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THE NEW YORK HERALD (EUROPEAN EDITION OF THE NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1927 GENE TUNNEY vs JACK DEMPSEY PREFIGHT

TUNNEY QUITS TRAINING WITH FAST WORKOUT

"I Am Fit," Declares Cham- pion - Dempsey Ready for Battle on Thursday. LETTER FAILS Jack's Accusation Raises ire of Rickard, but Fails to Nettle Gene - Seats About Sold BULLETIN.

_ _v(By Special Cable to the Herald.) _ CHICAGO, Tuesday. - The exact time at which the Tunney-Dempsey fight will start at Soldiers Field Thursday night has not yet been fixed, it was annouced here tonight. It is expected now, how- ever, that the battle will start at 9:45 p.m., Chicago daylight saving time. _ _v(By Special Cable to the Herald.) _ CHICAGO, Tuesday. - Gene Tunney, who will defend his world's heavy-weight title against Jack Dempsey at Soldiers Field Thursday night, wound up his training last night in a blaze of glory, stepping five fast rounds against an assortment of sparring partners. from now on, like Dempsey, he will only take a mile of road work and sufficient exercise to keep his muscles limber. His workout impressed critics he is in better shape than he has ever been. _ "I am fit," the champion insisted when he was finished. "I can honestly say I never felt better in my life. I am now satisfied I am in great shape." Tonight he will simply punch a light and heavy bag for a short time to keep limber. _ Dempsey, who ended his sparring Sunday night, prepared to do his exercis- ing with his pen. He said he was not satisfied with Tunney's caustic reply to his first open letter in which Jack implied that Tunney knew of plans to frame the fight last year in which Dempsey lost his title to Gene. The former champion, preparing a new attack, said, "Does Tunney think it was sportsmanlike when he agreed to that deal with 'Boohoo' Hoff." _ Billy Gibson, Tunney's manager, de- clared that he sees "a lot under the sur- face" of the charges made by Dempsey. "The Dempsey crowd is cooking up something," he said, "there are a lot of ugly rumors floating around Chicago about the fight and what Dempsey has up his sleeve, but I am absolutely con- fident that Tunney will walk out of the ring still a champion." _ _ _ Rickard Disturbed. _ Tex Rickard was considerably disturbed by the Dempsey letter. "This stuff makes me sick," he said. "What is the matter with Dempsey, anyway? If I was his manager, I would not let him _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (Continued)

IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS _ When John L. Sullivan fought Jim Corbett thirty-five years ago for the world's heavy-weight title, the customers could get a ringside seat for $15.00 and that did not mean the last 40,000 seats either. The principals were fighting for a paltry $25,000 in those days when talk of a $1,000,000 purse for the champion would have sent the speaker to a place were he could quietly cut out paper money. And neither fighter talked of boxing or of "something phoney he could not understand." This photograph was taken of the ticket "Sparrow" Robertson bought to see the famous New Orleans fight.

Tunney Impresses Critics in Final Workout for Chicago Bout

CHAMP FEELS IN TOP SHAPE FOR TITLE GO

_ _ _ (Continued from above) get away with it. I am going to give Flynn a call for this. It is absurb to say the Philadelphia fight was not square. It was as square as any fight that ever took place. dempsey got a ggood honest licking." _ Philadelphia officials and members of the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission ridiculed Dempsey's charges casting a cloud on the Sesqui battle. frank Wiener said the letter was a "mere bally- hoo without foundation of fact." Rob- ert Young, the Commission's secretary, said it was no secret that both Tunney and Gibson were broke before the fight. It was not expected that Tunney would win, so that they thought it was a good business proposition to pledge a share of his earnings for $20,000 cash. He said that both Tunney and Gibson had borrowed so heavily from Rickard that he refused to advance any more. The Philadelphians declared that they were certain, despite Rickard's show of indig- nation, that he inspired the letter in the hope of boosting the ticket sales. _ _ Ticket Sales Increase. _ The sales of tickets, in fact, after lag- ging several days are reported to have revived today and it is stated that all the 44,000 "ringside" seats have been sold. Their face value is $40. Realiza- tion that the last row of these seats will be 380 feet from the center of the ring made many enthusiasts balk at paying that amount to see a fight from that dis- tance. The cheapest seats are those of- fered for $5.00 and are much as 800 feet from the ring. They have not been selling well, as many have decided it would be better to remain at home and listen to the description ovver the radio broadcasting a blow by blow story of the bout.

_ Jack Dempsey's letter published in the Press of yesterday contained nothing new to those on the inside. I have heard the same story many times since the Philadelphia fight, from persons close to Dempsey, Rickard and others. Some of the heavy-weight fights of recent years, with millions of dollars on the results, have certainly had a very shady appearance. According to the latest cable reports on the fight of tomorrow night there will be two judges and a referee. Previous fights in Illinois have been judged by one man only, the referee. The "Tiger" Flower-Mickey Walker fight in Chicago for the middle- weight title, given to Walker on points, by the old-time fighter Benny Yager, caused quite a rumpus. If three officials are on the job tomorrow that incident may account for the change. The betting in Paris is quite brisk, notwithstanding the curious appearance the fight has. Harry, at his thirst emporium at 5 rue Daunou, is holding many bets, and he has considerable money left to be covered on either fighter at evens. _ Just a few lines from my old pal Billy Gibson, manager of Gene Tunney, arrived yesterday. In part he writes: "I cannot understand the close odds, which are now 7/5. They should be at least 2/1. Gene was great a year ago when he defeated Dempsey, but he is much greater now. I don't think that Dempsey could have defeated Gene in his best days, which was about eight years ago when he punched the championship title out of Jess Willard." _ Some of what are called ringside seats for the fight, selling at $40 a throw, are so far off from the ring that it will be necessary to use field glasses to obtain a fair view of the battle. Out of the 44,000 ringside seats, I am informed that there are only 6,000 that really should have been designated as such. And even then they extend back as far as twenty-five rows from the ring. The other so-called ringside seats extend back well over one hundred rows from the ring. There doubtless will be lots of kicks turned in after the fight. _ Gus Wilson, the French-American trainer, who is chief conditioner of Jack Dempsey, cabled to a friend in Paris yesterday that Dempsey was very fit and that he expects to win by a knockout. It almost makes one dizzy hear- ing the many reports about the millionaire fighters.

Umpire Rules Bird _ and Ball Both Dead Richmond, Va. - A sizzling speed- ball from "Lefty" Skillings, Petersburg pitcher, killed a bird on the wing in a game here with Rich- mond. Catcher Dayton caught the deflected ball, wide of the plate. The batter stood unmoved. The umpire meditated and finally ruled the ball dead, as if it had not been delivered.

THE NEW YORK HERALD EUROPEAN EDITION OF THE NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1927

THE NEW YORK HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23,1927 JACK DEMPSEY vs GENE TUNNEY THE FRANKLIN EVENING STAR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1927 GENE TUNNEY vs JACK DEMPSEY THE COLUMBUS CITIZEN SEPTEMBER 23, 1927 GENE TUNNEY vs JACK DEMPSEY MACON TELEGRAPH FRIDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1927 GENE TUNNEY vs JACK DEMPSEY

GENE TUNNEY AND JACK DEMPSEY PREFIGHT

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