New-York tribune., 1921-06-20
Jack O'Briien
In L ast Round
With Dempsey
Former Light Heavyweight
Iitle-Holder Gives Cham.
pion a Fine Workout
By Haywood Broun

"a ASAAS AIC ClAS, ~. J., june 19,--
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien boxed one
fast round with Jack Dempsey this
afternoon. 1t was SO fast the three
minutes dashed by in about half that
time. Some say O'Brien is fifty, and
others set him down at forty-fve. At
any rate he is very old, but he is still
ambitious.
lie jumped in at the champion swing
ing both hands and Dempsey, who can
play only rough or not at all, swung
two hands on his own account. Demp-
sey swung harder. After each clinch
oBrlen continued TO rush in, leaping
as ne came, but the fourth and
NTH leaps were inches lower than the
hfst one. Finally, as O'Brien Rugged
tight to rest awhile and bleed little,
Teddy Hayes, the referee, WHISPERED,
twenty seconds more" whereupon
O'brien let go and finished with great
fuss and fury
It was a splendid showing for
middls aged gentleman and equal in
tooe pounds of energy expended to
about ten rounds of golf. A crowded
minute and half is worth a cycle of
Cathay any time man who has been
n1mself a champion, even if hia title
was was only the light heavyweight one.
brlen was never much of a pu ,cher,
put years ago he would have given
dempsey tough target to shoot at.
Cheers for O'Brien
1t was the same O'Brieny but little
less Of him, who carried Stanley Ket-
chel ten rounds at the Old Rational
Sporting Club and hit him hundred
lmes to ketchels once. To be sure,
ketchels one punch stretched O'Brien
sclous, but then the final bell rang
and O'Brien Won on points, although
the referee had to lift him to his feet
to raise his arm in token of victory.
The tradition is gone now, and once
where there was nothing stomach is
beginning TO suggest itself. Still,
there is glory for the fighter of orty-
five who can still swap punches with
a champion, even with the he~vy
gloves, for a minute and thirty sec
onds. Q'Brien came out OF the ring
with a bloody mouth, but there was
so much tonic in the cheering that
after the boxing was over he returned
to do little hand wrestling with
Dempsey.
This is the exercise in which each
participant puts his right hand on the
other fellows chest and shoves. 1t
seems harmless, but O'Brien came off
little worse in this than in the fight
ing, for one Of the champions pushes
unbalanced him and sent him over on
his back. Even then the force of the
shove was not done, for O'Brien con-
tinued in motion rising up from his
shoulders to spin about on his head
like Fred Stone in a trick fall.
The old fighter was up in second
to show that he wasn't hurt, for he
did not seem to care much for the ad-
vice OF some actor in the crowd who
Jack" He liked applause better and
received the ovation which greeted him
as he went out with easy grace.
Jack in Purple Tights
In honor of the big Sunday turnout
tights. He even smiled little until
the work-ou actually began.
After that there was no more con-
versation. Dempsey simply cannot
continue to be either good natured or
loouacious once he has the gloves on.
He began with Eddie O'Hare, who
worked him fast and seemed to show
that first-rate man with good left
lab could give him a lot OF trouble.
Dempsey practices ducking good deal,
but his defense against the straight
left is not adequate. Many Of the ex-
perts to the contrary: "We don't be-
lieve Dempsey would have had much
chance with old Jack Johnson"
That fist would have been IN ms lace
continuously, but, Of course, he is go
r,1rh test in meeting
Carpenter. The Frenchman's straight
left does not seem to amount to much.
Larry Williams, rather spare, blond
heavyweight, came next, and dli not
furnish much of a workout. Mostly
he hung on and let Dempsey punch him
in the stomach, content that it wasn't
his face which was being hit. AS he
looked out over the landscape, his chin
on Dempsev's shoulder, he seemed not
unlike a patient cow which had run into
fence and wished it were not there.
O'Brien Bout Lively
Jack Renault came next for one round,
and the big Canadian also refrained
from mixing it. Next came O'Brien,
who provided the hveliest bout of the
afternoon. Dempsey was ready for
more and broke his long silence to ask
''where's Ghee at?''
you've had enough said Kearns,
and gave him rope to skip.
II is fortunate for the sake of our ma
tional honor that the contest on July 2
is not to be for the ropeskipping cham
pionship. Here the superiority of Car
pentier is enormous. Jack did not go
as much as ten without a miss. On his
performance of this afternoon he did
not show enough to warrant his being
matched with any one of q hundred
little girls on Amsterdam Avenue.
Next he lay down and touched his
toes, and this he does better. Leaving
the ring, he was asked to shake hands
with two babies. This he did pleasantly
and somewhat perfunctorily, smiling at
both the children, neither Of whom cried
much.
At the request of a movie picture
operator he consented 20 pose in the
middle of group of newspaper men.
"Will all the newspaper men please
come over on the porch and have their
pictures taken?" shouted Kearns. Six
hundred and fifty of the thousand spec
tators Immediately came forward. We
always knew journalism was one of the
crowded professions