El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-04-06
rAvANA- cuba, April

r PANAMA Nuodr Apf4A o--Jech
johnson. defeated champion
L 1 heavyweight. plans to leave We'd
nesday for Martinique and await pass
age for France, where ne says he viii
settle down to lead the life of a farmer.
raising pigs and chickens. His wife
and a small party OF friends viii &C
Company him. Willard is coming back
10 the United states 10 make money
out Of his championship
Yesterdays fight probably has no
parallel in the history Of ring battles
For 20, rounds Johnson punched and
pounded willard at viii, but his blows
grew percepubly less powerful as the
fight progressed until at last he seemed
unable or unwilling to go on
Johnson stopped leading and Tor
three or four rounds the battle between
the two huge men was little more than
a series Of plastic poses OF Wnlle anu
black gladiatOrs. So it was until the
18th round, when Willard got one or
his widely swinging, windmill right
hand smashes TO Johnson'S heart This
was the beginning Of the end.
Told Wife TO start.
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
her way out and was passing the rms
in the 26th round when Singing ieIL
10 the body and a cyclonic right TO the
floor Of the ring. where he lay partly
outside the ropes until the referee
counted 10 and held up WIZARDS hand
in token Of his newly won laurels.
There was much discussion last night
and probably viii be Tor q long time,
among the followers OF the fighting
game, as TO whether Johnson was re-
ally knocked out In the sense OF pc
ing smashed into inconsistencies, ne
certainly was not put out The con-
sensus OF opinion is that Johnson
knew there was no possibility Of his
winning: so when knocked down, he
chose to take the count rather than rise
and stand further punishment.
Crowd Rushed Ring.
A second or two after Jack Welsh,
the referee, had counted 10, Johnson
quickly got up 1t was well that he did
so. for a moment later rush OF spec
tators TO the fighting platform all but
smothered the pugilists-
For an instant 1t seemed as n Irou-
bic was threatened, but some 30 or
more Of the several hundred soldiers
stationed about the arena jumped into
the ring and formed circle around the
vanquished and victor
End Came Suddenly.
The end Of the fight came with sud
denuess that dazed the spectators It
followed two or three rounds OF al
most complete idleness on the part OF
the contestants and the crowd settled
down 10 a long, drawn out struggle, be-
HevinC It would 90 the full limit of
the IS rounds without either being able
10 register a knockout
The early rounds were filled with
flashes Of JOhuson's former wonderful
speed when he would rain rights and
let's to Wizards body and face, de-
liverfng 10 blows to one Of the big
white challenger. Through all this
time Willard was strictly on the de-
fensive, and on occasions Johnson
played with him, only to dodge and
laugh at the awkwardness Of his oppo-
uenL
The fighting was all Johnson's dur
ing the first 20 rounds. Willard only
once or twice taking the aggressive,
and then swinging clumsily and wildly.
Meanwhile, his body was growing pink
under the blows that flashed from
Johnson
willard Took Terrible Beating.
In these rounds Willard took a beat
ing which would have put an ordinary
fighter down and out The crowd got
used 10 seeing him throw off these
slashing blows, and expected TO see
Johnson do the same thing when VIII
lard swung his right to the negrO's
chin in the fatal 26th. They expected
TO see Johnson jump up and continue
fighting, just as willard had come
back, but the old champion knew ne
had fought his last championship
fight.
From the goth round to the final, the
fight looked slow and the crowd be-
gan to boot and ask that somebody do /
something There was a single cry Of
Fake" but il was not taken up by |
the spectators. The reason it looked |
slow was because Johnson, who had