The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-25
AS FAT AS A TUB
Jim COffrOth Says Willard Will
Never Fight Again.
Champion Weighs More Than
800 POundS-AH Blubber.
BY FRANK G. MENKE.

New York, Sept. 25.-Jim Coffroth
drifted in from the Pacific coast the
other afternoon and discoursed a bit
on Jess Willard.
st saw the champion just before I
left Los Angeles" said the former
fight promoter. He was in Jim JEFF
fries cafe. Willard looked as if he
weighed over 800 pounds. Whew! but
he was tubby. l don't think he'll ever
fight again.
why not?''
well, Willard isn't keen about
fighting in the first place. He got into
the game only because it offered a
chance to become wealthy. He's got
his wad now SO why should he do any
more fighting? In the second place.
I don't think Jess ever again can get
into real shape for first-class scrap.
He's too bulky. The fat that he car
ries now isn't the kind that can be
shed by strenuous workouts. It's the
ing takes away.
Training for a fight is ten times
harder on man than the fight itself.
It's a grind. 1t is tiresome routine.
And Jess Willard isn't keen about that,
He went thru so much of it earlier
that / guess he doesn't want any more
of it. From what / hear. Jess wasn't
any too keen about fighting Moran.
Not that he was afraid of the Pitts
burger. because I don't think Willard
is afraid of any living man. But he
hated the thoughts of training. How
ever, the big purse offer influenced
him in favor of the fight
Couldn't Train Down.
"Jess is so big and fat now that it
would take months to trim off even
a little of the surplus. I don't think
he could scale down much under 500
even with the most strenuous training.
At least. that's the way he sized up in
T h., T
think my long experience with fight
ers qualities me to pass an opinion IS
to whether a fighter can reduce or
cannot"
Coffroth advanced the opinion that
the days of big purses are about over.
1.-The promoters have tired of doing
all the gam bling and the public shows
signs of revolving against being the
perpetual goat he said. 1.-THE de-
mands of the fighters have advanced
steadily for several years. The crest
was reached in the WillardMoran af-
fair 1 don't think any fighters ever
again will be guaranteed as much
money for a ten round no-decision
| bout as that pair got. Nor do I think
that any fighters will ever get guaran-
| tees approaching that sum.
Earlier, the public wasn't averse to
being gouged for big sums for seats.
1t figured that it would get its moneys
worth But most of the recent big
| fights have been fiascos. The public
has been fleeced. Many of the most
ardent fight fans have taken the 'nev-
er again vow when it comes to star
| bouts at which big admission prices
prevail.
Percentage Age Here.
knowing this, the promoters will
refuse in future to take the long
chances they have in the past Very
soon will come an era where the fight
ers, champions as well dubs, will
have to work exclusively on a per-
centage basis and take a gamble with
| the promoter
Touching on the fight game out on
| the coast. the erstwhile promoter said:
| 1.-The folks out there still nourish
| the hope that decision bouts will be
permitted again. Just now the fans
must content themselves with four
round exhibitions. These affairs are
| sort of Mecca for the fighters of the
| old school: the boys who have grown
| a bit old and weary and who can not
stand the gaff over a long route. Four
rounds isn't much of a jaunt for the
| old-timers who still have bit of skill,
| phia Jack O'Brien and the others to
take a jaunt out there and pick up
some soft money.
Coffroth has gone into the racing
game. He is operating the Fla Juana
| track. just across the border from
San Diego, Cal. He is in the east now
trying to influence some of the star
jockeys to ride over his course. which
opens on November II.
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