The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-04-03
TEX RICHARD is
REAL MAN TO PUT
ON BIC CONTEST

resentative, is having in his efforts
to place the match calls attention to
the fact that only three men still
active in the promotion field have
had any experience in staging
championship match. They are Tex
Richard, Jack Curley and Jim Cot |
froth. For one reason or another
none of the three is available at the
present time,
Richard is by far the most sue
cessful of the men who have handled
the big battles during the past gen
Grafton. He would be the ideal pro-
moter for the Willard-Fulton bout, |
but unfortunately Richard IS now in
far away Paraguay where he owns an
extensive cattle ranch, and he is not
likely to return for a year or more.
It is even doubtful whether Richard
is aware that the match has been
made. At any rate there is little
chance of him coming back on the
chance of &c ling the present attrac-
ton.
AS a promoter of fistic affairs Ric-
kard stands alone. He has staged
three bouts, and each was a record
breaker His first bout was the Bat
Ting Nelson-JJoe Cans bout at Gold
field. This drew s69,715, the largest
amount ever taken in at light
weight battle. And it was held in a
little mining town far removed from
any large centre of population.
Richard then astonished the fistic
world by bidding 100000 for the
Jeffries-J ohnson match. This was an
unheard of price to offer for fistic
attraction at that time and the other
or ORG
threw up their hands. That Richards
judgment was correct was shown by
the fact that the match drew $780,
IT'S, the largest amount ever taken
in for a sporting event of any kind.
At first Richard planned to stage
the fight in San Francisco, but after
plans were we'll under way, with the
fighters in training near the battle
ground and the arena under construc-
ton the authorities interviewed.
Richard was then forced to take
the fight to Reno, q comparatively
small town, far removed from the
coast cities. Richard always has con-
tended that if he had been allowed
to hold the fight in San Francisco it
would have drawn 100000.
The Willard Moran bout at Madi-
son Square Garden two years ago was
Richards third and last essay as a
fistic promoter. This affair drew
over 100000, although it was only
a ten round no decision bout. The
gate receipts broke the record for
bouts of that kind.
Although Richard does not pretend
to be an expert on fistic affairs, he
is an infallible judge of public senti-
ment. He never made the mistake OF
trying to build up interest in match,
but he always waited until the de-
mand had been created for the bat
tie At one time Richard had an
idea of bringing Willard and Fulton
together but after working on the
match for some time he came to the
conclusion that the public was not in
a responsive mood and he went no
further with the affair.
That, of course, was before Fulton
had beaten Carl Morris and Frank
Moran. Since then Fulton has man
aged to remove Morris from his path,
but only to have Jack Dempsey bob
up in place of the Sapulpa giant. If
Richard were here on the ground now
It is more than likely that he would
consider Fulton's refusal to try con-
clusions with Dempsey an insurmOun-
table obstacle.
Jack Curley, who was the leading
spirit of the syndicate that promoted
the Willard-J ohnson bout, can take
no part in the present affair because
he and Willard are no longer on
speaking terms. AS a manager of
boxers Curley has been a great sue
cess, but as q promoter his record
does not begin to compare with that
i. of Richard. The Willard-Johnsor
fight was a financial failure so far as
the gate receipts were concerned, fol
they did not cover expenses. How
ever, it is doubtful whether Curley
ever expected to make a profit out Of
the fight itself. His main idea wa!
to obtain the title for Willard, il
whom he had a 10 per cent. interest
Practically the same conditions
prevailed when Curley promoted thu
Flynn fight at Las Vegas
From the moment that match wa
mentioned it was made the subject o
ridicule because it was so obviousl.
one sided. But as Curley was tn
manager of Flynn he took lonl
chance in defiance of public senti
ment and went on with the affair. 1
Flynn had won by any chance Curle
would have been we'll repaid for hi
trouble AS it happened Flynn los
and the match was a financial fros
Jim Coffroth, the Californian VIII
promoted several championship bat
ties, has deserted the boxing game
go into baseball and horse-racins
Coffroth was quoted recently as say
ing that in his opinion there no long
er is any profit for the promoter c
a heavyweight championship figf
because the boxers want everythin
in sight Coffroth also is of the OF
inion that the public has lost intere.
in the fight game. That may be S
in California, where long distanc
boxing has been killed, but Coffrot
is hardly in position to Judge of whs
is going on in other sections of til
country.
If the match could be held in Ne
York it probably would draw we
enough. When New York fans pac
the Garden to see a wrestling mate
there is every reason to think tn;
tney would turn out to see the tU
hig boxers in action. If it could |
held in any of the big Eastern citi
It would draw a reasonable amour
But, as long as Fulton persists in sid
stepping Jack Dempsey there will n
be a countrywide demand for II
bout.
That means that If the fight is he
in Denver or any of the Western c
ties the promoters cannot count {
attracting spectators from other par