Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-04
lis JOHNSON TOO
BIC FOR KETCHELL2
New PugiIistic Star Is Nearly
the Average of Past
HeavyWeights.

| Is Stanley ketchell big enough to whip
Jack Johnson? Since the western COW
boys decisive victory over Jack O'Brien
this is the one absorbing question among
! Sportsmen from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific. Ever since the big negro beat
Tommy Burns the country has been
secured to find a man who could de-
throne the first negro heavyweight cham
pion of the world. ketchell has risen like
| d meteor in the pugilistic world. Coupled
with his rare ability, the astuteness of
enc Wiilus Britt has brought him into
the limelight, SO that the tongues Of both
hemiSpheres are wagging in eulogy OF
his ability. So ambitious are the Ameri-
| can sports to have Jack Johnson shorn
of his title that they dug UP big. good
naturcd Jim JeffrieS out of retirement
and said he was the man TO do the trick.
hetchell comes along, and perhaps the
former bolelmaker may not have TO
train.
How big must man be to hold a
heavyweight title? Is ketchell so small
that ne cannot be regarded seriously
Now. taking Charley Mitchell. John l.
! Sullivan, Robert FitzsiInmons. James J.
| Corbett. James j. Jerfries, Tom Sharkey,
Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson as types
OF what heavyweight should be physi-
4
orably. He is ) feet 9A inches tall. will
| be in superb condition at lis pounds and
viii not be twenty-five years old until
next September. The average height of
| only feet So inches, and the average
weight 1864 pounds So Ketchell as a
heavyweight possibility does not suffer
SO much in comparison.
Critics throughout the country are con-
| tinually saying that Johnson has never
| tried. Well, he was thirty years OF
age Marc 81. and ii is getting pretty
| late in IL for him to further postpone
showing ,I- real form. There is only one
way to j-.se a pggilist-by what he does
| in the ring. III the idle talk of hero
worshipers does not win pugilistic battles.
BY their records we shall know them.
Here is Johnson's: BY his own admission
lighting professionally when ne was
twentythree years old, in 1901. In eight
years he has taken part in 81 bouts, and
won - by the knockout route. In 1901 he
was knocked out himself by Joe Choyn
ski in three rounds, lost a twenty-round
decision to Marvin Hart in 1905 and lost
TO Joe Jeanette on a foul In the second
round the same year He has fought
KetchelI was born September IA, 1857.
and fought his first professional contest
May .. 1902, before he was fifteen years
bout he has fought 90 contests, winning
AZ by the knockout route. In all that
/ time he has only lost one battle, that 10
Billy PapKe, September T. 1908, being
stopped in the twelfth round. Prior to
that ne won a ten-round decision over
Papke and subsequently knocked the
German American out In eleven rounds.
He fought two twenty and one ten
round draws in 1904 and 1905, and July
4, 1907, fought Joe Thomas a twenty
round draw but beat the Californian
three times afterward, twice by knock
outs.
A man may go along for a few years
and conceal his real ability in rowing.
running, wrestling, tennis or kindred
sports, but in the ring he is bound to ex
tend himself to the limit when he faces
the right kind of an opponent. ketchell
has youth, strength hitting and recuper-
ative powers. He is no mystery. He is
pugilistc marvel, as his record shows.
Has Johnson concealed any latent abil-
ity? II he has ketchell will bring ii out.
To the writer's mind Johnson is a big,
strong heavyweight. with a terrific right
hand punch His left is apparently use
less, except for blocking. and he does
not know how to use the abnormal reach
which nature has given him. There is
nothing aggressive about him. he 10
defensive boxer pure and simple.