New-York tribune., 1919-06-08
July 4 Battle
Last Big Heavy
Bout in Years
Fight Game in All Glasses
Stale for the Lack of
Good Matches
By w. O. Mcclellan

The Wlllard-Dempsey championship
fight probably will be the last in this
class for some years unless it should
be draw which is unlikely If Will
lard should win decisively, there will
be considerable incredulity as to any
normal human ever being found to
whip him, and there will be q consider
able scarcity OF promoters willing to
offer him another 100000.
If Dempsey should win by a knock
out, who are the logical contender"
outside OF perhaps one colored heavy
weight? Dempsey has drawn the color
line. 1t has been said that-win or
lose-Dempsey Will box Georges Car
pentier, the French heavyweight. That
would be pitiful sort of match.
Carpentier, who served for the dura-
tion of the war with the army of
his country, is reported to be badly out
of condition. He probably would be
an easy victim for Dempsey or any
other nearly good heavyweight in this
country. 1t would be out of tune with
the fitness of things to have man who
has been a real fighter in real fight
knocked out by a man who was not
even mildly interested in the greatest
OF all fights.
match for Carpenter against either
Willard or Dempsey would demon
strate that there is absolutely no
craftsmanship to professional boxing.
Pugilism has shown more lives than
a cat, but match of this sort would
crush out its ultimate existence.
Lack of Good Fighters
ne fight game in all classes has gone
stale for the lack of fighters and the
lack of matches that would create any
interest Take the lightweight class.
mat once boasted nearly a couple of
dozen logical contenders for the
championship. The present holder Of
the llghtwe ght title is so far above
any of the contenders in the class that
there is no interest left in the division.
The same thing will happen to the
heavyweight division after July d. One
of the two men who enter the ring on
that day will come out of it the great
est of modern heavyweights. The in
terest in the class will die through lack
of reasoabe competition.
When Jess Willard defeated johnson
at Havana the interest remained be-
cause there were numbers of people
who did not believe that it could be
done on the level Consequently.
there was enough skepticsm to draw
very profitable house to see the
Moran-Willard bout. After that some
we're satisfied that Willard had de-
veloped into a real heavyweight boxer.
Then along came Fred Fulton and
some Of those who remained skeptical
insisted that Fulton had a chance.
If the war had not interviewed
Willard would have fought Fulton. He
wanted to fight-for price-and he
confided in me that he believed he
could dispose of Fulton with punch.
But the chance of soft pickings there
vanished when Dempsey put Fulton
out in couple of punches. Dempsey's
admirers clamored for the present
match. Rickard, who is shrewd
erabber of big money on differences
of opinion in regard to pugilistic mat
tiers, made the match-and we shall see
what we shall see.
If Willard wins l doubt that he
will ever enter the ring again. He does
not care for the game and enters it
only for the money. Dempsey, if he
should be the winner, undoubtedly
will engage in more fights, but with
whom and to demonstrate what?
There never will be "mixed"
heavyweight bout in the United
States. The Jeffries-J ohnson bout
settled that.
Jack might emulate the late John
l.. Sullivan, going about the country
offering to stop them all, if the times
permitted. But there are not many
states where he could make this liberal
and reasonable offer in these efrete
days. Moreover there are more op-
portunlties for easy money for
champions in these days, and Dempsey
probably will take the easier and more
profitable course.