The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1919-07-03
BY ED W. SMITH

1sIEFF cosREseosoEET !. N. sERvIcEI
TOLEDO. o. July 3.-At last We are
up 70 the big day when Jess Willard
viii defend his championship hght!ny
tito against one Of the best looking
cEallengers in the history Of he game
Jack Demps' y Of salt LAX tI.y. ana
By ! OF later than o'clock ~ he after
noon Of the Elora lis fourth ne should
know who is nc hest pugflis 80 thu ca
tire world
We know now alright but the fight
ers insist in going through the motions
just the same in order to collect the
money
As has been the case in a number Of
championship fights this one Will bring
together a rather elderly athlete whose
inaotivities put him practically into
state Of decay and 4 strapping youth
Who has been the wonder ri the world
in the knockout line and the total de-
SPAR of all the other heavyweirhts
AS matter of fact so powerful has
the Dempsey smash been the last
couple Of years that he has reduced the
field Of big fellows down to one-the
man he is TO meet tomorrow A match
between Dempsey and anybody else in
the world would be pretty much of a
joke AZ this time with the single excep-
ton Of Georges Carpenter ant NOBODY
socrs to have a very clear idea Of
whether he VIII ever he able 10 get into
shape again after years of tough work
in the French army
So then. II would appear that The
huge crowd Of fight fans that will as
semble at the huge arena to watch the
proceedings will sec the bcst men IN
the world in wild action. which is as
l. should be. for the champion Is sup
posed 10 be the best man and +he cha,-
lenger the next best, II is my opinion
that this night viii prove that directly
the opposite is the case.
The training that willard did for his
contest. or rather call it the exercising
that he did. shows clearly the state CT
mind he is in at the present time. AL
that can be said of the willard training
IS that it got UP some pretty good
sweats and worked of a lot OF ia.
Outside OF that ii was nothing NO.
one during the progress Of the training
work did the champion see ~ 70 pun-h
n bag. light or heavy. There is nothing
like this work TO strengthen a mans
arms and 20 teach him 20 keep 'he-a M
In front Of him in defensive attitu 4e.
And we noticed this time ard again
during WIZARDS boxing work with
even his weak sparring mates ;ha'
there was a suspicious dropping Of
those big arms to his side and II vas
plain that he was tired Of holding them
up.
Now he will need all of the arms he's
got and every bit of strength they ever
possessed when this tremendously ac-
y . -
UP in front of him and starts whaci''ns
away. He will see then the almost
criminal mistake he has made in fool
ing himself-if he has done so---anA the
public into the belief that he was in
real earnest about his training
Willard cut out road work because h.
said a heavyweight does not need =
and besides that il hurts his feet. Fine
thing for a champion 10 admit-tnat the
pounding along the road hurt his feet
They must be fine feet and legs that
cannot stand such ordinary exercise as
running on a side path.
Wizards sparring partners We're ar
Indifferent. slovenly and slow lot. ana
to my way Of thinking did not do the
champion a bit of good in the way OF
sharpening his eye and giving him any
speed. The boxing generally was slow
and labored and did Willard only harm
in that he often got careless to 4 de-
gree and permitted to let himself drag
along sadly.
Dempsey does not tear in wildly.
arms hying without any sense OF diree-
ton. He goes into a man in a sort Of
zig gag course that is at once terrifying
ard battling He is in on this side OF
YOU. suddenly he is on the other side OF