The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-22
BY Jack Dillon.
Famous Light Weight Heavy Known
as Jack the Giant Killer"
Copyright 1919 by Universal
Garyinp
BY Jack Dillon.

Copyright 1919 by Universal
Service
Toledo, Ohio. June 21,--Only su-
per-hghter ever will be able to break
through the almost impregnable head
defense of Jess Willard for the pur-
pose OF landing a knockout punch to
the jaw.
tackled the champion in his
training camp here, tried with every
means at my command to reach his
chin--and ] failed miserably A
further confession is that Willard
wasn't really exerting his full defen
sive energies to keep me from hitting
him either. Those long and power
full arms Of Willard. his dazzling left
hand, his tremendous height and his
natural stance in the ring--these
Jointly form a barrier for his jaw un
like that of any ringman ! have ever
known.
Through 1914, 1915 and 1915 l
gained lot of experience fighting
giants. took on fellows that were
from Ave to eight inches taller than
myself. The skeptics told me at the
outset that ! never could reach high
enough to land on their jaws. But
did--and / was lucky enough to hit
most of them hard enough to win the
fight for me over the knockout. |
thought because of my success with
other big men of the ring that / would
not have considerable trouble in
whacking Willard just where / wanted
| to whaek him. But my ideas are far
different now.
The long left hand of the cham
pion which took on the form Of
twelve foot pole before my workout
with him was finished kept me back
almost eyerytime / tried TO rush him
for few drives at the head Some
times he would jah me blackstone
times merely push me. But both
methods stung, for he surely is a
strongrnan. Several times ! succeed
lard's guard and then I said to my
self: Here Is where l clout hi
| jaw"
Impregnable Head Defense
But / never did. Right then I found
! that Willard has a secondary defence
| for his head that is used when the
first line is smashed. And that de-
| fence is possible because of his great
| height and because he stands erect
| in the ring. There is no crouch about
| him AZ there is about many of the
| big fighters. He becomes a mountain.
| / swung for Wizards head with "A
! long overhead punch--the same used
against big men like Charlie Weinert.
Torn s'owler and the others. That
punch landed on those fellows-hut
not on Willard and not by fifteen
| inches os so.
Why? Simply because Willard. the
very moment | broke through his
/ outer defence, stiffened up to his full
est height and moved back his head.
| His jaw seemed miles away, At the
| same time he fought me off with his
arms and l was helpless In my efforts
TO clip him on the jaw.
~, 1Aar a l. -
danger of trying to hit Jess on the
head. For. while ! was intent on
swinging for his top. l left my body
and the rim of my Jaw exposed
! whereupon Jess sent right to my
stomach and caught me with left
uppercut under the chin.
| They weren't hard blows. for jess
was mighty easy with me. But there
was a sort of warning in those
punches for any man who may at
tempt to close in on the champion and
, belt him on the chin.
Il Willard does not protect his
stomach~--a rather startling weakness
The champion carries his guard ex-
tremely high. he seems to apurn this
use Of any defense for his abdomen
!, Most of the leads ! made for hin
would cause an almost instructive
shifting of the guard upward. He
\ never dropped H. All the time his
) stomach was his ribbed section formed
n perfect target where ! landed al
, most at will.
JESS SAYS STOMACH
is CONCRETE AFTATE
My stomach is a concrete affair
and no one ever hurt me with 8
punch there" Jess explained to me
That is probably true. Wizards SUI
perb confidence in the ability of his
stomach TO stand up under every kind
of pummelling has made him indif
ferent to perfecting a defense for that
part of his body. He probably thinks
his stomach can take care OF Itself
when punches are started for it. Blu,
that his jaw is the weaker spot and
must be protected
4 Willard Is siow--extremely slow
saw him in his workouts for the bat
tie with Frank Moran when he was
carrying nearly fifteen pounds more
than he Is today. Yet he then seemed
nearly twice as fast as he appears
now. He used to move around then
on his toes, displaying amazing shift