Jeffries lost no time In declaring that
Johnson was IN overrated heavyweight
champion because of his weak punching
ability, but the colored man only laughed
ann declared that he did not care to put
Burns to sleep in a couple of rounds. but
took greater satisfaction in slowly cutting
him to pieces.
Gave Himself Away.
It was naturally a matter Of interest
therefore when Johnson took on Philadel-
phia Jack O'Brien in a six-round bout in
Philadelphia last spring. Johnson had not
been in the ring since the Burns fight and
was hardly himself physically, but he de-
clared that he would stop O'Brien by en-
ploying rushing tactics from the first
sound OF the gong. Johnson kept his word
as far as the rushing tactics went, but
those who saw the mill were quickly con-
WINGED that the negro could not land a
blow while in motion and also lacked the
strength to put a sleep potion into his
wallops. O'Brien actually outpointed him
and was never in danger OF receiving seri-
Gus damage. Johnson after this signal
failure said that he was unfit, but prom
Used to show an Improvement when he met
Tony Ross in a six-round bout in Pitts
burg. Still johnson did not train for this
affair, and when he failed to put Ross &c
sleep the belief that he could not hit like
q real champion was materially increased
When johnson agreed to take big Kauf-
men on for ten rounds at Colma recently
he again stated that he would score q
knockout. Kaufman. an awkward, clumsy
boxer Of questionable gameness, was q
punching bag from the moment he put
up his hands. johnson punched him witt
both hands when and where he pleased
but At no stage of the proceedings wal