pion's glove was removed after the |
|bout, the hand was badly swollen, and he was rushed |
|away from the Garden to be attended by a surgeon. |
| |
|The crowd that witnessed the bout was the largest |
|ever seen at a glove contest here. The Garden from |
|the floor to the upper gallery was jammed until |
|there was hardly room to stand. Although women |
|spectators were encouraged to see the bout, few |
|responded, not more than 200 being seen in the arena|
|boxes. Well-known men in all walks of New York life,|
|however, were grouped about in evening clothes, and |
|gave the boxing match as much tone as a night at the|
|opera. A few of the women spectators wore evening |
|clothes, but the greater part of them were clad in |
|the smart new spring suits which fill all the city's|
|finery shops. |
| |
|Financially the bout was a huge success and a |
|tribute to the enterprise of the Western promoter, |
|Tex Rickard. The receipts amounted to $150,000. Of |
|this Willard got $52,600, including $5,100 for his |
|share of the motion pictures. Moran got $23,500 for |
|his share. It was an enormous remuneration for both |
|men for their forty minutes in the ring. |
| |
|This first appearance of the new champion in the |
|ring since his defeat of Johnson in Havana a year |
|ago had set the town talking, and prominent men in |
|New York and other cities did not hesitate to pay |
|$25 a seat to see the bout. As Willard was such an |
|over-ruling favorite the betting was perhaps the |
|lightest ever known in a bout in which a champion |
|has taken part.... |
| |
|It was 9:40 o'clock when Willard hopped into the |
|ring and got a big cheer. He was soon followed by |
|Moran, who had even a greater reception. While the |
|two contestants were waiting nervously in their |
|corners the announcer, Joe Humphries, had the |
|proudest moment of his career when he gathered the |
|great figures of the fistic world into the same |