The Washington herald., 1919-06-28
JESS IN SHAPE
FOR BIC BOUT
Moran Claims Title Holder
Is in Better Condition than
When He Fought Him.
NJ FRANK G. MENkE.

Toledo. Ohio. June H.-Frank Mo-
ran breeted out to Jess Willard =
camp this afternoon, squinted at the
giant chamhjcn from every angle.
and then exclaimed:
Say. he looks great"
Someone In the group reminded the
man who foueh- Willard a ten-round
no-decisioD duel in 1916 of the fact
that trainers. newspaper critics, and
one-time training camp playmates Of
the pugilistic king have asserted that
he looks just the opposite-oh. very
much the opposite.
They're wrons-sll wrong" insist
ed the Pittsburgh blond. Jess looks
better right now than when he fought
me in New York. and ! guess he
looked pretty good then. didn't he?
He's Just as fast in training as he
was that night and you know a
fellow doesn't 70 as fast against his
sparring partners as when he is
really I'm e fight.
III condition is all that Jess needs
he'll be right there on fight day. Will
lard today showed boxing form supe-
rior to anything I've ever seen him
fash before. And his blows are far
snsppier~than tho night he fought me.
He isn't telegraphing so much now.
His defensive work, especially that
headdUcking. . splendid.
Willard is better fighter now.
whether he's 81. % or 40. than ne was
four, five and six years ago. And
there's a reason. He never took a
boxing lesson He didn't break into
the game like most fellows, we'll
schooled in trickeries. He came in
cold as one might saY. and every
thing he knows about boxing he has
learned since then by experience. He
got started late in life as a boAcr. took
it up perhaps later than any other
man in history who ultimately
achieved greatness. But year after
yesr Willard has improved.
TITS true that Jess hasn't done any
hghting in the prize ring since he
took me on in 1916, but he's boxed
more since then than any other
fighter. He was with a circus for
many, many months. don't forget
that. And he boxed twice daily.
Tint gave him practice. didn't il?
Almost as much practice as any OF
dinary fighter eets in his training
camp. And all the while that Jess
was boxing for the circus he was
learning a nole more about the
game.
so here We have Jess Willard Of
1919. after a long period OF boxing N
the circus. showing infinitely better
boxing form than he did when he
won the championship. Practice
makes perfect, you know. and Will
lard. when all is said and done. has
been practic!nz the boxing game in
the past two years whole lot more
than Dempsey even IL he hasn't been
fighting professionally"
"A great boy" answered Mora n.
He surely can hit and he looks like
! tough one to send kicking. Hos
in wonderful shape and that will
help him a lot. And he's made a
I splendid record. But when he tack
les willard he'll find a man different
than any other that he has evtr
faced: a truly super-hghtin- ma
chine and Il won't be long he fore
Dempsey will know that he's M
against the toughest job he eveI
tackled"
DO you think Willard will vim"
win?'
I'm not doing any thinking about
that yet" was the reply. But vi
say this: Those who have figured
Jess as all in and reckon thai
Dempsey will have a cinch on July
4. well. they're all going to have 4
strange awakening"