The Cordova daily times., 1915-04-05
(By Associated Press)

NEW YORK, April 2-The history
 of the prize ring offers no parallel
 of the battle for the worlds heavy
 weight championship in which Jack
 Johnson and Jess Willard will en.
 gage next Monday at Havana, Cuba.
 Big men have fought for this premier
 title of sfitiana since the early days
 of the eighteenth century but never
 through the long list of champions from James Figg to Jim Jeffries have two fighters of the physical propor. tions of Willard and Johnson crossed arms in the roped arena
 Of the champions of modern times Corbet, Jeffries and Johnson all pass ed the six foot mark, while Sullivan, Sharkey and Fitzsimmons were from one to three inches below this height When the negro title holder and his challenger step into the ring on Eas- ter Monday, Willard will tower six feet six inches in the air, while John son will stand five and one-half inch es below him. In weight these fight CTS are also above the ring average of the heavyweight class. Willard will weigh close to 235 pounds, which will give him an advantage of about twenty pounds over Johnson in the clinching and tussling which will doubtless play an important part in the battle.
 Next to Jim Jeffries the Goliath of modern ring times, Johnson is the biggest man who ever held the title. Jeffries weighed 22O pounds and stood six feet, one and one-half inches in fighting shoes; Johnson is six feet, one and one-half inches tall and weighs about 215 pounds in condition; Jim Corbett sealed 1S7 pounds at his best and was six feet one inch tall; Fitz- simmons was one and one-fourth in- ches shorter and fought at about ITO pounds; Sullivan stood five feet ten and one-half inches, and fought at 195 pounds; Tom Sharkey was five feet nine inches, and fought his best bouts at close to 19O pounds.
 Compared with these past heavy weight gladiators Willard appears as a Sampson. Even when ranged a. long side of Johnson the Kansas cow boy overshadows the negro title hold CT in almost every point of physical measurements. In addition to his five and one-half inches advantage in height and ten years difference in age he outweighs Johnson by twenty pounds. His reach is S31a inches, against the negro's 76 inches, and will prove of exceptional value if properly used. In all the measure ment of trunk and limbs, Willard shows an advantage in structure, mus cle, and chest expansion varying from two to four inches.
 TO offset these physical advantages Johnson has the benefit of ring wis dom and craft cultivated during his long career of champion contender and holder Just as Willard surpasses Johnson in every point of physical the Galveston pugillst ex- cells the Kansas boxer in all depart ments of the science of giving and evading glove punishment. With youth and power ranged against ex- perience and skill, the battle is likely to develop into a contest in which ring strategy will equalize brute strength and courage.
 Johnson's ring assets are well known, but uncertainty clouds Will lards prospects. In his short per Iod of active glove battling he has never faced an opponent of the pow er, skill and experience of Johnson. The negro is no physical weaktng ev- en at the age of thrity-eight years, and while Willard must be accorded the advantage here it is likely that the champions offensive and defen- sive skill in both boxing and clinch-
 ,.-;1l fo n onngSIov-o