The Battle of the Century by Ring Lardner

I stayed round town and seen Larry two or three times, "It's going to be softer than I figured," he told me. "Those writers over in England has went cuckoo over the Frenchman. They was so nuts about Bradford that they think the guy that stopped him must be a cave man. And our papers is printing all the junk and their readers falls for it. As a matter of fact, I suppose Johnny Coulon could knock Bradford acrost the channel, but don't tell nobody I said that. Though I guess they wouldn't believe it anyway. The combination of what them big English reporters say, along with Goulet being a war hero and handsome -- well, it's making him a popular idol in America.

"But the thing's got to be nursed along and worked up, and that's my job. It'll take time, but it'll be worth it. The tough problem ain't getting the fans steamed up. They'll take care of themselves. What I've got to do is convince some guy with money and a lot of nerve that it would be a fight, not a murder. I've already stuck one line in the papers that I'm proud of. Maybe you seen it. I said that while Jim Dugan wasn't scared of nobody in the world, still he felt like he ought to give the American contenders first shot. Because this Goulet has showed that he's got a wallop and he might land a lucky one on Jim. And we'd hate to see the title leave the old U. S. A. Not so bad, was it?"