Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-26
Record Purse for Willard.

1t took the biggest purse ever of
fered a fighter in the history of
Dugiiism to. lure Jess Willard. the
: tallest, heaviest and wealthiest man
that ever held the heavyweight cham
pidnship of the world. out of the
retirement interrupted but once since
he won his title from the negro, Jack
johnson. at Havana, Cuba, April 5,
1917, The 100000 guaranteed to
4 Willard by Promoter Tex Richard to.
fight next July exceeds by more than
s:s::.000 the former record sum of
$66 600 received by Jack Johnson for
heating Jim Jenries. and Willard
will get this sum. win. lose or draw.
Willard is. by all odds. the most
astute business man the ring game
ever saw. For fighting Johnson he
received absolutely nothing, in fact.
I had to borrow money to pay his ex-
penses back to the States, but he
brought the heavyweight crown with
him. and so successfully has he
capitalized it that today. less than
four years from his accession to the
championship. he is reputed to be
worth more than half a million.
= The annals of fisticuffs are replete
with instances of stars who for few
years rode on the high tide of wealth,
: only to find themselves penniless
when age scrapped them for the ring.
But there are other examples of
pugilists who drove sharp bargains
$ dUN got LIE fIldXlf1uHi returns at
every opportunity. Tommy Burns
was one of the most notable of the
: latter class. Tommy never was much
of champion. but he came into pos
Z session of the title and with a rare
penchant for avoiding troublesome
customers managed to hold it long
enough. to pile up a bank account of
bulky proportions. When he finally
was forced to meet Johnson in Aus
tralia, he so arranged it that he got
4 $50, 900 for the licking he received.
while his dusky victor got but one
sixth Of that sum. But Burns was a
piker compared with Willard.
Circus Proved a Gold Mine.
willard hit upon the circus to
exploit the magic asset Of the title.
and with such industry did he apply
himself to the ring game that his
net earnings through three years are
: said to have averaged $4,000 a week.
On the lone occasion of his emer-
gence from the she'll of retirement,
when he entered the ring at Madison
Square Garden for ten-round bout
with Frank Moran, he risked moth
ing. as the blond Pittsburgh boxer
giant. This New York exhibition
was held March 25. 1916. and netted
him $4,000. Willard has put his
earnings, ring and circus, in the oil
business in Texas. The investment
has proved a most profitable one.
Richard is far and away the most en-
terprising and successful promoter the
sport has produced He has handled or
been connected with the staging of
nearly all the more important ring
battles for more than score of years.
II was Richard who put on the Joe
Gans-Battling Nelson fight at Cold
field, New. and it also was he who
brought Jim Jeffries out of retire
ment to fight Johnson at Reno when
the big black won the title. Just how
solid his reputation for integrity is
may he judged from the fact that he
refereed his own show with the late
Charley White sitting outside the
ring as an alternate-and everybody
was perfectly satisfied Richard guar
anteed Jeffries and Johnson Jointly
folly" was explained when an enum
GRAFTON of the box office receipts
showed that s270.775 had been taken
in
Dempsey will be decided upon to OPP
pose Willard. Richard will do the Sc
lecting. Carpenter. the French fistic
hero. who is being spoken of as can
didate, could not begin to measure
up as an attraction to Dempsey, who
has won the heart of all pugilistie
fans with his ability to flatten all the
big boys in Snort order.
There is much doubt that Carpen-
tier will be able to accept any OF
the nattering offers made to him to
appear in the ring in this country
but should he obtain permission to
leave France, it is likely Rickard
will match him with Dempsey and
send the winner against Willard.
Jess would have tremendous
physical advantage over Carpenter
as the latter Is but five feet clever
inches in height and weighs only
about IT'S pounds, while Willard Is
six feet six, tips the beam at "a,
mounds when in condition and has q
reach of eighty-three inches. Demp.
sey is a six-footer and scales around
JOG pounds when in shape
Where the Willard bout will bt
held is yet to be decided upon. The
articles he signed call for fight Of
any number of rounds up to forty
New Orleans and Denver are the only
r,t~ccs nor. where the chances Of
sssasillg such a contest are good