The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-21
Tex Rickard Concludes
 :. Big Series
Promoter Writes, Of Luis Angel EiEpe~And Future ].
 OF Heavyweight Class
By TEX RIcKARn

--. By TEX HICkAHo Iasss and and south America by HsrtS xmsrIsas nswssaper Alliance. for Accelerate. All rishts reserved. 4 With the Dempsey -Firpo fight over and no immediate prospect of another great, championship battle, this brings me to the end of my narrative. I have jumped over the ground from the days as a cowboy, the adventures in Alas ka, the start at Goldfield and the Iamassings of good. sized fortune as promoter. There Is little more to say.
 There is no question in my mind that Luis Firpo will be picturesque figure in boxing for some time to come. Don't get the impression that he Is a dub. With all of his wild bull tactics Firpo is inclined to be studious. He has an immense amount of pa- tience. From his letter I know that he is willing to work back by degrees to another crack at the big prize.
 He will get his chance, all right. First he will fight Harry Wills, I think. Offers have been made for such fight and the fans seem to demand it. Sooner or later those fellows are bound to get together. After that Dempsey. I hope 1t will give another great thrill.
 I cannot close without paying a tri- bute to Jack Dempsey, as holder of the champic nship. He is one of the few champions who have never licked Jess Willard at Toledo he has been willing to meet all corners. In fact he has become impatient at times at the lack of suitable oppon- ents.
 Outlook Now Less Promising
 It is true, of course, that any of the so;called contenders would like fight with Dempsey just to share in the re- ceipts. But when a man becomes champion the fans will not be satis- fled with an opponent who has not some real prospects himself. The fight fan never likes to see a champion knock over set-ups. The. fight must be one that will draw. Otherwise the purse required to get Dempsey in the ring could not be covered by the re- ceipts. I have no fault to find with Dempsey and Kearns for wanting big money. They are entitled to it.
 At present the fight game does not look as promising as it did when l first took charge of the Garden and position on the part of title holders to protect their titles rather than to make money may kill the goose tbat laid the golden egg.
 A champion is entitled to a certain amount of consideration by virtue of
  not impose upon it.
 Fighters have much more sentiment and pride in their calling than a lot of people believe. Some of them would be, content to calmly rest on their oars, enjoy what money they have made and never fight again. They do not want to risk those titles. You can readily see what that would mean in the long run; there will be no fights worth while.
 The ultimate object of all fight fans is to see a championship decided. They will patiently watch the runners up and gradually form opinions as to class. This keeps them going to the smaller fights. But unless the cham pions eventually give the other fel- lows a chance there will be no incen- tive to keep going to the smaller events
 Boxing. like any other sport or business, must occasionally show it's best opponents of the. art or it will die.
 New York Has The People
 In other states they complain that New York has a corner on all the big with the prices paid at Madison Square Garden. There is something in this, of course. But. to save me, I don't know what can be done about 1t. A fighter usually gets about what he can draw. It is the same on the stage. The law of supply and demand is just as strong in sport as in busi- ness. -~
 New York has The big population. It is also a spending population. If, for instance fighter can come to New York and get S1o,000 for a match. why should he go somewhere else and fight for less? We can not help that If is stmnlv a circI,mstanca- situation over which nobody has con- trol.
 The intimation that our organiza- ton is somewbat of . trukt. or monop-a