THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER CHARLOTTE, N.C.. SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 5, 1919

DEMPSEY BECOMES THE WORLD'S CHAMPION HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER IN SPEEDY AND ONE-SIDED BATTLE Virtually Wipes Out Huge Jess Willard in One Round "NO USE TO CONTINUE," SAID THE EX-CHAMPION Knocked Down Five Times In First Round; Hangs on Ropes CROWD THOUGHT FIGHT OVER Dempsey, Believing Victory His, Leaves Ring, to Be Called Back for Two Rounds

_ Toledo, Ohio, July 4.- By virtue of one of the most speediest and most one- sided battles which ever decided a big fistic event. Jack Dempsey, who may now wish to be known by his full voting name of William Harrison Dempsey, today became the world's champion heavyweight boxer. _ To all intents and purposes, he wiped out the huge Jess Willard, fa- vorite in the meager betting, in one round. Dempsey thought the referee had announced him winner and ac- tually left the ring. But he was call- ed back and the butchery continued for two rounds more when Jess, sitting in his corner, with a bewildered look on his swollen countenance failed to respond to the gong for the fourth round. _ "It was of no use to continue," said the ex-champion. "My strength went from me in the first round." Willard Dazed _ He sat there, apparently the most surprised man in the United States at the moment. His right eye was closed and his ditto cheek swollen and blue with bruises. Blood covered his body and his arms hung so helplessly over the ropes that it seemed as if a child might hive him further abuse without arousing his interest. _ Dempsey was breathing hard when the fight ended, but it was from exer- tion and not from punishment. He escaped almost unhurt, but as he had been using his arms like trip hammers on the anatomy of his opponent for nine crowded minutes in a sun that sent the thermometer to 110 degrees, his heart was still pumping at the high pressure and he appreciated the breathing spell. _ In the first few seconds of the con- test it looked as if the experts who had been assigned to keep detailed account of all the blows struck might come measurably close to doing so, but it was only for a fraction of a mo- ment. After that, the experts did well to count Jack's blows, let alone take note how each was made. The challenger knocked the big fellow down five times in the first round and had him hanging helplessly on the ropes or draped over his own shoulders most of the time when he was not taking advantage of the count. Thought Fight Was Over. _ The crowd thought the fight was over in that round. Willard was down for the seventh time and the count was apparently about to end when the gong sounded. It was a modest gong which could not make itself heard be- fore so many people, and even Demp- sey did not get it. He crawled through the ropes and was headed out on to the shoulders of screaming fans when the truth was broken to him, and he was hauled back. _ Such fighting as the Kansas ranch- man produced was placed on exhibi- tion at the onset. He had stood in his corner a picture of confidence. His smile seemed that of one who had a brief and not unpleasant task before him. He certainly was all set to go, for just before time was called he was heard to remark: _ "Let's get this thing over." Attendance Disappointing. _ He measured the attendance, which disappointed estimates by about 50 per cent, with an appraising eye. _ Dempsey presented a contrast. None of the confidence of his training camp statements appeared in his bearing. The man across from him outweighed him 40 pounds and looked as big and impregnable as a metro- politan bank building. The mood of the challenger was plainly thoughtful and more than one ringside gazer whispered: "He's licked right now." _ When they were introduced, Jess sauntered over with the cordial man- ner of one desiring to reassure a youngster and took his hands in the friendliest way. Jack's handshake was friendly, too, just then, but it was the last token of friendship from those gloves. A minute or so later they were using Willard for a chop- ping block and some in the crowd were crying, "Stop it, it is plain mur- der." First Effective Blows. _ Dempsey's first effective blows, and the ones which apparently settled Willard's fate, were a right over Jess' shoulder to the jaw, a left to the body and a right to the jaw. Jess stagger- ed. His eye was closing and he reel- ed, and the challenger, with all the energy of his pulsing youth, began hit- ting him at will. _ The attendance was below expecta- tions. Seats were built for 80,000, and the estimate was for not more than half of these were occupied. Specu- lators lost heavily. They resold their tickets at anything from $5 to $15 under the gate prices. No betting was re- ported at the ringside nor was there much elsewhere, so far as could be as- certained. _ The heat of the day was terrific, in- tensified as it was by the vast acreage of green lumber. During the prelimi- nary bouts, which lasted from 11 o'clock till 2:30, a thermometer ex- posed as were the spectators and fighters, jumped to 120 degrees, which was the limit of what the instrument could record. it showed 110 degrees when Willard and Dempsey entered the ring. Crowd Surges to Mat. _ When Dempsey was proclaimed winner, the crowd surged on to the mat in the wild scramble to shake the hand of the new champion. At times some of them toppled over on to the telegraphers and reporters just below who were struggling in the mad dis- order to report what had happened. Police eventually dispersed them by hustling Dempsey away. Willard was taken to an automobile and disap- peared from view of the crowd which then itself began the task of covering the four miles from the arena to the city as best they could, by street car, automobile or on foot. _ While the passing of the heavy- weight championship was one of the most dramatic events of modern ring history. It was lacking entirely in high-class boxing. With the excep- tion of the first three snappy jabs with which Willard opened the con- test, the combat was simply a series of terrific drives and smashes, vir- tually all of which were delivered by Dempsey. _ The first of these crashing swings to land on Willard's jaw and body ap- peared to completely daze and take away from the title holder all power to either protect himself or fight back as had been expected by his admirers. Whether he could have stood up bet- ter under the battering of Dempsey a few years ago will always be a mooted question in the years to come when today's battle is discussed. It cannot be denied, however, that Willard was in good physical condition and dis- played gameness up to the moment that his seconds persuaded him to relinquish the championship to Demp- sey. Last Ounce of Resistance. _ This was demonstrated by the fact that the Kansas giant received in nine minutes of fighting time far more punishment than did Jeffries at the hands of Jack Johnson in their 15- round bout at Reno, and yet was able to respond to the bell had his seconds been calloused enough to send him again to the slaughter. Even after the disastrous ending of the first round, Willard flashed a momentary comeback in the second, which for a few seconds led to the belief among his supporters that he would weather the storm and carry the battle along on even terms for a few sessions at least. It was the last flicker of a spirit which was stronger than the flesh. Another sweeping right arm smash that flew over Willard's shoul- der and landed flush on his swollen, bleeding jaw, took the last ounce of resistance out of the giant and made his own downfall a matter of but minutes. _ An analysis of the newly crowned champion shows nothing new in his fighting methods. He tore into his op- ponent at top speed as has always been his fighting custom and simply battered his way to the pinnacle of pugilism by the speed of his blows and the overwhelming power that traveled from the huge shoulder muscles down through the brawny arms and into the clinched fists ar- mored with five-ounce gloves.  He made little or no attempt at de- fensive work and not more than five or six times during the nine minutes of battling did he resort to foot work to avoid Willard. _ Once the new canvas was stretched there was little delay in bringing the principals into the ring. Dempsey appeared at 3:55 o'clock and Willard a minute later. They were stripped, ready for action, Willard wearing short, tight-fitting blue worsted trunks with an American flag belt, while Dempsey wore short, loose trunks like those of a sprinter. _ During the few preliminary details both were covered with huge um- brellas to keep the sun from their un- covered heads. _ At 9 minutes after four, the weak gong, which later caused so much confusion, clanged, and the battle was on.

FIGHT IN DETAIL

_ ROUND ONE: Willard loomed up like a Goliath against his five-inch shorter David, and opened the en- gagement by pumping his long left twice into Dempsey's face with force enough to make the latter blink. The challenger missed a swing, and, slip- ping into a clinch, landed three body blows, with the free left hand, carry- ing but little force. Willard had him easily in a clinch and partly turning him around, used his rapier-like left again, once to the head and once to the body after the break. _ Then Dempsey, as if he had got the range, opened his heavy artillery and swung a jarring left to the jaw, fol- lowed by a right and left to the body. The almost superhuman power of the punches was immediately apparent. A partly silly, partly stupid expres- sion overspread the champion's face and as he rocked on his heels, his whole body quivered. _ He pulled himself together and, as Dempsey crowded in again, shot a left to the mouth and repeated to the eye. The blows did not even cause his youthful nemesis to hesitate, and darting past the outstretched left as it snapped for a third time, he whipped over the right and left almost simultaneously, the blows landing flush on Willard's jaw and for the first time in his championship career, Willard was dropped to the floor. He was up again at the count of six, only to be sent to the canvas with another right as he rose slowly to his feet, the blood began to pour from his mouth. _ He turned away from his opponent, who struck again twice with his right, Willard falling on his hands and knees. When he arose Dempsey crowded him into a corner and with a right and left to the face sent him to the floor again. as he arose, a fusillade of body blows dropped him in a corner where he sat when the bell terminated the round and led Demp- sey to believe that Willard had been counted out. _ ROUND TWO: Dempsey started where he left off and Willard with a big cut under his eye, appeared to be in a bad way. he managed to snap a lefts to Dempsey's face and a puny right uppercut to the chin. Demp- sey replied with several body drives and Willard fell partly through the ropes. When he regained his feet he stumbled into a clinch but Dempsey easily tore loose and proceed to bat- ter him almost at will, the champion retaliating with but three feeble stabs to the face during the malee. When Willard went to his corner he fell heavily into his chair and it was seen that his right eye was completely closed and that side of his face was swollen entirely out of shape while Dempsey was unmarked. _ ROUND THREE: The final session was simply a series of rapid fire swings which fell on Willard's face and body with pile-driving power which left Willard completely help less, as he staggered about the ring and wobbled along the ropes utterly unable to defend himself. Blood bub- bled from his mouth with every gasp for breath while the crowd about the ringside began to yell to Referee Pecord to stop it. Just as the bell rang and Willard collapsed in his chair he spat out a tooth and it was seen that he was in bad condition. As he sat lolling from side to side his chief second, Walter Monahan, talked earnestly to him and when Willard nodded his head Monahan walked over and spoke to Pecord. The ref- eree threw up his hands and hurried to Dempsey's corner. He gesticulated in the uproar and finally pulled Dempsey toward the center of the ring before the new champion real- ized that Willard's second had thrown up the sponge. As soon as he grasp- ed the situation he started for Wil- lard's corner and the late title holder arose and stepped weakly to meet him. They shook hands and Willard muttered something in reply to Dempsey's remarks and the fight had passed into history.

STATEMENT OF THE PRINCIPALS AFTER THE BIG BOUT AT TOLEDO _ The first statements of victor and vanquished and the new champion's manager, after the big fight, given at ringside to a representative of the Associated Press follow: _ Willard said: _ "In the first round when Dempsey hit me with a left hook, I tried hard to continue, but I was rapidly losing my strength. My eye closed at that end of the third round and I realized that it would be useless for me to continue, as I could hardly see. It was hard to admit defeat, but Dempsey is the hardest puncher I ever faced." _ Jack Kearns, manager of the new champion said: _ "Jack is a real champion. He knocked Willard out twice. They gave us the fight in the first round, then brought us back with the bell and Jack got him again in the third. Dempsey will be a popular champion." _ Dempsey said: _ "I told you I would knock him out in the first round, and to all intents and purposes that is what I did. He took a lot of punishment in the next two rounds but Willard was so bloody that I hated to have to hit him."

MRS. JESS SAW HUBBY DEFEATED Happy He Is No Longer the World's Champion. "I Tried It Once to Often," Was Willard's Neighborhood Comment. _ Toledo, Ohio, July 4. - There is one woman in Toledo tonight happy because Jess Willard is no longer world's heavyweight champion. She is the wife of the vanquished title- holder, and mother of his five chil- dren. She left them at their home in Lawrence, Kas., came to Toledo unannounced last night, and with Willard's attorney, occupied a seat in the $50 section this afternoon, while her husband was being bat- tered to defeat. No one in the huge crowd, except the champion himself, knew she was there. _ When the bruised and battered giant of the ring was brought to the home he had occupied in Toledo's exclusive residential district, Mrs. Willard was there, eager to care for his wounds. She put him on a davenport and sat at his side, ap- plying soothing iced cloths to his closed eye. _ Mrs. Willard left the sun baked arena after the towel was cast into the ring at the start of the fourth round, while the beaten champion was taken to the Casino, his training camp for a month, where he was bathed and first aid given his in- juries. _ "I am sorry that Jess was beat- en, but I can truthfully say I am happy that he's no longer champion," Mrs. Willard said. "It means, now, that we shall be able to live in peace. Jess will become a private citizen again. It was the second boxing contest I had ever witnessed and I do not want to witness any more. I shall be happy when I can take Jess back home to our chil- dren." _ Although the fight was over before 4:30 o'clock, Willard did not motor to his home until an hour and a half later. He said he did not re- cover from the effects of the left hook that Dempsey landed early in the first round until perhaps an hour after he left the ring. _ "That was the blow that started me on defeat," Willard said. "I felt physically able to continue but my head wasn't clear and my eye was closed and I realized it would have been useless for me to attempt to box while half blinded. _ "Dempsey is a remarkable hitter. It was the first time that I had ever been knocked off my feet. I have sent many 'birds' home in the same bruised condition that I am in and now I know how they felt. I sin- cerely wish Dempsey all of the luck possible and hop that he garners of the riches that go with the cham- pionship. I have had my fling at the title. I was champion for four years. And I want to assure you that they'll never have to give a benefit for me. I have invested the money I have made." _ When the beaten champion mo- tored to his home with Ray O. Archer, his business manager and his sparring partners, the porches adjoining the Willard house were alive with women dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs. _ "It seems as if there has been a death in the neighborhood," one of them said. _ "Well I tried it once too often," was the greeting Willard gave them. _ The champion had a turkish tow- el draped over his head to obscure his bruised face. He does not ex- pect to leave Toledo for three or four days.

MORE BOXING NEWS: GREB DEFEATS BRENNAN _ Tulsa, Okla., July 4 - Harry Greb, of Pittsburgh, gained a referee's de- cision over Bill Brennan, of Chicago, in a 15 round fight here this after- noon. JEFF SMITH WINS _ Kansas City, Mo., July 4. - Jeff Smith, of New York, outpointed Mike Gibbons, of St. Paul in a 10 round boxing match today, according to the news writers. HARTLEY GETS DECISION _ New Orleans, July 4. - Pete Hartley, of Boston, won a decision over Red Dolan, of New Orleans at the end of the fifth round of a scheduled 15 round boxing bout here late today when Dolan refused to go another round. The boxers are lightweights. WILLS WINS DECISION. _ St. Louis, July 4. - Harry Wills won the newspaper decision over Sam Langford in an 8 round open air bout this afternoon.

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