The New York herald., 1922-06-28
BY w. o. yIcGEEHAN.

Benny Leonard. lightweight cham
pion of the world. would have awak-
ened a welterweight champion yes
terday but for his great presence Of
mind. II Leonard had not kept his
down with punch that had the
veteran practically out and worked
around the referee to land the foul
punch nothing would have saved
Leonard from being a double cham
pion.
1t is my conviction that Leonard
did not want to get the verdict from
Britton. why he wanted TO lose do
not know. for who can fathom the
weird. Unsuitable mind of the clean
cut young business man in pugilism.
There was a motive. Of course. for
so self-possessed a business man as
Leonard has shown himself to be does
not do anything without a motive.
am not going to get a headache for
myself puzzling out Benny's motive
However it was az plain as new cauli-
fewer ear that Leonard did not want to
win that bout Monday night.
Britton is<a clever boxer, but without
any force 20 his punches. Leonard. who
Is anything but stupid. knows that ne
could wade in taking all that Britton
could send him without being hurt. He
could force the fighting for a few rounds
and inevitably knock out Britton. for
LEONARD has knockout punch. He
showed this in the eleventh round when
hc started to force the fighting. but he
Immediately slowed down.
The FatefuI Thirteenth.
In the thirteenth Leonard suddenly
dropped Britton with a punch to the
body. 1t was evident that the welter-
weight was about ready to quit fighting
fer. the evening and that he would leave
the Welterweight title and the fight on
Leonards hands.
Whatever the reason might have been
Leonard did not want this to happen.
He took the surest way to prevent it.
He hit Britton while the veteran was
down. That saved him from becoming
the welterweight champion. Up to that
time he was quite confident. apparently,
that ho was losing the bout on points.
Then he e0t just bit reckless and
came within a few seconds Of double
crossing himself and winning.
Mr. Leonard drew s39,375.70 for the
evenings entertainment. while JarE
Britton, who has large family and
can use the money to great advantage,
got $33,750.60. The customers got
plenty of fresh air and beautiful View
OF slate colored twilight, for the
Velodrome boxing arena is delightfully."-
located.
All Of the customers were not agitatel
needlessly over the affair. Mr.. Arnolr.
Rothstein. whose name was SO unkindly
associated with that of Mr.. Abe A.teii
in connection with the fixing OF the Gin
cinnati-White Sox series. left the arena
with an air of philosophical calm which
might we'll be adopted by the rest OF the
customers.
Leonard has had two very narrow
escapes recently. You will recall that
in the last bout with Rocky Kansas
Benny came within an ace Of knocking
Mr.. Kansas for the conventional goal
IL he had done this there would be no
Rocky Kansas-Benny Leonard bout at
Michigan City this coming Fourth OF
July. Benny rocked the pot, but he
did not spill the beans. He never
ehtirely spills the beans A great poker
face and great poker brain mas Mr..
Leonard.
1t will. of course. be impossible TO
make any deductions from the betting
or Monday nights fight. Gentlemen
who are familiar with that by-product
OF the pugilistic business tell me that
Leonard was a three TO one favorite 10
win. 1t might be Interesting to know
how much was bet and by whom.
But betting. like drinking these days,
must be done under cover. Which Is
why both are bad.
At yesterdays meeting the Boring
Commission suspended Charlie Leonard
Benny's brother. for jumping into the
ring and assuring Benny of losing tia
fight on d foul. Aside from this the
Boxing Commission merely discussed the
bout Informally. which is just what
| $4,000 customers were doing at about
tie Same time. Discussion is all right
unless II gets heated. then 1t becomes
uncomfortable this sort of weather.
The only lesson thst can see In the