The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-21

There is something unusual about
Kansas and her king OK init wielders.
Ask almost any Kansan you meet and
he will tell you ne wants to see big
Jess win this fight. But it would be
pretty hard for you to round up
enough fight enthusiasts in the state
to stage a willard demonstration.
Wizards personality is probably
more responsible for this than any
thing else. The big champion couldn't
be a popular idol If he devoted his life
to it-he is too much of plain,
everyday Kansan. He minds his own
business; he never seeks the limelight;
he neither poses nor boasts. There
fore his neighbors do not pay a great
deal of attention to him. Those who
know him like him because he makes
fewer enemies than he does fanatical
followers. There is nothing of the
John L. Sullivan about him. He is
neither positive nor negative IN MS
personal appeal.
Experts Pick Willard.
There are other things besides the
Kansas prejudice to make Willard
favorite in the Fourth fracas. Demp-
sey, his opponent. is greatly handi-
capped in size, weight and experience.
Furthermore it is only twelve-round
bout. and there is no chance for the
challenger TO capitalize the stamina
y
out willard.
The early betting has made Willard
a 2 to l favorite. 1t is probable that
the odds will be increased as the day
of the fight draws nearer, but the
promoters undoubtedly will do all they
can to prevent this, because when the
odds become too great the evidence of
a one-sided fight becomes too appar-
ent.
Among the fight experts who have
picked Willard to win are Jim Jeffries,
Fat Masterdon, Tom S. Andrews, Jim
Flynn, Sam Langford and Johnny Kill
bane Ed Bang. of the Cleveland
News. puts the dope this way: Recall
that the Willard-Dempsey imbroglio. at
Bay View Park, Toledo, Ohio. on July
Ais slated for exactly twelve rounds.
Possibly in forty or forty-five Demp-
sew might have the stamina to wear
Willard down, but even over this dis
lance we doubt it. for big Jess isn't the
wearing kind. He proved that con-
clusively at Havana when he won
from Johnson"
Champion Is Heavier.
TON Sharkey and Tommy Burns
are among the fight experts who pick
Dempsey to win. Most of those who
think the heavyweight crown will be
lost to Kansas base their opinions on
Willard's age, his inactivity for the
last three years and the oft-repeated
assertion that johnson was down ana
urt when Jess won at Havana. The
ptcture of Willard as he was in 1915
and as he is today. printed on this
Iase today. is one of the strong argu-
ulents of the anti-Willard men. How
eyer. IL must not be forgotten that
Willard. while he has been inactive,
has not been imprudent. He has not
dfssipated and he has spent most of
his time on his Douglas county farm.
That he is heavier than he was when
he defeated Johnson cannot be denied;
and he is probably slower on his feet.
But he has been training and has been
wise enough not to underestimate his
opponent. There is little likelihood
that the punch in his left NIT has lost
much of its power. Furthermore,
Willard will have a big advantage in
reach and il he cares to do so can
make it almost impossible for Demp-
sey to get at his jaw.
All of these things should be re-
membered by those who are thinking
OF placing their money on Dempsey.
And it should also be remembered
that Dempsey has never licked first
class fighter in all his career.