Rejuvenation

Jess Willard, huge anachronism of the ring, struck a blow for middle-aged men. The blow landed flush on the point of Floyd Johnson's jaw in the closing seconds of the eleventh round of their fight at the New York Yankee ball park. The force of Willard's fist lifted Johnson off his feet and he dropped like a dead man. He was unable to answer the bell for the twelfth round. Willard, 42 years old, had knocked out the best of the young heavyweights, a man young enough to be his son.

From the viewpoint of championship fighting the exhibition was a failure. It proved that Floyd Johnson lacks a punch. In the ninth round Willard dropped his gloves and allowed Johnson to pound his jaw with everything he had. When the desperate blows bounded harmlessly from the old man's head the truth was out. Johnson can never be a champion.

Willard fought with all the precision of a thoughtful elephant. He showed himself ill equipped for the defense; his offense was ponderous. His chief pugilistic virtue seems to be an infinite capacity for taking punishment.

In a preliminary bout Luis Angel Firpo, from the Argentine, knocked out Jack McAuliffe, II.

Tex Rickard is already figuring on a Willard-Firpo match at Boyle's Thirty Acres. The winner will meet Dempsey.