Imperial Valley press., 1923-08-29
FIRPo DIsCARDS ALL
USUAL CONVENTIONS

ATLANTIC CITY, y. d., Aug. ~.
With the same air of mystery and
atmosphere of the unusual that sur
rounded his meteoric rise from a
!, dark cellar in Newark to the roof
z garden of fistiana, Luis Angel Fir
po is preparing himself for his fight
with Jack Dempsey.
AS he tore up the book of regu-
lations in battering his way through
the trial horses that were put to
! him for test, so the South Ameri-
can giant is discarding all the orth-
odox conventions and ways of get
ting ready for his championship
fight.
Firpo is doing things his own way
and his way has nothing like it in
| the lengthy annals of box fighting.
Daily from his friend and pro
\ tege, Felix Bunge, Firpo gets a
cable from far away South Amer
lea, telling him what to do. Those
4 who like to poke fun at Luis, and
/ they are in the majority here, say
/ that his diet is even prescribed by
4 cable and that the menu for each
meal arrives just in time for his
Il Latin cook to prepare the viands.
Il ''House Of The Angels
Il From the house in which he has
established his living quarters and
which is labeled the "House of the
II Angels Firpo can see the one-time
\ airpIane hangar where Jack Demp-
sey trained for his fight with
i Georges Carpenter. In that one
respect only is the layout of the
South American the slightest bit
H like Dempsey's.
Il Firpo does not ride in the morn
ing with Mayor Bader. He does not
II show himself in the sartorial splen-
dor of the champion. On the con-
Il trarv, he is so careless of his ap-
4 pearance that the board walkers
II have almost protested at his scar
city of fashion.
u When Dempsey was training mere
y stranger was made aware of 1t
before he alighted from a train, but
| newcomers can be in the city for
hours and perhaps days without
having it pressed upon them as
news that Senor Firpo is Il guest
of the city. There are no pictures
of the South American in the shop
windows and the hawkers have no
Firpo buttons and pennants Tor
4 sale.
/ They are reviving all the Harry
Lauder thrift stories and applying
them to Firpo. They think it alb
surd that he should be so distrust-
I full of the natives as to barricade
4 himself behind flocks of his fellow
\ countrvmcn. They kid him about
training in dog racing park and
make light of his training methods,
but to all of them Firpo gives them
n answer bv his actions: cts none
of your business.
Hard To Get TO
Perhaps Firpo knows not what
is going on outside of the business
ot his immediate hand. He cannot
read or understand English and no
4 doubt his handlers are careful to
|. keep from him anything that might
detract from his morale. He is GER
tainlv hard to get to, but once by
the guard of his Waterman, he is
D the same affable "Looie' that he
has always been.
81 am fine. | am working hard
and / think | will win,' he SAID
through an interpreter. He trans
mitted the information that he
knew he was being picked general
" as the loser by the experts but
he took some pleasure i'll recalling
that Tommy Gibbons was also lab
eled "victim' by the expert Jurles.
"Just what you see at the
camp Firpo said when asked
what he was doing. He merely
smiled when told the belief that
he was doing his real work in prl-
vate. a,,,
"Where would / train, hereF. he
asked, looking around his dwelling
n After talking to Firpo one gets
the hunch that his protests about
being showed into the ring too mast
X ilv with Dempsey might be sham
He gives the impression that ne IS
irving to hide his real ability ana
he certainly acts and talks WIN
supreme confidence.
s.Are you going to lay anything
On vourself?n lie was asked.
"Mr. Firpo wants to know what
Won mean,' the Interpreter replied