The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-27
WILLARD MANAGERS MAKING MISTAKE IN
 MEETING FULTON
All Sport Authorities Agree That Fulton Is Poor Op- ponent for the
 Champion

When Jack Johnson was heavyweight champion the world was secured for | man who would be physically able to wrest the title from the seemingly invin- cible negro. Then along came Willard | He matched his brawn and skill against Johnson for 26 rounds and finally won. | The victory was decisive and left no room | for doubt in the minds of those who were at the ringside relative to the merits of | the two men. Willard has only been the
 worlds title holder eight months, and yet l there are a half dozen heavyweights who are eager to dethrone him. Of these six, the man who is the least known is to have l the first chance at the Kansas cowboy 1 Fred Fulton, the Oklahoma giant, has
 been signed to meet Willard at New Or ] March Very little is known of Fultons prowess with the gloves in the east. His ! press agent has made a grievous error on l the first jump. He has sent all over the l country a statement that Fulton met Will | lard in a three-round bout last May and
 not only earned the decision. but succeed ed in knocking the Kansas cowboy down, feat which no one had ever accom- plished before. The truth is, Willard did not box any one last May. excepting Wal ter Monhan, his sparring partner, and ring records do not show that Fulton and Willard ever met.
 Why should the friends of Fulton under- take to build up a reputa tion for their protege on such a flimsy foundation? If Fulton DC ssesses heavyweight timber suit able to be regarded as a championship 1n rGp hot hrn h east and taken chance with Frank Mo ran, Jim Coffey Gunboat Smith, Tom CoWler or Battling Levinsky, the five other aspirants for the title. For a com- parative novice. whose chief claim to ring fame is that he has knocked out few second raters, who were never heard of before in the boxing world, to be pitted against a man of Willards physique | seems ridiculous. Fulton certainly was not the choice of American sportsmen. Willard must be dissolved from all blame He is willing to meet the best man in the world, and it matters not to him whether he halls from the north, south, east or west. ,rJ 1 The Kansas cowboy has made no effort to pick his opponents. They all look alike I to him, and his advisers will probably regret that they bungled the coming match by agreeing to meet Fulton
 eNould Willard win in a decisive fashion in , short order he will get little credit for the achievement. on the other hand, if Frank Moran had been selected as his opponent and Willard should have succeeded in beating the Pittsburg heavyweight inside l the limit, it would have been an achieve | ment of which Jack Johnson could not l boast Furthermore, it would have been the means of purging many skeptical l minds to the merit of Willard's victory over Johnson.
 l Who is this man Futon? That is the question all the eastern sports are asking each other. Now that he has signed to meet Willard for the worlds title, the mystery will soon be explained. It will not be long, no doubt before the hippo drome will have begun and Fulton will be
 paraded over the country giving exhibi- tions with some other second rater and
 picking up lot of easy coin. All at the
 expense of Willard ana his manager, Tom | Jones.
 l Fulton's record is as follows: