The Washington times., 1926-09-24
New Champion a Good Thing for
Sports, Says Kirk Miller

knew champion this pulling and haul.
ing and darting and ducking iE
akin to the classic dances which
express emotions and harmony in
physical gestures.
He does not see in the gruelling
pastime the blood and gore ard
grimness which leave their reflec.
ton in the eyes of many-he sees
only a mastery of human move
ment which spells beauty of action
and grace of form.
Gentleman, Too
And so he has come to climb in
nine brief boxing years to the pin
nacle of a profession which has
been held by a motley crew from
the time of John l.. Sullivan on
down the ages of Corbett, Fitzsim-
mons, Jeffries, and the others.
Today he seems to preside, like
peacock, head and shoulders
above all of his illustrious predeces-
sors, if for no other reason than
he has a body and physique that
would excite the admiration Of a
sculptor and elicit "ahs" and "ohs"
from a class in drawing from life.
His splendidly clean life which
has brought him to the age Of 2S
with all of this rich inheritance,
together with his bland, unruffled,
unexcitable disposition, make him
unique, in a business where 30
many nondescripts have thrived.
It is no idle speculation, then,
to say that 95 per cent Of the
people who had any ideas whatso'
ever regarding the outcome Of the
hoo oh ffuhf QrQ
"eating crow" today, as they. say
Of those who live to see their
words turn against them.
And not the least of these today
ia your humble servant, who has
no alibi to offer either for his
choice nor for the man who be-
trayed it. The better man won,
and we wish our tiny voice to be
among the multitude which today
acclaims a new victor.
Jack Dempsey was sorry spec
tacle from bell to bell. It was
fair enough to allow him one
round in which to draw a bead
on the style of opposition he was
to meet--to feel out his man-to
learn what he had and to decide
on procedure.
And when the second round got
under way, Jack flew in with
everything he had, which was far
too little, as Tunney met his as
saults with good grace and showed
no signs Of weakening.
Third Round Told
The third came along and the
spectators could not help but won.
der when the tearing, teasing tiger
was going to uncork his morphine
tablets, and from that round on
there was a sneaking suspicion
that Jack Dempsey of 1925 was
NOT the Jack Dempsey OF 1919.
nay, nor the Dempsey Of any of
the years bstwixt and between
those very important punctuation
points in his career.
Dempsey did try to bore and
weave his way into Tunney's body
during the first five rounds. He
led the fighting from the start
but what did Tunney do? He let
the tiger-man waste himself in his
own fury and cuffed him inter.
mittently the while.
The fourth round was probably
the only one in which Tunney
looked like he wasn't up to specifi-
cations. Dempsey rushed from his
corner with the bell and caught
Tunney flush on the jaw with a left
and right before the ex-Marine was
barely erect from his stool. They
went to the ropes, and later In the
round Tunney had the fight back
on an even keel. That round was
the grand tip-off that Jack Demp-
sey had gone back. Those two
wallops, which would have foored
Willard and Firpo and Carpenter
and Gibbons, too, in the old days,
were lacking, and a murmur went