PREPARING FOR THE FIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 65, 14 September 1923, Page 7

PREPARING FOR THE FIGHT

WILL THE CHAMPION MEET .WILLS?

The scale of prices adopted for the match runs from 3 dollars for admission tickets to 25 dollars for choice ringside seats. At these prices Tex Rickard expects that lie will realise a "gate" of .at least 1,000,000 dollars, Bays the "New York Times." The, promoter planned to increase the seating accommodation at the baseball park) under which.he hoped to provide for a crowd of 80,000. The improvements included the construction of a portable bleacher section on the playing .field which will greatly increase the capacity of the park. This was to be a collapsible affair, which runs from a point directly back of the ringside and field seats as far back as the permanent centre field bleacher seats. His inspection of the Sark plans and the park itself satisfied ;ickard that he would have at his.disposal a depth of-sixteen feet for grading this portable bleacher section. The promoter adopted plans for the extra seats on a pitch which, Rickard said, would afford an, unobstructed view of the proceedings in the ring for any occupant of the portable stand, without interfering with the view of the occupants of the regular bleacher section. The stand was spread fanlike and was in effect a graded bowl, Rickard said. He added that because of the construction of the seat section the ends of the regular bleachers in right field and left field were cut off for a distance of two sections on each side, and these seats, of course, were not to be used during the bout. In adopting a moderate scale of admission charges for the bout Rickard is setting a precedent which, probably will endure. This is partly involuntary and partly through choice. The scale for the Dempsey-Firpo bout will be half of that which prevailed in important battles that Rickard lias promoted in the past. Only once before, Rickard said, has he conducted a heavy-weight championship bout at admission prices of from 3 dollars to 25 dollars. This was the Dempsey-Bill Brennan battle in Madison Square Garden. At the Jef-fries-Johnson bout in Reno, back in 1910, Rickard charged from 10 dollars to oO dollars for admission. At the Dempsey-Willard clash in. Toledo four years ago the prices were 10 dollars to bOdollars. Spectators paid from S dollars to 50 dollars for the privilege of seeing Dempsey batter Carpentier in Jersey City two years ago. .Rickard is confident the bout will r..t only be a great financial success, but will provide an interesting encounter. He has been greatly impressed by the strength and physique of Firpo and is expecting that the South American heavyweight will surprise the critics who consider the match an easy one for Dempsey. "Let no one Bay Dempsey will find i tu-po w taey mark uatjl liter &»

champion has finished with Firpo," said Rickard. "I think I know fighting material when I see it, and I say now, as I have said before, that Firpo, to my mind, is Dempsey's most dangerous rival. He is young; has strength and endurance, and he hits with terrific force. His boxing needs polishing, it is true, but he is improving daily. I won't say that Firpo will beat Dempsey. Neither will I say thatr Dempsey will defeat Firpo without a hard struggle. I'm sure it will be a great bout. Feopie are interested ia Firpo and his championship chances. They want the bout, and I do not Entertain any fears concerning its' success. Why, I have in my office applications from responsible business men and prominent women for from ten to fifty tickets apiece for the Dempsey-Fjrpo bout. Not a letter I have received since Firpo knocked out Jess Willar'd has contained any reference to a bout between Dempsey and Wills. The present is the bout people want, and I am glad I can give it to them."

The completion of arrangements for the Dempsey-Firpo title bout practically precludes a bout between Dempsey and Harry Wills, the New Orleans negro challenger, this season; if Dempsey vanquishes Firpo, as is expected. With Dempsey engaging Firpo on 14th September, continues the writer, there seems little chance of his entering a match with Wills within the space of four weeks afterward, as had ibeen planned. . This would be too short after the .Dempsey-Firpo engagement to arrange the "necessary 'details in connection with a match of the importance of a Denipsey-Wills title struggle. The weather m October is too uncertain, if not actually unfavourable, for outdoor boxing, and thefe seems no other place for the match if it is to be conducted with any assurance of financial success. These circumstances were cited as valid ifeasohs for at least deferring a bout between Dempsey arid Wills. In gome quarters followers of the sport even went so far as to predict that Dempsey and Wills never would clash for the title because of official opp6sition to the match.