New-York tribune., 1919-03-19
Says Champion Is in Won
derful Shape, Weigh
ing Only 268 Pounds
By w. O. McGeehan.

rms announcement was made yester-
day when the heavyweight champions
private secretary blew into the Bilt-
more with pearl gray hat, spats to
match and other articles of Kansas
scenery. Secretary answers to the
name of Ray Archer, but is known
throughout the State of Kansas as Doc
Archer.
Willard is in wonderful shape"
announced the Doc 'At the present
writing he weighs only 26S pounds. He
knows that Dempsey is a tough custo-
mer and he is going to work consider
ably before the fight, but he is conf
dent of winning"
Just how confident is he of win
nang" demanded one of the inhabi-
tants of the Biltmore lobby "Is he
ten thousand dollars confident ?"
Offers Even Money
"He is that confident and the whole
purse more than that" retorted the
Doc. THAT makes a hundred and ten
thousand bucks in all. He is that
much confident at even money, if any
body in the house wants to cover it,"
1nere was no rush of persons anxious
TO- bet any Dempsey money at the
< NV. o"Sh hediuS, manager or Jack
dempsey, was present during the an
nouncement. He wrapped his fur-lined
cloak around him and returned a stare
OF well-bred hauteur to the def of the
heavyweight champions representative.
doc Archer is one of those reticent
persons. He had not much to say con
cernlng his chief, excepting that Will
lard was in training already and that
ne realized that Dempsey was at least
n fvb{ al
volunteer to tell how many socks Will
lard had knitted fer the Red Cross dur
/ ing the late war
Doc Archer is in New York osten-
sloiy to look for sparring partners for
Willard. 1t seems that there is a lack
OF good tough big men in the Middle
West, most of the birds who answer to
| this description still being in service.
Archer would like to hear from Bat
thng Levlnsky, Charlie Weinert and a
lew other white hopes who would like
to assist Willard for consideration.
hearns announced that Dempsey
would take a lay-off from his theatri-
cal work until the end of the month.
he plans to put in the spare time train
ing at Long Branch, but may take a
chance at Palm Beach for a week or so.
dempsey is ambitious to gambol with
the Palm Beach Goats.
Richard OF for Texas
Rlckard will leave for the Texas oil
helds III the morning. Just now the
promoter of the worlds highest priced
boxing match is more interested In
petroleum and its by-products than he
Is IN the noble art of boxing He is in
no way concerned over the fact that
lawyers nave decided that his contract
with Dempsey is not binding. Richard
Will rely on Dempseys word in the
mean time
Dempsey has no intention of running
out on the match. According to Kearns
the contender considers the match as
won already; Ten rounds will be
plenty" declared Kearns. "Anybodv
that thinks Dempsey will fight slow
and cautious fight, trying to wear Will
and down. is crazy with the unexpected
neat OF the season. Dempsey fights
only one way. He goes in to get them.
He Will go in to get Willard, and
believe he viii get HIM early"
Willie Richie, who was given the
popular decision over Benny Leonard,
also wandered into town last night.
William is on his honeymoon, conse-
fight.
He gives Benny Leonard all sorts of
credit for being n sweet fighter. He
does not claim that he made a mug of
Benjamin, but at the same time he js
confident that he may be able to do so
at some future date.
u heard lot about Leonard's wal
iiop' sad Ritchie. "But when he
handed me all that he had and could
not even rock me, felt that nv come
, back was success. Not one of his
punches even turned me around. Oh.
/ boy, 1T felt good when / knew that he
was giving me all that he had and that
| still could take anything he sent.
Certainly, hope TO meet Leonard again
over the long route and just as Ger
tainly as do feel that will beat him.
Not Booking Matches
"l'm back in the fighting game, back
for some time. Of course, | am not
booking any matches at the present
moment, but it will not be long be-
Tore | VIII be ready to take on any
reasonable offer"
William is carrying inside of him the
ambition to become welterweight cham
pion He realizes that he is several
pounds above the lightweight class and
that 1t would be impossible 5oy hin,
TO regain his old title Jack britton
may be hearing from William in
short time.
The passing of Ted Kid Lewis came
| Oiich PSSttUly- hslHOuuCGIn4uk LE2I Lewis
and Britton were matched to box again
excited no big interest in the East,
where the pair have boxed time and
again with no disastrous results TO
either. In fact. the results were fnan-
cially beneficial to both
The last fight certainly was not n
"brother act" Lewis no doubt had an
off night. The pair were pretty evenly
matched, and perhaps Lewis had scored
the greater number of total points in
all of the matches.
The victory of Britton will be a
popular one. Britton is long past the
age where the careers OF fighters are
supposed to end. With the possible
exception of Fitzsirnmons and Jess
Willard (whose real age nobody
knows), Britton is the oldest Of the
champions. Britton will certainly give
Lewis return match. He has always
been ready to fight any wclterweight
at any time for any purse. But Lewis
will have hard time getting back
Once knocked out, they seldom come
back.
About the best thing in the welter-
weight class at this time would be a
Britton- Richie bout. Something may
be heard in this regard as soon as
the Legislature passes the boxing bill.
Murphy Wants to See