The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-26
WILLARD AND BODEL
 DIDN'T PLEASE CROWD
cBy T. s. Edwards.o

I.
 The heavy weights were given an
 inning in Milwaukee last week and
 they failed to make much of hit
 with the fans. Jess Willard, the
 big white hope, and George Rodel
 the Boer champion, were the contes- tants over the 1O-round route. Will lard weighed 250 with his clothes on
 and Rode1 197, there being a difference of over 50 pounds. Willard was a giant in stature, but slow compared to the Boer, and he also lacked the at least he did not show that he could do so in this match. He is powerful and can strike an awful blow, but the
 Boer had little difficulty in keeping, out of the danger zone. Willard did not show as we'll here as Carl Mor- ris did against Gunboat Smith in New York recently Jess also appeared too high in flesh, carrying altogether too much weight about the midsection. He knows how to hit with his right, some thing that Carl Morris is slow to learn,
 and Jess also has a good left, but he | is altogether too slow to start, giving the other man a chance to 'tbeat him 1 to the punch" every time, and that | is where Rode1 beat him here. The
 Boer scored four of the ten rounds, Willard had two and four were even
 A match between Willard and Morris will be interesting, because they are of the same size and weight, and about the same in science. When!
 one stops to think what Bob Fitzsim-
 mons or Jim Corbett would have done to the big hope 10 years ago it makes you shudder to think what would have happened. Jess Willard may be a real hope, but he has a lot to learn yet.
 l With Jack Johnson yelling murder at the Boxing federation in France
 because 1t took away his title, and Sam Langford bowling about the un- fair decision given to Gunboat Smith against him at Boston the other night, there is cause for sorrow and joy
 among the heavies. The fans do not
 pay much attention to Johnson now,
 but the fact that Smith was given the decision over 1angford creates great surprise Some of the papers
 in Boston declare that the decision
 should have been draw at best, and
 Judging from the accounts of the fight,
 as sent out by the press, a draw would
 have been about right. It is hardly possible that Langford would pull ! to the extent of letting a man get the decision over him, even if he thought another match possible, for his man ager, Joe Woodman, is as wise as any of them and he knows that Sam's rep utatfon suffers by such business. He is now hot after another match, and
 you can bet a few dollars that if they
 meet over the marathon route there will be winner and his name will
 hardly be Smith.
 The fact that Willie Fsftchie gave Leach Cross a trimming in New York will take lot of the edge off the
 Ritchie- Murphy match in San Fran cisco for the fans out west will not be foolish enough to bet on the New
 York boy after the showing their own
 idol made against the New York star I-Cross. Then again the showing
 Packey Mcfarland made against Mur-
 phy also hurts the latter end of the
 match. It will be and to on
 Ritchie to beat Tommy over the mara thon route. The fans on the coast
 are already calling for a match be- I tween Ritchie and a boy who can
 travel the long distance, and have been singing the praises of Pal Brown, now
 in Australia, for such a match. If
 the young Minnesota light weight con
 tinues to make the showing in Aus
 tralia he did in his first match, the
 promoters will be after him strong | for 8 title match with the champion,
 and by the way, Pal boasts of a title himself since he defeated the Austra-
 Han champion-Hughie Mehegan-for
 the crown of the Antipodes.
 Another light weight who is jhow- | ing wonderful improvement is Charlie
 White, the Chicago lad. He has new Ter been considered a knocker out JITl- 1 til lately, but now he is accomplish
 ing the trick quite frequently. The other night at Canton, O., he stopped
 the hard hitting Kid Kansas in five
 rounds.