The Washington herald., 1921-02-07
BRITTON, CHAMPION
AND LEWIS MEET In
GARDEN FOR TITLE
Champs Knockout Vic
tory Over Challenger
Gives Him Edge.

NEW YORK, Feb. s.-when the
gong clangs tomorrow night In
Madison Square Garden for the first
round OF the wsIter-weight cham
pionship bout two veteran pugilists
will meet. for the eighteenth time.
Jack Britton, king of the welters,
and his challenger, kid" (Ted)
Lewis. former. welter-weight champ,
are not strange to each others ring
tactics. They have already engaged
in 1ss rounds OF hsticuffs. Accord
ing to decisions rendered Lewis has
three victories TO his credit over
Britton while the champ has only
two, one of which was a knockout,
to crow about.
In spite of the fact that these
boys have hammered away at each
other so often there Is still great
deal of interest attached to their
milling. They have at all times
demonstrated that their ring work
was sincere. No one has ever been
able to say that they ever stalled
a fight.
Rrittons last knockout victory
over Lewis and the fact that he is
champion give him the edge with
most OF the pugilistic fans. These
considerations are ignored and the
matter. viewed in the light Of their
conditions today both men seem to
shape Hp as evenly matched. Brit
tons ring Eeneralship is a big thing
to be considered in his favor. But
on the other hand, Jack cannot sock
an hard as kid" can. The champ
will have to exercise all Of his
strategy to dodge the sledge-ham-
mers that kid" wields.
As to physical proportions they
are nearly even. Lewis reach is
two inches better than Britton s.
The kid" has youth to make up
for anything else. that he may lack
He is only "a. Britton is we'll over
IS. Lewis is No greenhOrn at the
boxing game. He has engaged in
200 fights since the beginning of his
ring career at the age of IA years
Starting in England as mere boy
he gained the sobriquet OF Kid,
and this nickname has stuck to him
throughout his eleven years OF
fighting Britton separated him
from this welter-weight crown al
Canton, Ohio, two years ago. when
he put the Enslishman to sleep In
the ninth frame. The deposed king
claimed lack of condition and said
he was suffering from yellow jaun-
dice Tomorrow he goes into the
ring in tiptop condition, according
10 his own statement today. SO il
he fails to regain his title he Will
lave no excuse to offer on these
lines.
Britton has trained very hard over
in his New Jersey camp, and he said
today that the effects of his work
outs would reveal themselves most
Iy in his wind and ability to take
punishment if necessary
! "Of course my speed has been in
creased, and I've been primfng my
right for a more hefty swing" de-
cEared Jack, but I've paid lot of
attention to sharpening up my wind
and getting in shape to travel fast
at all stages Of the fight"
Britton apparently doesn't inteno
10 let the rough stun hang fire. He
wants a quick victory. Lewis, it
seems has much the same idea. He
doesn't care to haggle about eX-
changing blows.
when I see my opening-bang!-
I'm going to land heavy. Yes; l
know that Britton is clever at dodg-
ing blows, but he can't fade away
from what I've got all the time. "
declared the young contender.
The following measurements of
the two boxers show how evenly
they are proportioned physically,
with the exception of age: