Evening star., 1923-09-01

Then. after | whipped Willard. Mr..
i9ckard asked me to fight Dempsey
,h!S ran He said that if did not do
thIs il would soon be winter and We
could not fight outdoors. where a big
crowd could gather. Then before it
A"t warm again. SO he could hold the
!i@ht outdoors. mis- agreement with me
you'd be ended. had promised TO
"ghi @b"mpSey for him when he ask
{! NE, $" | told hiv | would do what
l had told him | would d"
told him ! would rather watt AN
t'h"r year, for then I would hc more
sure of victory. but that | would keep
my word n" matter what happened.
heeause | helity' that | should keep
my word when give it, | went t"
Mexico and Havana. | had given my
word to promoters there bofur" the
fight That would come before knew
that was tn night Dempsey so soon
Som! ,C the boxing writer's say
That ! went I" MeXic" ANA Havana
lIHt I" make some money. Perhaps
trey DO not know that after beat
Willard had offers from promoters
In America that would have made
me more money than | made in Mex
IEp and Havana. They offered me
$4,000 just TO fight Martin Burke
that much on my whole trip to Cuba
AVID NeXic". After | haI whipped
WIZARD | knew that I could make
more money staying in the United
States than by going south. but
rad already given my word and in
lIQS case my word was given to
brother Latin Americans and | could
'tot break it to make more money
~ North America or to make more
"nre that | would win the champion
>hip OF the world. If | must be a
Far and a word breaker to be the
Kind of a prize fighter that would
satisfy some of the men who writ @
"bout me. then | am afraid that those
men Mill always think bad of me.
Denies lie Is wide Open"
would like to speak about another
thing that some of the boxing writer's
say about me. They say that | am
what they call wide open at all times.
thAt have no defense. that anybody
can hit me. Perhaps that is true. The
only thing | would like TO say to them
is that | have been u prize fighter
long enough to be fighting for the
championship OF the world and | have
no mark on my face. | do not have
Il cauliftOwer ear. | have never been
put down for the count. Joe McCann
who is now my Sparring partner. hit
me so hard that ! dropped to one knee
and my hands for less than second.
! was up before the referee could be-
2in to count
If l. was as easy toazhit as they say
| am, does ii not seem that | would
IL" SCARED or that some one would
have hit me hard enough to knock me
down? Perhaps then, they will say
that I never fought any man who was
good. Then | ask them who is there
who is good? They said Bill Brennan
would lick me and when he did not
then they said Brennan was no good.
They said McAuliffe would lick me
and when he did not then they said
McAuliffe never could fight.
Then / licked Willard and they say
that he is an old man and was never
much good even when he was young.
Sometimes | think that if | should be
so fortunate that / should beat Demp-
Say and become the champion of the
world then they will say that Demp-
soy was sick with diphtheria the
night of the fight or perhaps that he
never could really fight anyway. Per-
haps they will say then that Dempsey
was just an actor and all these years
since he beat Willard at Toledo he
WAS only pretending to be cham
pion.
Copyright 1923, in United States and Canada
by North American Newspaper Alliance
All Rights Reserved