Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-07-10

Richard made this announcement
when he returned to Madison Square
Garden, after making the rounds of
the various ticket agencies.
Never have ] seen such a record
advance sale and never have ] seen
fight tickets in such demand" Rick
ard said.
Demand Ii Exceptional.
AS great as was the request for
the Dempsey-Ca Carpenter bout, 1t never
equaied the demand that has arisen
FOR the Willard-Firpo battle. An en-
tireiy new element seems to have
come into the boxing game in the
last year and 1t Is due to nothing
else. as see 1t, than the great work
of Firpo. who has won the support
or virtually all the people Of Spanish
or Italian blood in this section. They
are all behind him and they are pur-
chasing tickets, not by ones and
tWos, but In groups. Society folk,
also. are ordering tickets, and I can
safely say that the crowd which at
as representative of the civic and So
cial life of New York as was the
Dempsey-Carpentier battle.
Flrpo seems to have drawn the
Following that was behind Carpen-
tier. besides thousands OF new fol-
lowers in the game. The Italians are
wonderful boxing fans. l have had
a chance to see this demonstrated
whenever leading Italian boxer APP
pesred for me. But Ffrpo has won
over not only the Italian but the
Spanish following. 1 can't say how
many Of them will see the willard
Firpo bout, but they will be well rep
resented. There were more than
$4,000 paid admissions for the Car
pentier bout and l expect the coming
battle will exceed thig number"
Final Day Of Hard Work.
their final day of hard work. Willard
already Is down to weight and Firpo
has stated that he has been ready for
the past week. At his training quar-
ters at the Columbus Sporting Club.
little boxing, some bag punching,
took short run and called II a day
Today and tomorrow he will merely
Timber up. He said that he felt he
was physically fit for the match and
would engage in no more smuggling
matches. as he did not care at this
late date to take any chances of in
juring his hands.
Down at Long Branch. n. j., Train
the work OF Firpo. 1t was an effort
for him to keep the big fellow from
overworking. but he finally impressed
upon him that it was necessary to
all his strength for the big test
against Willard. Firpo boxed five
rounds. worked in the gymnasium
for half hour; took a short run. had
a rundown and called 1t a day.
Jack Shelly, who is directing Will
lard's training, said yesterday that
the former champion never was in
better condition in his life and that
Forest. who helped to. condition
Dempsey for the willard battle, said
that in F'irpo he had another great
fighter who would hand Willard the
30 to nj hfvf ~
Acres that Dempsey handed the big
Kansan in Toledo.
A survey of the records of both
Willard and Firpo shows the terrific
punching power displayed by both
men. Firpo has not been in the pro-
fessional game very long. but in that
time, according to the figures re-
leased at Promoter Richards office.
battles and has registered eighteen
knockouts. willard has had thirty
four fights and is credited with nine
teen knockouts.
Comparison of the Boxers.
In all Of his battles to date Firpo
has had the advantage OF weight and
strength. He never has faced q man
physically his equal. but in Willard
he will oppose a fighter rated one of
the most powerful that ever entered
a ring. willard is big and strong and
has demonstrated under IRE that he
can take punishment. He was floored
by Dempsey seven times In one round,
but never quit. He continued to bat
tie for two rounds more, and only
when he was unable to come out for
the fourth round was the battle over.
Firpo has not been seen under
real test. Only once, and that against
Brennan, did he have to extend him
self He proved then that he could
take punishment and seemed to fight
better when being punished. How
ever, it remains to be seen whether
he can stand up and fight back after
tasting Wizards best punches.
Firpo continues to be favored at
odds Of s to 8. Those who have seen
him in his work at Long Branch as
sert that he Is a much improved
fighter over the one who was able to
knock out Bill Brennan. In that
fight all he had was a right hand. but
Trainer De Forest has been working
on his left ever since the Brennan
battle, and only yesterday De Forest
stated that when Firpo goes into this
battle he will have two hands instead
of one.