New-York tribune., 1919-05-06
Rickaff Building Arena in
Ohio Cityto Seat so, 900 for
Big Heavyweight Contest
Famous Promoter Com pletes Arrangements for
Title Bout; No Purse Will Be Offered, but
Fighters Will Be Paid; Record Gate Expected
By w. O. Mcclellan

BY w. O.
Final arrangements for the il
completed yesterday. The bout will
noon of July A. 1t will be for twelve
The announcement was made b
putting up the S127.5OO guarantee,
phonic communication with a party
expecting the whisper over the wire.
o'clock in the evening. The whis
was to the effect that the boxing CT
laws of Ohio, which permit local or
The only detail that remains un-
settled is the selection of referee. 1t
is passably certain that this man will
be Matt Hinkle. of Cleveland, Ohio,
the man who came TO New York to
invite Richards attention to the lucra-
tive puglistic opportunities presented
by the State of Ohio: that is, if Hirkle
should be acceptable to the principals.
Plans Big Stadium
The exact site of the arena will be
Bay View Park, at Toledo, Ohio. Rick
ard will proceed Immediately to erect
stadium that will seat $4,000 people.
The arena will be constructed on the
lines of the one built in Reno for the
Jefries johnson FIGHT. only, of course,
il will be much larger. The promoter,
figuring on the central location of
Toledo, believes that the fight will draw
thc biggest crowd ever seen at prize
fight and that the gate receipts will
exceed any drawn by any previous
sporting event
Under the state laws of Ohio twelve
round boxing matches to a decision are
permitted, provided that no money
purse is put up. The little matter of
S127,50O which Rickard is to pay to the
boxers Will come under the head of a
pecentage of the gate receipts. The
law permits deserving boxers to get
8 part of the gate receipts.
Rickard had been asked to bring the
bout to Toledo some time ago, and
considered the place thoroughly salts
factory. But he had gone through one
experience with municipalities, when,
after the San Francisco Board of Su-
pervisors had issued him d permit TO
hold the Johnson-J -Jetfres fight, the
Governor of California drove the bout
from the state to Nevada.
Ricard Satisfied
Evidently Ricard is thoroughly sat
isfied with the assurances he has re-
ceived as to the non-interference of
the Governor of Ohio. The mere opin-
ion of an attorney would not have
satisfied him after the experience in
California He was assured that the
Jeffries-J ohnson bout was within the
law in California at the time IL was,
but Governor Gillett declared that
sary. to stop the bout. Richard took
the arena he already had built in San
Francisco and moved it by sections
across the Sierras 10 Reno.
Rickard regards the Toledo mat
ter as closed According to the terms
OF their contracts, Jess Willard and
Jack Dempsey must report before the
end OF the month to begin their train
ing in the vicinity of the city where
the bout is to be held. News of the
selection of the site has been wired
TO both contestants.
According to the contract with the
boxers, Rickard was to have made the
announcement OF the site yesterday
But it was rumored by rival promoters
that there would be opposition to the
bout on the part Of the Governor of
Ohio. Rickard obtained the consent
of both Dempsey and Willard to de-
lay the decision until he could get
assurance that the bout would not
be interfered with
Arena to Cost $4,000
The arena will be a structure built
especially for this bout. 1t will be
octagonal in shape in order that those
in the most distant seats may get al
h. -.
seats will range from So to $50, ac-
cording to location. 1t will cost in
the neighborhood of $4,000, and it is
believed that the cost OF construction
will be paid by hotel men and others
who are interested in bringing the
bout to Toledo.
Richard had been studying the draw
ing possibilities Of the Willard Demp-
sey fight for several months before he
igned The two men. How much he ex-
poets to draw at the gate he will not
say. He admits that it will have to
be something in excess of a quarter
of million dollars to pay him for the
investment he must make in guaran-
tees for the two boxers.
According TO the records the largest
gate for a boxing bout to date was
that OF the JefFries-J ohnson bout at
Keno. Nev. That was given as S270,-
775. In reality il was Something over
100000 That Richard expects to cx-
ceod this by couple OF hundred thou
sand is evident
81 went say how much expect the
bout 70 draw" he said people would
think that / was crazy if did. But
Who would have thought that | would
lave drawn 100000 for the Jofrics-
Johnson? They thought in New York
that | was biz daft when ] offered
100000. I offered them that money
"cauae had studied the possibilities
and knew that l could make money
have studied the boxing situation Of
me present and I feel that will not
be far from wrong in wnat ( expect
81 70 make
0. Mclaughlin, who designed the
Ieno arena has prepared plans for the
.'iedo arena and work Will be started