Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-05
SERGEANT JACK BURKE.

Rock Island fight bugs will rest
their lamps in Captain Bob Roper,
contender for the heavyweight
championship of the army, and the
world, for that matter, Sunday.
The big fellow has written Babe
Meanor that he expects to reach
here at least four days ahead of
the date of his meeting with Ser
geant Jack Burke at the Empire
rink next Thursday night. He is a
fighter that likes to have the OPP
portunity of getting acquainted in
each town in which he appears by
winding up his training in local
gymnasiums.
Burke is expected to arrive 4
few days before the mill. He will
be no stranger to the fans. about
1000 of whom packed the Empire
early in May to see him go 10
rounds with Hughie Walker of
Des MOines. And everyone who
witnessed that fight between the
big fellows was more than salts
fed
Both Roper and Burke are of
the rugged, hard hitting type of
heavies, each capable of assimilat-
ing and giving out a lot of punish
ment in turn. Captain Bob is pro-
nOunced one of the most confident
of fighters when battling an OppOn-
ent. He carries a smile that many
a good man in the past few years
has tried without success to wipe
off Sergeant Jack handles him
self with the sqUared-circle in a
grim, 0usiness-like manner. He
has the fighters jaw and the
fighters heart. His recent knock
out at the hands of Bill Brennan
in New Orleans is not being &C
copied at full value by the country
at large, because Jack is backed
up by much unquestiOuable evil
dence that he was the victim of
foul blow, as he claims.
1t will be the second meeting of
the two men within the course of
two weeks. Accounts of their
Labor day encounter at Benton
Harbor. where they substituted on
short notice for the scheduled
yelling bout, indicate that
both were rocked by bone-crushers,
with Roper displaying a slightly
better boxing ability. Since both
battlers are hot on the trail of the
laurels copied by Bob Martin in
France the experts are predicting
that one or the other will be ellmi-
mated in their coming settO. Only
a decisive victory can accomplish
this result and It is not stretching
the imagination too far in .'redict-
ing that the bout will terminate via
the smelling salts.
Wicker in Semi Windup.
George Wicker of Davenport will
be pitted against Eddie Summers
of Muscatine in the semi-windup.
Babe had at first intended bringing
Summers and George Reed to-
gether again. but Wicker begged
for the chance to show the fans
that the reputation he earned in
his army fights really amounts to
something. He asked especially to
be matched with Summers.
In his first local appearance,
Labor day. he made a pitiful effort
against Paul Mason at Moline. 1t
was the unanimous opinion of
those at the ringside, however, that
had his condition been anywhere
near what 1t should have been, he
would have made a much better
showing, with an excellent chance
of putting the other man away for
the count. For the first round,
Wicker waded into his man in
such a way as to prove he was the
better boxer. And then his wind
gave out and he became an easy
target for the long left jabs of
Mason.
With 10 days in which to condi-
ton himself properly, he says he
will surprise 'em all. The fans can
feel reasonably assured that ne
will deliver. If grit is the thing,
then this boy has it. 1t is not
generally known that in his Moline
scrap he broke bones in both of
his hands early in the fight, which
would have been good enough rea-
son for any scrapper to quit, bat he
didn't. And it counts a whole lot
in his favor that he is willing and
anxious to come right back against
a sitter boy.