The Washington herald., 1922-06-27
BENNY HITS CHAMP
ASHE DROPS MITTS,
CRYING Low BLOW
Welterweight King Gains
Early Lead-Is Stag
gered in Eleventh.
By wEsTBRooK PEoLER.

By WESTBRooK PEGLER.
RINGSIDE vELODROME. N. Y.
Lane 27.-The Britton-Leonard fight
here tonight wound up in q fasco
in the thirteenth round when Light
weight Champion Leonard smashed
Britton in the face with a left swing
OF his shoe tops as Britton crouched
in the middle of the ring on his
knee. holding his gloves over his
groin, claiming he had been struck
below the belt
Referee Patsy Haley declined to
give Britton a count. as Brftton de-
liberately sank to his knees, and
apparently was on the point Of dis
alloving the original claim of fou.
and ordering Britton to rise and
continue the fight.
Impatient over what seemed to
be a stall for time by the tired
patriarch. champion of the welter-
weight division. Leonard rushed
across the ring and copped him on
the jaw with a pendulum swing
that picked up rosin from the can
vas on the way.
Britton walks to Corner.
The crowd, hogan to squawk and
Britton calmly walked to his cor
ner and sat down. Leonard's Sec
onds swarmed all over the ring, ar
guiRg with Referee Haley. who
waived them aside and took a neu-
trafcorner
Tom O'Rourke. chairman of the
New York Boxing Commission, at
the--ringside. said he saw no low
IL 1t, -
foul but he did see the left to the
face which he said was a palpable
misdemeanor.
Joe Humphries. announcer. seemed
loath to allow the claim Of foul.
but Haley stuck to his guns and
refused to permit the bout to con-
tinue. Humphries showed his neu-
trality by saying Haley claimed
there had teen a foul, though Leon
ards blow was unintentional."
Leonard's Seconds Protest.
Leonard's seconds claimed that
Rritton had raised his knees from
the floor and was crouching. not
kneeling- II was a parallel case
almost to the foul blow by which
Gunsoat Smith lost his fight with
Georges Carpenter in London.
down on one knee. He did not ap-
pear. however. to have been struck
below the belt and II he was struck
low he was not hit hard. Britton
himself had peppered Leonard very
close to the waist line many times
during the fight. causing repeated
howis from the lightweight cham
pion's seconds to Keep them up
there
While there was a big doubt
as to the first alleged foul. the
referee left no question as to
the second.
Clever Trick.
Britton demonstrated that he
wasvnot injured by the blow that
he claims was foul. by Immedi-
stely protesting to Haley after
the second blow was struck and
then rising and walking unassisted
to his corner. The maneuver will
go down as a historic trick of the
ring and the only explanation
seems to be that Britton was IA
tigued.
Up to this time the old fellow
was using the hair brush on this
clever young delegate of the smart
sleck generation. He worked his
butterfly left jab round after
round to Leonard's face and his
hard right to the body was about
as hard as a humming birds kick.
He jostled Leonard rather severely
a few times when his cleverness
at feinting and jabbing had drawn
the lightweight champion guard
away. but on the whole he did no
damage and Leonard got much
more radical treatment in the first
seven rounds with Rocky Kansas
than he took with Britton.
Benny BIeeds.
Benny bled from the mouth as
he sat in mis- corner after the
nght but the battle was unusually
free of bloodshed Britton's clev-
erness wss too much for Leonard,
himself a clever ringman. Re-
peatedly he made Leonard miss
fierce left hooks to the head by
not more than two inches, Any of
these might have floored Jack
for the count-but they missed.
Britton nearly passed out in the
eleventh. In this round Leonard
started off in the same form that
he displayed against lightweight
challengers. Tossing a right to
the head. which was quickly fol-
lowed by two solid blows-right
hooks to the jaw-he repeated the
same blows and Britton wobbled
Leonard caught him with another
right to the jaw. which spun Jack
to a corner on the ropes. There he
smashed Leonard with both hands
on the chin, but Benny plunged
back with a pair Of left smashes
on the chin which caused Jack to
stagger weakly
This was Leonard's biggest round
Britton had a safe lead on point.
on ave others. Leonard took the
ninth and possibly the tenth and
the best that could be said for
the others was an even break.
After his disastrous eleventh, Brit
in the twelfth, jabbing and maui
ing Leonard around the ring as
much as he was jabbed and mauled
Britten Superior.
In the thirteenth. Leonard wa.
butted half way across the ring
as lack endeavored to work out
OF corner. Benny sat down hard
on the floor but immediately
acknowledged to Britton that II
was unintentional before resum-
ing proceedings
Regardless Of what the arEu-
ments that will follow the fight
may bring forth. Britton demon
strated again that he Is the box
ing master of his division, or pos
sibly any other division. A heav-
Ter or a younger man might stop
him. but the younger man in his
own Division has yet to appear and