The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-14
DEMPSEY SEEMS EAGER TO BATTLE THE DUSKY WILLS
By SPARROW MGANN Special Correspondent of The Herald Copyright, 1922, by The Age-Herald)


 New York, September 1S.-Jack Dempsey and his manager, Kearns, are now apparently eager to do battle against Harry Wills. Their attitude may be the result of the , dietum by the New York Athletic Commission concerning conditions under which the bout may be held In New York Those conditions are practically prohibitive. More like ly, however, the readiness of the champion to meet the big negro is due to the showing of Wills in his fight against the overrated Tut Jackson.
 Wills beat Jackson easily enough, but his manner of fighting im- pressed the wiseacres with the be- lief that if he boxes Dempsey as he did his negro opponent, he will taste defeat early in the bout.
 WILLS Early Work
 When Wills first came Into mo- tice. seven or eight years ago. gen. eral cleverness was his distinguished quality. He had dandy left and his footwork made him one of the hardest men in the ring to hit. Ap- parently he has lost a lot of his long range accuracy. This has been dem onstrated not only against Tut Jackson but against other fighters Harry has met in recent years. He is a wild hitter now. whereas he used to be a sharpshooter. It Is only when he Is close to his man, when. in fact, he is holding him with one arm and punching with the other, that he does real damage.
 Harry Fights In Close
 There Is no doubt he can hit hard CT than he used to hit, but he seems to have sacrificed everything to mauling with his right while he has his long left arm wrapped around his adversary. Besides. the men he has fought have been second and third raters, who were frightened before they got into the ring. What would happen were Jack Dempsey the opponent would. be another mat ter, since Jack doesn't object to fighting In clinches and would be likely to give Wills as good, If not better, than he received.
 In such event, it would be Ques- tion which Is better able to withstand punishment. Judging the matter fairly on the basis of what the men have done it would seem that Demp- sey is the tougher in this respect. Any man who can take the waliop on the jaw that he took from car pentier and still go on fighting is a genuine IS karat shock absorper' Make no mistake about that. on the other hand, more than one pork anu beaner has upset Wills with piow to his chin. There Is no doubt Jack can punch faster and more accurately when in close than Wills can.
 Advantage of Jnck
 Fighting at long range, 1t would seem as though Dempsey is vastly more skillful and that he would De all over Wills. Of course. there is a chance that Wills has not forgot ten his old time skill, but If this IS the case, he has shown nothing to prove 1t since 1919 at latest.
 Tt Is Aby no means out of the ques- ton that Wills ard Dempsey will meet this fall. Jack needs the money and all Kearns' carefully laid plans as to bouts with set-ups have falien apart. In Michigan City. he gets no and New York equaliy little. So, unless all signs faii. II IS nrobable the two will hook up un- der Tex Richards auspices in Jer- sey citv before the snow falls.
 In the meantime. Jess Willard IS in theatres. showing spec tators the result of more than two wears of light training. This. or course. means he Is working up to a challenge to Dempsey. His present campaign is scheme to build up respect for him as contender TOT the crown that Dempsey took away from him at Toledo.