The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-27

doubt on his present form, and the
back q great deal
A few weeks ago Wills met BIZ
Tate out in Portland, Ore. Coming
out of a clinch In the first round
Wills shot his right to the Jaw ana
nut Tate down and out. The referee
promptly disqualified Wills for foul
ing.
This unsatisfactory ending caused
such a row that the two big negroes
offered to fight II out again ana
charge nothing at the gate. This time
they went the full ten rounds, and
the best Wills could do was to get
q draw.
That Wills could do nothing with
Tate when forced to break clean
and not hold and hit opens up the
question rs to whether Wills can
fight like q champion when forced
TO obey the rules. Harry Is very
tough person in the clinches, but
can he box In the open. d..
II Wills meets Norfolk in the Gar
den he will not be allowed to hold
and hit, for the local commission
frowns on such tactics. Norfolk has
a style of fighting that Is something
like that of Dempsey. He Is strong.
rugged and a good hitter, but he IL
not invincible by any means. Long
after the veteran Sam Langford had
ceased to be a star he was good
enough to rock Norfolk to sleep.
Still more recently Lee Anderson
made him stop in q few rounds. But
for all that II Wills can put him to
i sleep there win be no further reason
to doubt that Harry deserves a
match for the title. II he cannot
lick Norfolk there In no reason to
get excited about q Wtlls-Dempsey
match.
Although q Dempsey-wills match
would be the biggest card that could
be offered. there is only a remote
chance that II will be staged. Ac-
cording to those in q position to
know what is going on In the inner
circles q Dempsey-Brennan bout Is
Brennan wiz need . great deal
Of building up before the public
win accept him. He has been
knocked out twice by Dempsey
and . third time seems to be en-
tirely unnecessary But the TACT
IuhI DEtIhkhnu btuCh tWChtO hoohFoc
instead Of kissing the canvas In
point. That he drew blood from tho
champions lips and cut his left
ear also win help.
These things afford the press agent
something to work on. The other al
legged contenders can offer even less
reason for a match, so II looks like
Bill next July unless Tom Gibbons
comes through before long.
All Gibbons needs just now to place
him in line for titular match Is q
knockout victory over some. good
second -rater. The trouble is Tom
seems to be unable to come through
when matched with q man who can
fight a little. He knocked over
twenty setups in succession, but fail
ed the first time he encountered q
| man who was not a pushover.
Both Gibbons and Brennan missed
q golden opportunity when they side
stepped matches with Fred Fulton
| Judging by the way Fulton per
formed against BARLEY Madden. either
Brennan or Gibbons would have
been able to stop the tall plasterer
Fulton was SO slow II was painful
to watch him perform. He looked
like a moving picture taken with q
slow motion camera.
A knockout victory over the languid
plasterer would have been all tina,
was necessary to build up either Glib
bons or Brennan for Dempsey. II
Brennan had done the trick they
might have said that Fulton quit, but
II Gibbons had knocked him out
Tom would have been hailed as the
greatest fighter Of the age, lust az
his brother Mike was before him.