The Washington times., 1922-02-04

every old matchmaking trail back
and Tom Crib.
The attitude Of both the Dempse,
Ind the Wills camps at this time 1.
passive They are. in a manner OF
speaking. permitting fistic nature to
: take its course.
And fistio nature. operating by
] way Of the newspapers, and by back
room and street corner argument. Is
doing very nicely. The match is
stsaming.
Jack Kearns. the slim, suave man.
aCer of the champion. and probably
the caefest handler of a fighter the
Rme has ever known, Is in New
York
He facttly admits that he Is
willing to make the match III
: there In . public demand for It.
I Kearns knows better than any
ono else that public demand" for
\ . pugiHstic bout Is not born. but
made, and made only by the exer-
else Of much persistence and pa
\ tience.
His adroit answers to questions
about the match are as 30 many
bricks In the building up of the
Dempsey-Wills structure. They are
construed by some as meaning that
the champion is trying to evade
wills. whereas they lead the more
directly to O meeting.
Kearns 10 the business manager of
o man that he firmly believes Is the
greatest fighter in the world. As
business manager It In Kearn's duty
to produce business for his fighter.
And although there is money to be
made In vaudeville tours, motion pic
lures, and other side lines, Kearns
knows that the real money Is in q
Eight.
Wills seems to be the most for
midable opponent that Dempsey
championship era has produced.
Kearns knows that a match with
Wills viii probably give Dempsey the
biggest purse in the history of the
boxing game.
Kearns would be fool to over
Hook such an opportunity, and
Kearns h no fool.
It was Kearns who first saw the
possibilities of the match with
Georges Carpenter. II was, in fact,
Kearns who dug up Carpenter as
an opponent for Dempsey, sending
Dan McKetrick to Descamps. the
Frenchman's manager, to make the
match at q time when it looked as
II II had dropped through.
When Kearns asked for $500, 900
Tor the fighters end. speaking for
himself and for Descamps, who was
daxed at the very idea OF asking SO
much money, many said Kearns was
foolish.
: Yet the gate receipts of $780,
900 proved that Kearns had not ex-
aGgerated the value of the fighters,
but had indeed undervalued them.
As Manager of the champion.
Kearns' present attitude must nee
essarily be more passive than that
Of Wills, the challenger. The cham
plon IL not supposed to go around
Bunting UP opponents.
Wills manager is Paddy Mullins,
IN old-time New York East Slider.
Mullins In not Of the aggressive
type Of manager when 1t comes to
seeking matches for his man. He
has been content to let the prospect
Of q shot at the championship sim
ner along quietly.
wills, unlike Jack johnson, who
would have been booming all over
the country, Is also unaggressive
I'm the matter Of seeking publicity,
and oddly enough this bashfulness
p adding something to the
''smOke-up."
With conditions reversed, and the
brisk Kearns handling Wills, the
match would probably have been
dgned, sealed and delivered long
ago. although Mullins attitude will
probably attain the same end. It
might be added that Kearns and
Mullins are old friends in the fistic
game, which both have followed for
years.
The chief obstacle In the way of
tho match IL supposed to be Wills
color. The promoters may have some
difficulty Indicating a site for the
bout, but In the end they will find
one. They always do. In view Of
tie fact that the State athlete COM
mission has taken II upon itself to
edit Dempsey's opponents, 1t might
consider Willis worthy enough to
permit the bout here.
Directors to the match will point
out that great prejudice was devel-
oped by the Johnson-J effries affair.
Most OF the prejudice was due. Of
spourse, to the fact that the colored
man won. Part of the present
Fsmoke-up" is demonstrating that
wills is quite a different character
from johnson.
The so-called color line" is a
racial prejudice that we have always
commended should have no place In
port. Indeed, 1t exists only In
pugilism. a sport which has less to
commend II than any other. You may
be sure that however gingerly Jack
Kearns and his fighter, Dempsey,
speak Of willis color, they have no
real feeling on the subject.
Kearns has managed colored
fighters. Dempsey has fought a
number OF them, John Lester
johnson, George Christian, and
others. He once acted as sparring
partner 10 q black boxer. He al
ways has colOred men working
with him In training. Kearns Of
fered Wills 5000 to work with
Dempsey nj Atlantic Cityg and
Wills refused.