Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-28

HlIl III inc 1OuTtH. carpenter mad v
torn him to pieces and he was done
left hook to the belly and right t
than on the jaw
There was lot of talk about
Dempsey carrying him for the pic.
lures sake. My orders were to win
as quickly as possible. Dempsey is
one fighter who can't carry a man.
! He simply can't pull his punches. He
must fight. to keep going. It's the
only way he can fight. He's never
going to lose his title by decision.
He's either going to knock his man
out or get knocked out. You can take
that from me.
Cannot Carry a Man.
He has the style of the killer. He
knows no other. He is a big ketchel.
a Iavigne, a McGovern, a Walcott.
He knows no other style, so it is fool
ish to think anybody is going to out
point him for the title. One or the
other must go. Carpenter out of the
way we turned our attention to vaude-
vile. A little of that and then we
moved on to California, where we
entered into real estate and hotel
business as partners.
There didn't seem to he an opponent
worth while just then. Floyd John
son was making good around New
York and big Firpo was doing his
best to fight his way to recognition
around the small New Jersey clubs.
Dempsey was getting anxious about
the situation, as he realized that he
was laying off too much.
Fights weren't coming often enough.
He cared more about the work than
he did the money. He had plenty of
that.
I looked up Jess Willard and talked
over a comeback for him. He still
was in good condition and he thought
he would try a comeback. advised
him to fight himself back into favor
and make tour. meeting all that
he could get before him.
He thought it a pretty good idea.
Fipo Gains Limelight.
He fgured~to fight three or four
times before tackling Jack again and
I put the proposition up to Rickard
1t was to TeX's liking and we started
old Jess off on his comeback jaunt.
In the meantime Ffrpo and Johnson
had come along fine. They were be-
ginning to notice Firpo. He was
picturesque fellow and Richard felt
sure he was a great possibility.
Bill Farnsworth was running a milk
fund show for Mrs. Hearst, and Will
lard was offered a fight with Floyd
Johnson. 1t was a tremendous sue
cess that show and old Jess came out
on top with knockout.
Firpo knocked out Jack McAuliffe
in three rounds on the same card, so
that they doomed up as the natural
attraction and Richard put it on in
the Jersey City bowl. Firpo won. of
course, and he stood out as the chal,
lenger. He had stunned them with
his strength and punching power. The
old ballyhoo helped things along and
no man was ever built up quicker
than Firpo.
1t ended old Willard as comeback
star. If Richard had hoped to bring
Jess and Jack together again, that
bout ended 1t right there.
Firpo's style made it certain that a
Dempsey fight would be a fast and fu-
rious battle If ever they met. Few
expected Firpo to win it, yet they
knew he'd be fighting until he was
dropped. 1t was a good guess.
Wills Bout Squelched.
The deman for a Dempsey and
Wills bout was kindled some by his
friends, but never in all the time
there has been so much CAB about It
was there ever a legitimate offer from
a reliable promoter. Wills came along
and posted forfeit with the New
York commission challenging Demp-
sey and William Muldoon. then the
chairman of the commission. called me
to his office and said that | would
have to accept the challenge in six
months time or the title would be
vacated to Wills.
I always wanted the match, so I
thought this would be a good oppor-
tunity to accept and articles were
drawn up. the fight to be left open
to bids and to go to the promoter
making the best offer. The bids would
be left open for 60 days. l signed
everything and was on the level with
1t all.
Ten days after I was ordered to
fight, 1 was told by the commission
that the fight would never take place.
All the promoters were scared out by
that ruling and / started working on
q Dempsey and Gibbons bout. Null
doom came out fat against the bout
and said that Dempsey was too big
and Gibbons too small. He wouldn't
stand for 1t. he said,
That ended 1t for us. I went West
and plunged into the hotel business in
Los Angeles. We interested ourselves
in the Great Western Coal Co. of Utah
and built railroad II miles long to
help the enterprise. While Dempsey
and | were in Salt Lake City we got
a telegram from Harry Pollock asking
me to come on to Chicago to close. for
match that looked good to him.'
left Salt Lake that night and when
at Greenwich. Wis. there was tele.
gram for me telling he that Mike Col
Inns and fellow named Melumby had
flown from Great Falls, Mont. and had
just missed me at Salt Lake. They
had rome with plans for Gibbons
Dempsey fight at Shelby. Mont.
fCopyright. 1921