The Rock Island Argus and daily union., 1922-03-25
FCHIcAeOAN IS
SURPRISED BY
OMAHA WELTER
Fighters Stage Great Singing
1a Hatch Before Crowd Of
. - $500 Fans.
BY ]. /. HUGHES.

Once more the triumph OF Morrie
SchIaifer is recorded. Dennis
OKeefe of Chicago came and saw
last night but he failed to conquer.
The Omaha mauler outscored the
Z pride OF Chicago's south side before
a crowd of approximately $500 in
the Davenport Coliseum.
without stretching the imagina-
ton any length, the bout was per-
haps as great a slugging affair as
has ever been witnessed in local
fistic circles. For the greater por-
tion of the setto, both stood square
ly and hammered away to their
hearts content But invariably it
was O'Keefe who gave ground.
O'Keefe undoubtedly had the sur
prise of his life, that is, that por-
Z. tion covered by his years in the
ring. He expected to jab and step
away from the wild rushes of the
Sebraskan, but was rudely awak-
ened in the first round by the fury
of his opponent. He found it al
most impossible to avoid the
crouching, vicious attack of Schlaif-
er, which ordinarily delayed until
well along in the bout, began with
the first bell. O'Keefe very likely
could have kept himself out OF
harms way. but instead he elected
to swap punches and thereby made
the affair of greater interest to the
large crowd.
.Schlaifer started fast and won the
first round. In this session he
reached OKeefe's left eye with a
lusty wallop. bringing on a discol-
Grafton. O'Keefe set himself in the
second session. He reached Schlaif-
,er a number of times with solid
right and left punches to the point
of the chin, one of which started
blood streaming from the Nebras-
kan's lips. Denny had a slight
edge.
Schlaifer delivered a succession
of hard body punches in the third
round that visibly worried his op-
ponent Schlaifer continued these
tactics in the fourth. The fifth was
an even round, both boys standing
n toe to toe and swapping punch for
u punch. Denny landed the cleaner
y blows but they did not carry steam
Sufficient to check the rugged
Schlaifer.
OKeefe had the best of the mill
ing in the sixth. The seventh was
even. In the eighth Dennis JUS
about evened matters by landing
stfnging left uppercuts- Schlaifel
opened up in his most approved
and vicious style in the ninth and
won by big shade. The 10th was
practically a repetition of the ninth
and convinced the majority of the
crowd that Schlaifer was entitled
to the popular decision.
Higgins Wins.
Harold Plude of Des Moines. a
boy of IT, gave Leo Higgins OF
Davenport a merry battle for the
first four rounds of their semi
Windup engagement. After that
sP1ude weakened, enabling Higgins
to win the bout by a close margin.
Peanuts" Schieberl, manager of
Huggins, was satisfied with the
showing of his protege. Schieberl
now is clamoring for another
chance for Leo against Eddie An
derson, this time as a windup.
Battling Check of Milwaukee
plastered Mickey Curran of Port
land in every one of the six rounds
of their preliminary. At the finish
Curran was bleeding profusely
while Check was hardly scathed.
Young Brandy of Moline bested
Randall Kent of Rock Island in the
four-round opener Kent's showing
was far below his previous dis
plays of punching ability. He
seemed totally unable to protect
himself and seldom essaye dto con-
meet. Brandy forced the bout
throughout. landing numerous eff
fective punches. Kent in his for
mer condition would have made the
going very rough for the Moline
lad.