Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-04-13
WILLARD WINS FIGHT
COWBOY FROM KANSAS KNOCKS
OUT JOHNSON IN 25TH
ROUND.
RIGHT TO JAW WINS BATTLE
Black Had Better of Argument to
Twentieth. But Rapidly Lost Ground
Thereafter Before Cowboys Fierce
Rushes--Staeed at Havana.

Havana, April Jack Johnson, ex-
ile from his own country, lost his
claim to fistic fame as the heavy
weight champion of the world. The
title was wrested from him by Jess
Willard, the Kansas cowboy, the big
gest man who ever entered a prize
ring, and white hope" who at last
has made good.
Johnson returned to his rooms al
most Immediately after the fight.
Aside from a cut lip he was un-
marked.
The fight probably has no parallel
in the history of ring battles. For
20 ROUNDS Johnson punched and
pounded Willard at will, but his
blows grew perceptibly less powerful
as the fight progressed, until at last
he seemed unable or unwilling to go
on.
Johnson stopped leading and for
three or four rounds the battle be-
tween the two huge men was little
more than a series of plastic poses of
anu UAdCh
So it was until the twenty-fifth
round, when Willard got one of his
widely swinging. windmill, right-hand
smashes at Johnson's heart. This was
the beginning of the end.
When the round closed Johnson
sent word to his wife that he was "all
In" and told her to start for home
She was on the way out and was
passing the ring in the twenty-sixth
round when a singing left to the body
and cyclonic right to the jaw caused
Johnson to crumble on the floor of the
ring, where he lay partly outside the
ropes until the referee counted ten
and held up Wizards hand in token of
his newIy-won laurels.
No fight between heavyweights that
has gone to a finish was cleaner or
less brutal. Johnson's left eye was
partly closed in the early rounds, but
not sufficiently to interfere with his
fighting. His lip also was cut inside,
and his famous golden smile flashed
from a red setting.
The end of the fight came with
suddenness that dazed the spectators.
1t followed two or three rounds Of al
most complete idleness on the part of
the contestants, and the crowd set
tied down to a long-drawn-out strug-
gle, believing that it would go the
full limit of the IS rounds without
either being able to register a
knockout.
The early rounds were filled with
flashes of Johnson's former wonderful
speed, when he would rain rights and
lefts to Wizards body and face, de-
livering ten blows to one from the big
white challenger. Through all this
time Willard was strictly on the de-
fensive, and on occasions Johnson
played with him, once standing with
guard down and letting Willard swing
at him, only to dodge and laugh at
the awkwardness of his opponent.
In these rounds Willard took beat
ing which would have put an ordinary
fighter down and out. The crowd got
used to seeing him throw off these
slashing blows, and expected to see
Johnson do the same thing when Will
lard swung his right to the negro's
chin in the fatal twenty-sixth round.
They expected to see Johnson jump
up and continue fighting, just as Will
lard had come back, but the old cham
pion knew that he had fought his last
championship fight.
From the twentieth round to the
final the fight looked slow and the
crowd began to boot and ask that
somebody do something.
During the early part of the fight
Johnson carried all his old-time con-
fidence and self-assertiveness. He
constantly banded words with the
spectators about the ring and talked
steadily at Willard, who needed the
negro's chatter about as little as he
did his blows.
Wizards seconds were after John
son all the time, warning him to keep
away from Wizards terrific right.
Through the twenty-frst, twenty
second, twenty-third and twenty
fourth rounds Johnson hardly struck
a blow. He kept feinting at Willard,
who was ever ready to break ground
When johnson finally went down in
the twenty-sixth round he rolled over
on his back. The sun was beating
down with torrid intensity, and his
arms drew up as If to shield his eyes
from the glare while the referee count
ed him out.