The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-20
Barons to Haue Ecu Rounds With the Chicks

Those who have seen Jess Willard dur ing the past two weeks claim that the
 champion is in wonderful physical condi- tion for a man who was supposed to have avoided hard training for nearly three years.
 If it is true that Willard notches only around 265, as his intimates assert, it means that the big fellow is almost at his best fighting weight now.
 Willard made the claim soon after be- ing matched with Dempsey that he would scale 250 pounds or under when he jumped into the ring with his mauling rival. Gen eral scoffing followed this remark, be- cause for a year or so reports have had it that Willard beamed anywhere from 290 to S3O pounds. If true it means that Willard faced an almost impossible task in trying to whip himself back into bat ting condition.
 But apparently those reports are faAse And as a result Willard's stock has been
 boosted tremendously Willard always | fought best when trained almost to a point of looking drawn and haggard Whenever he went into the ring carrying more poundage than was necessary it hurt I his chances. Other heavyweights have entered rings from to. 15 pounds over weight and put up wonderful exhibitions. The extra fat seemed to give them some ] thing to call upon during the stress of l ba tile when they were losing pound or 1 so with every few rounds of slugging. l Willard was overweight when "Bearcat Tom BcMahon whipped him in Youngs- ! town back in 1914. Excess weight made
 Willard very slow and awkward Me Mahon found little trouble in circling around the giant, hitting him at will and then jumping away to avoid the lumber 1 ing rushes of Willard.
 1 Willard trained nearly six months for Jack Johnson. The, original fight plans
 called for it's staginG in Mexico Willard
 trained faithfully for nearly three months
 only to have the fight transferred to Cuba
 and the date set forward Willard laid off training for few weeks and then
 started all over again and for many weeks went through rigorous pro- gramme in Havana.
 It was claimed just before the fight | time with Johnson that Willard was l trained too fine; that he had gone stale i from overtraining. But Willard hadn t. He was in superb condition. The exact
 weight of Willard on that day was 24l pounds and not 23S as was announced from the ringside. The men jumped on the scales in the ring and the announcer told the newspaper men that Willard scaled PAT. minute later he said:
 Change that weight, boys, and make it 23S It will look better as Johnson
 weighs only 225 pounds After winning the championship, Will lard took things easy-for nearly a year Failure to train added considerable weight to his frame. When the match was made with Frank Moran the big fellow beamed close to 2SO pounds lie lknew-and so did his handlers-that he was nealy 30 pounds beyond his best form Willard felt that about six weeks work
 would enable him to shear down to 24S or 25O. In this he failed despite the mos'
 strenuous efforts.
 1 Willard carried 259 pounds into the rrns
 against Frank Moran--nearly a dozer pounds beyond his best fighting weight
 And the extra poundage handicapped lhim. The Willard who fought Moran was mot the same wonderfully trained ant
 shifty athlete who battled the negro un
 der Cuban skies. The fat slowed Willard
 considerably. Had he been at the toI
 Of his form he might have scored
 quick knockout. But as slow as was VII
 lard. his rival was slower.
 k The lesson of, the Moran fight is ont
 that Willard has not forgotten. Un
 doubtedly he has figured through thu } years that some time or other he was go 7 ing to defend his title, and that whei he did so it would be against a real war rior So he kept in good condition in stead of dissipating in a riotous fashion ) Willard naturally is a secretive sort o