Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-07-02
est FIGHTERS BORN AND
mot MADE, CORBETT SAYS
very Out landing Ringman Except
4 Willard Started Battling i'll
Kid Days, He Declares.
Ess MANUFACTURED PRODUCT
ever Had Boxing Glove on His Hand
Until About Seven Years Ago, Mt
Age of Thirty-Two. When Most
Pugilists Are Through.
BY JAMES }. CuRBETT.
TOLEDO. o. July threat lighters

I, !sualy are horn. not made.
Every outstanding ringman of all
time. eXcep; Jess Willard has been
the. one who began battling in his kid
nEays and jumped into the professional
tanks Just about as soon soon as he emerged
manufactured fighter who has climbed
tehis way to Championship.
n Jack kearns who MANAGES Demp-
Jess isn't real fighter and never
:,was. He's been lucky; that's why he
became champion Fate ruled that he
:was to get chance at Jack
johnson jus, when the negro was ali
gone. Anybody could have licked
johnson that.day in Havana.
r. natural fighters that ever lived, tackles
Jess Willard, the manufactured war
,,I;or, on July 4. the whole world will
q eeN able TO detect the difference be-
= along stereotyped lines. and the nat
. ural-born rinGman who fights by in
: stinct."
Jess Newcomer In Game.
Jess never had a boxing glove on
his hand in his life until seven years
or so ago. He knew nothing about
. the art OF fsticufs and cared nothing
Cowboy work and iaboring on ranch
. big, numbering Morris. in action one
: night, and decided that IL Morris could
get easy money that way he could do
!. likewise.
]
two. when 90 per cent of the lighters
are through. started on his career.
h 1T took long time to develop Will
lard. Months and years OF patience
I. school esaily, didn't take TO Hghtinc
e like the natural-born warrior. But
y today he is heavyweight champion of
Il the world point that u thousand
" warriors have tried 10 reach since JEFF
Il tries was dethroned. Only Willard. the
a n 4 NY.I N -yDa ,t,t a
that pinnacle.
Won Fairly and Clearly.
Kearns may be right about Willard
having been lucky in getting the
< match with Johnson when the negro
K was all IN" But no one can take from
r willard the credit of victory. He won
Z fairly and clcarly. He showed ne
: could hit when 1t was necessary TO hit,
velous power TO take wallop. And
that's demonstrating ring greatness.
Kearns contends that only 4 natural
born fighter Will know what TO do
when hit. hurt and drive TO a corner
! He declares that the first minute that
! Dempsey lands damaging blow upon
Willard will he the minute that Will
lard blows up" and IS through
''At times like that natural born
fighter knows inst!nctively what to
do" says kearns: ~ manufactured
fighter doesn't Willard never has been
confronted with such situation, be-
s--ca::4,: no one has hurt him. But Demp-
sey will hur, him and hell do it in
the fir first il round ,nn Then youl see less
i know, as would q natural-born fighter,
what to do
F Terry McGovern Natural Fighter.
81 It's true what Kearns says about
natural born fighters being the great
Iest. Terry McGovern was battler
almost from his first day in knicker-
bockers. Fighting came as natural TO
Y him as swimming does 10 duck, His
greatest JOY came when he was tossed
y into the ring with a man and told to
batter him or be battered
John L. Sullivan was the same. He
was fighter from childhood. I'm
{ tackled Paddy Ryan in 1852 and beat
4 him down and SO became champion of
the world. In ever crisis IN his ring
&duels instinct told Sullivan inst what
ITO do. And for ten years he ruled
.fthe pugilistic world and made Il name
for himself that will endure as long as
the ring game lasts.
Tom Sharkey was another natural
born fighter. And so was Jeifres. The
Z big boilermakcr loved the mitt game.
and though he didn't get into it until
partner in Carson Citri he went along
in metcoric fashion.7ontt -on his way.
And for years afterwards jen was in
delphia Jack oBrien. Tommy RYAN.
Frank Erne, Dal Hawkins, Jack Nc
F uiile, george I'lSon, Peter Jackson.
Charlie Mitchell and all the other truly
greats of the ring were natural
Ehghters.
All Started In Childhood.
. They. started swinging their hs:s
lin childhood. and even the curbng in
nuence of the years could not take
from their love for battling They
were hghters-from ;hc beginning 10
fthe end.
ST. Dempsey is tina; type. Fighting
comes natural TO him. He loves il
And kearns is right in saying that
sInstinct is strong within Dempsey;
that his sixth sense as fighter tells
him just what TO do. ana not 10 do, in
!critical moments.
But whether Dempsey, great tighter
that he is. can whip the superman
4fhat he faces on July is the bic
.-Question. Jack Will have youth and
ssfEhtins instinct among his assets But
.she VIII be confronted with tho task OF
s8hurting man, manufactured fighter
Rthough nc may be, who never before
5shas been hurt by all the powerful ring