San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-16
Sentiment in New York
Seems to Favor Fight
With Big Negro.
DEMPSEY CAN TAKE 1T
Showing Against Firpo's
Punches Put Him "In
Solid" With Many.
BY SPARROW MCANN.

Copyright, by The San Antonio Light.
New York, Sept. 15.-To make him
self monarch of all he surveys, Jack
Dempsey now plans to meet Harry
Wills, the negro stevedore.
VIII the bout be held: And it so,
will it be held in New York? Eve
since the question of Il Wills-Demp-
sey fight was preached, the writer
has felt that it would be bad stuff to
Gull off the battle in New York City.
There are 100000 negroes in the
metropolis and they might get too ex-
cited over affairs. Race riots aren't
pleasant things.
When Dempsey put the giant Firpo
down for the count $1,000 or so fight
bugs at the Polo Grounds gave
Dempsey the first enthusiastic cheer
since he won the title, the next thing
the fans did was to crave the blood OF
Harry Wills. Not one, but scores Of
the spectators who filed out OF the
arena Friday night were heard by the
writer to say:
well. Dempsey is real champion.
He's got only one more job on his
hands-and that job is to put Harry
Wills out of business"
It's Up to Richard.
So the contest now is up to Tex
Richard. Rickurd. it will be remem-
bered, has said all along that Harry
Wills is the one man in the fight
game today who could enter the ring
with Dempsey with an equal chance
of leaving the squared circle as the
,sworld champion. In this connection,
however, little up and up on Wills
may not be amiss.
Harry Wills hands are on the bum.
They've been that way since he
traded wallops with Glenn johnson, all
other darktown heavyweight. But
Harry wants chance at Dempsey
and he wants chance at the dough
that would be represented in a scrap
for world heavyweight title. Paddy
Mullins. his manager, also wants the
same chance for his duskg ward. So
Harry like Bre'er fox in Uncle Remus'
stories has 'ies been layin' low"
since the Glenn johnson fight. He has
been nursing his dukes. and he thinks
that if he got in the ring with Demp-
sey they would not go back on him
before he made the white man kiss the
canvas for the count. That's wha.
Harry thinks. But the Friday night
Firpo-Dempsey bout gave everyone
new slant on the Manassa mauler. He
not only can sock, but he can take 1t.
Gets Him I'm Good"
Dempsey's ability to absorb the
best there was in FirpO's right and
come back for more, has done more to
put Jack in the favor of fight fans
than any other episode in his career.
And now that the postmorten season
has arrived we get an echo from the
Shelby. Mont. doingS where Dempsey
permitted Tommy Gibbons to go ID
rounds. What was wrong with Demp-
sey in the Gibbons scrap? Was July
4 an off color day for the champion.
or is Tommy Gibbons one of the clev.
crest men in the ring today? IL we
figure that Gibbons is wizard who
lacks only a knockout punch. nothing
more remains to be said But-other.
wise il should be recorded that some
thing must have been rotten in Den
mark or Shelby on the day in ques-
ton.
-. The writer saw the Dempsey-Gib-
bons set-to and also was on hand for
the Dempsey-Firpo fight. Dempsey in
the Montana ring and Dempsey in the
Polo Grounds were as far away from
one another in science. strength. cour-
age and fighting ability MS the North
Pole is from the South Pole. Perhaps
the Gibbons fight was warning 10
the champions warning that came in
time. At any rate he was a changed
man when he met Firpo and whether
one personally likes or dislikes Demp-
sey let it be said to his credit that
he kept the title on North American
soil.