The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-07-08
DEMPSEY is IN PINK
OF CONDITION WITH
NO ONE TO BATTLE.
BY FRANi< g. MIsNKE

business of being a fightless champion
is awful" confded Jack Dempsey, af-
ter stiff afternoon workout. I'm
much in the position of fellow who is
going somewhere but doesn't know
where he's going. So he runs around
in circles, burns up energy-and ac-
complishes nothing.
Training is the toughest thing a
fighter has to do When he's working
for a fight it's not so bad. He has a
definite goal that he wants to reach.
But when a fellow has to train and
keep on training, without any fights
ahead of him, it's a weary grind.
81 can't lay off training for very long
because of the fear that I'll get too
far from condition. Loafing killed off
Fitz, Jeffries, Johnson and Willard
more than did anything else. I've
learned something from what happen
ed to them. So train whenever / get
a chance.
i've been hard at work out here
and I'm going to stick to it. Some day,
maybe in a few weeks, I'll be right in
the pink and ready for fight. But
there won't be any fight. So I'll have
to lay off for a while, fatten up little
and then train it off again. And so
it'll go.
boy, oh, boy, 1 wish l had few
fights dated up for myself. If Kearns
would only come along and tell me l
had to fight about Is times within the
next six months, that would be happy
news for me.
Wants to Fioht
do you know what I'd like to do?
Fight every fellow that's prominent in
the heavyweight division today-mix
it with the ones I've never met, as
well as give another shot at the title
TO the fellows I've beaten. They all
think they can beat me up if they
just got another chance. | hate to
see em deprived of it. But Kearns is
the boss. I'm just the champion.
What I'd like to do is to tackle
Brennan, Willard and Fulton again
| and give Miske another try if he want
ed it. Then the newcomers-Gibbons
Greb and that crowd = could come
right along afterward. By that time
I'd be all tuned up nicely and could
sort of cap the climax of my fighting
| campaign by meeting Harry Wills
! sey's eyes.
"Once 1 used to fight that way
kept busy all the time he said. THAT
was the life then. Kearns once dated
me for three fights in 10 days and l
had to travel from the middlewest to
Oklahoma and then to Georgia to fill
| those engagements. The only training
I used to do then was to get haircut
and shave-and that was about all
needed, for | kept in great shape by
| fighting.
| That's the only way to keep in trim
fight, fight. and then fight some
more.
| Promoters Shy
/ Being a champion is a great thing
sometimes. But it isn't any happy
stuff to be a champion and want tc
Highland not be able to get fights
The fans have the idea that l ought
to be fighting instead of loafing-and
l feel the same way about it. But
can't fight unless someone will pro
mote the match.
The promoters shy at matching me
with anyone else but Wills because
they think l outclass other opposition
and the bouts wouldn't draw. An6
then, in the same breath that they say
/ ought to fight Wills, they add thai
they don't want to handle the battle
because they are afraid they couldn't
put it over because of opposition to {
white fighter meeting negro.
Its a great life-nix!
Back in the old days fighters useC
to take on two men in one night. Blu
that stunt died out a long time ago
If I can't get fights pretty soon In
going to try to influence Kearns Il
revive it. Anything to get back int
the ring again If they want me t.
mix it with three different men OF
the same night, it's all the same to me
I'm the three years that I've beer
champion I've had three fights-a tota
of less than 10 rounds-hardly enough
to be real days workout. And al
, the while I've been storing up energ,
and burning with the fighting fever
Say" exploded Dempsey, in cor
clusion, eff Kearns doesn't talk som
promoter into giving me a fight gosl
darned soon, I'm going to wande
along the highways and begin quar-
relling with every big bozo l meet
And I hope the pedestrians will b
tough enough to give me the thrill O
battle which means more to me tina.
lanything else that I've ever expel
fenced"
Copyright 1921 BY King Features
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