The Washington herald., 1915-11-24
To MEET
TITLE-HOLDERS
Western Heavyweight VIII
Battle Jess Willard for
Championship.
TO BE HELD In OPEN AIR
By ED. CURLEY.

New York. Nov. 23.-Fred Fulton.
the big Western heavyweight, will
be the next opponent of Jess willard.
the worlds champion. The tall syca-
more from the wilds of Oklahoma will
fight the champion twenty rounds
The affair will be staged in New Or
leans during Mardi Gras. the first
week In March. For his part of the
scrap Willard will receive a guaran-
tee of $4,000. He will get an addi-
tional $4,000 for expenses with the
privilege of big percentage. What
Fulton will get for his services re-
mains a secret between the fighter
and the promoters.
This startling news was furnished
today by Tom Jones. manager OF Will
lard. He received a wire from Tom
my Burns. who signed willard up for
the fight. announcing that Fulton had
accepted terms. The battle will be un-
der the management of Burns and
Dominick Tortorich. the well-known
New Orleans promoter.
1t will be an open-air fight and will
be held either in the new baseball
park or the race course in the Cres-
cent City.
At the ball park arrangements can
be made to accommodate at least co.
900 people. while over 10000 can be
handled at the race course. As to the
scale of prices that will rule Jones
figures that II will run from 81 to
$50, but that part of the affair will be
left entirely to the promoters.
The staging OF the battle during
Mardi Grss week means that the
fight will have Il big field to draw
from. over 100000 people gather in
New Orleans while the monster pag-
cant prevails. Then in addition to the
many thousands of visitors there is
the racing crowd to be drawn from
There is no doubt that the big fight
will be held in the morning. as was
the scrap in which Willard wrested
the championship from Johnson.
Officials in charge OF the Mardi 'Gras
have decided to make the fight a big
drawing card and will not hold the daily
parade on the day OF the battle. They
will advertise the fight in conjunction
with the Mardi Gras. This means that
the entire part of the country south OF
the Mason-DiXon line will be placarded
with posters announcing the fight. The
railroads always make special rates or
half fare from all points within 500 miles
OF New Orleans and one and One-third
fare from any point in the United States.
Fulton. being strong card around
Chicago. Milwaukee. and other big West
ern cities, II is expected that special
trains will carry hundreds down to see
the latest aspirant for the title In action
Willard is a big attraction in New
Orleans. He appeared down there with
the I0l Ranch in four shows and drew
an average attendance Of 500. The fact
that he is going to defend his worlds
title appears to be magnet enough to
draw 4 monster crowd. While the South
knows very little OF Fulton, the fact
that he won his last three fights by
knock-outs will strengthen his value as an
attraction. In his last trio OF battles
Fulton slipped the skids under Arthur
Pelky, Terry KelIar and Andre Anderson.
Under the conditions Fulton will not be
permitted to engage in any fight until
he tackles the champion.
Willard is now out on the Coast with
his family and will femain there until
the first OF the year. Before he arrives
at New Orleans to start conditioning the
champion will pay a visit to the East.
He will stop on at all the big cities on
his way here. After staying here for n
week or two Willard will hike directly
for the scene of hostilties. The two
hattlers will do their real training on the
outskirts Of New Orleans.