Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-04-06
Jess Willard Takes Hardest
Punches Of Champion
Without Flinching
LANDS KNOCKOUT
IN TWENTY sixth
ell Arthur" Loses His Pep
in Twenty-Second and Is
Unable to Stop Foe

Rlngslde, Havana, April 5.-Jess
Willard, the Kansas cowboy, 10 the
new heavyweight pugiIIst Of the
world. He knocked out Jack john
son, the black champion, In the
twenty-sixth round Of their cham
pionship bout here today. Il was
Johnson's fight all the way until
the twenty.second round when his
vitality left him because Of the
hard pace which he carried
throughout the early rounds.
Then the giant pialnsrnan open.
ed up his heaviest attack and In
the next few rounds carried the
fight away from the black man
and toppied him over with rights
81 and Iefts to the body and blows TO
to the face.
Seventeen thousand persons saw
the combat and when Johnson
crumpIed up on the floor from a
fierce right swing to the Jaw the
crowd burst Into the ring Sold
iers cleared the ring.
johnson took the referees count
while lying on the ropes but the
moment after Referee Welsh had
given the decision the former
champion got TO his feet In time
70 escape the wild rush Of excited
& n sB.s ~ " s s,t-
Ringside, Oriental Park. Havana.
April 6.-The sun broke, through q
darkly overcast sky before noon as
the crowds began to arrive at the
race track, the scene Of the worlds
heavyweight championship fight be-
tween Jack Johnson Of Texas, and
Jess Willard Of Kansas. The setting
for the battle was picturesque. A
ring had been erected directly on the
race track in front of the big steel
grandstand which furnished the prin-
cipal seating facilities.
In front of the grandstand the long
slope leading to the track was cover
ed with seats like those Of circus.
About the ring boxes were arranged,
set down on the iat track and more
circus seats were In the field.
Cuban troops began to reach the
track at 1920 o'clock and several
companies Of infantry and two troops
of cavalry were then on tho scene.
At 1880, o'clock one hour before the
fight was scheduled to start, several
thousand people had found seats but
the more expensive locations contain
ed hut few enectatOra
The first notables to reach the ring
side seats were the mayor Of Havana
and the speaker Of the Cuban house Of
representatives.
M. w. Hinkel Of Cleveland, the al
Tentative referee of the big bout, came
in q few minutes after the mayor.
There was 9 liberal percentage Of
women among the spectators. Many
of them were Americans.
No big betting was reported at the
ringside but the betting machines
were quite literally patronized in
amounts from two to ten dollars, the
players picking the winner and the
round.
Bob Vernon, Official stakeholder and
timer for the fight, took his place at
the ringside at noon. Otto Flotto,
timer for Willard, and Sam Bennett,
timer for johnson, sat on either side
Of Vernon.
President Menocal Of Cuba, arrived
q few minutes after noon and took q
seat in box in front of the grand
stand about 100 feet from the ring. He
was preceded by the commanding Of
ncers Of the Cuban army and the
Cuban navy.
johnson entered the ring at 1:15s p.
N.
Crowd Cheers Fighters.
At I'LL p M, Johnson made his ap-
pearance, being applauded by the en-
thusiastic Cubans. One minute later
he crawled through the ropes clad in
gray bathrobe. His first move wac
to find where his wife was located.
The negro entered the ring at 1:20 p.
M Four minutes later prolonged yell
ing and cheering announced the ap.
pearance Of willard. The crowd went
wild over the young fight giant,
screaming and handclapping as he
.crawled through the ropes.
Willard wore heavy red sweater,
blue trousers and black sombrero.
In the challenger's corner were
the following seconds: Tom Jones,
Willard's manager, Tex ORourke,
Walter Monah and j. Savange. John
son was seconded by Tom Flanagan,
ss ffon+fp,,ed An Para 2A