New-York tribune., 1919-07-02

jess wizard an OK or an elephant?
II he is an OK, or an adjunct of that
species, he is going to know very soon
for the first time IN his life how it
feels 10 recline In the resin. q huddled
remnant of bygone glory, as faint and
far away he hears the fatal count that
clocks off his career.
II he is an elephant, blessed with
the attributes of that ponderous animal,
he will very likely win
ne mystery of this impending jam
boree of Jabs isn't Dempsey, but Will
/ lard
Willard the Real Mystery
Every one knows what Dempsey is
last young. powerful boxer in great
CONDITION with d furnishing punch. a
hectic hook and a wicked wallop. You
can read him as he stands and shifts
bronze machine of speed and power
the best 20Cpound boxer in the world.
1t is Willard who has them guessing.
he OK cannot beat the tiger, but the
elephant can. Which is Willard? Ok
or elephant? Attempting to win with
sheer weight and power, or capable Of
being aroused to an elephantine fury
that can clear out young jungle in
its rush?
While we have studied very little
wild life in its native state, the i'm
preston we draw at this sultry date
IS that Willard comes much closer to
being an elephant than an OK.
Like the elephant he is ponderous,
sedate and slow to wrath There is
nothing nimblc about his body or his
brain. But neither is he a lunbering
boob or a foundering dull-wit There
Is solldlty about him, both physically
and mentally, that carries him steadily
along. And this mental soldity has
no reference to concrete, marble or
ivory.
Jess Plans Own Fight
Willard began pointing himself for
TINS fight nearly three months ago. He
has, all this time, been his own mana
toner and when ne gets into the
ring he viii fight his own fight, unless
Jack Dempsey has enough to upset his
/ plans.
Jess has handled himself with at,
least good average intelligence in a
physical way, while in a financial wav,
like Jack Kearns, he has left record
for Wall Street to inspect for future
profit.
The champion admits to-day that he
has turned out the job exactly as he
llmlnary training is concerned. He is
in better shape than he thought he
would be- two months ago.
10 study him or talk with him he
looks to be a snapshot of serenity
and untroublcd confidence, banking to
the last upon the mightiest frame that
ever carried heavyweight to the
championship peak and held him there
That, plus the belief that he knows
as much about boxing as Dempsey
does. Willard may be a trife worried
q h. cQ1 l,;, 6
nervousness has yet shown upon the
placid surface of his bulk.
Has Endless Confidence
After all who can blame him for
rcposing endless confidence in that
physical frame? 1t carried him to the the
top and it has kept him there. If you
were six feet seven inches tall and
weighed 240 pounds stripped, and af-
tor three months training believed
you were in hawless condition and
were already champion of the world,
how deeply worried would you be at
meeting an opponent six inches
shorter and a good thirty-fve pounds
lighter?
have intelligence enough to worry;
and If you were an elephant YOU
wouldn't care rip until some one had
scratched your hide. And as we have
arisen to remark before, Wizards
qualities are more elcphantne than
ox-like
"lf you could only get him to call
on his reserve two or three times. ."
remarked Frank Moran, who ought to
know
"You might get him. But he holds
himself too we'll in check You can't
get him hurricd or worried. because
when YOU begin to bother him he can
either keep you off with his left or
hCld you in cinch. And all the
while you carry the feeling that his
reserve has never been tapped, that
he still has something extra to hand
out If the occasion arises"
Immune to Knockout?
Lacking this imagination. it has
never occurred to Willard that he
might be knocked out. When he is
told that many believe Dempsey will
knock him out in two or three rounds
he refuses to believe it. He seems to
nave the idea that some one is kidding
nm. He can't believe that any one in
the world could ever believe that
dempsey or any one else could drop
him in a few rounds
Yet Dempscy's supporters are far
! from being in kidding mood. They
actually believe that the young man
from Colorado viii hook in and rip
the heart out Of Willard before twelve
minutes Of actual fighting time have
been clockcd off. If they are kidding
about it they are wonderful actors
VINO care nothing about their kale. a
COMPUTATION that doesn't exist.
Willard is entirely too stold a