Evening star., 1923-09-11

- For months I've been reading
"A boxing writers in which ever
Argentine as the wild Bull OF the
bull. He is awkward and clumsy, b
kind-hearted
| expected to see sullen, glove
by what had been reading about hi
talking to hinl-through an interpr'
and after his training bouts, | have
wild bull" doesn't fit him at all
The only reason | can see for a
he swings wild. He has sort OF
Frank Moran of Pittsburgh,~
Frank used to swing from the floor.
IL his punch landed it spelled X. o.
for his opponent. But if his opponent
was fast and could keep out of the
way Of his haymaker, then Frank was
beaten to a frazzle, as he had nothing
besides punch and gameness.
think that Firpo is as game as
they come. Dempsey will be well
aware OF that fact on Friday at the
Polo Grounds. New York city, when
he meets the South American for ihe
world heavyweight title. He is strong
and big, as are thousands of steve
dores, truckmen and the like through
opt the country. Firpo has deter
mined face. He also is willing to
learn, but he is making the mistake
at this late day of trying to learn to
box. The only way he can beat Demp-
sey is by fighting every second he is
in the ring, always endeavoring 1t to
packs in his right hand.
Poorest of All Heavies.
'Firpo is close to the poorest-or
one of the poOrest--heayywe weightS L
rave ever seen. He doesn't know what
10 do when he is standing toe to toe
with his man.
Another bad fault with Firpo is that
he holds his guard down, with his
chin unprotected. Jess Willard was
big man who had little else to recon-
mend him besides his tremendous
stature, but one thing about Willard
that helped him avoid being knocked
out until he ran foul of Jack Dempsey
at Toledo was the fact that he always
carried his guard high Consequently
he was hard to reach; that is his jaw
was hard to reach. On the other hand.
Firpo carries his arms dangling by
his sides most of the time, which
makes him a target for right and left
swings on the jaw.
l told Luis that / thought his foot
work was much better than it was
when I saw him box Jack McAuliffe
at the Yankee Stadium in May. He
was pleased to hear it. I also told
him that he made a big mistake when
he got close to the ropes by leaning
back instead of bending forward. He
asked me to show him what he should
do. and l showed him.
That is a wonderful thing about him
his willingness to learn. In years
time with the determination he has
he will undoubtedly learn how to box
and lot of tricks Of the game that
he is ignorant of now.
Bad Handling Big Handicap.
One of the biggest handicaps under
which he is laborfng is bad handling.
He has nobody but his own country
men around him, and they all seem
dumb.
For instance. before and after the
fight in his dressing room-a small
wooden structure in which he dresses
with all sparring partners-he was
besieged by friends and well-wishers
before and after he was through
work
When he was lying on his rubbing
table at the end of six rounds of
stiff boxing and all out OF breath and
him and annoying him. That's no
way to handle big fellow who is
out for the championship.
But all the while Firpo took every
like prince. He wanted to send
me home in his car, wanted me to
have dinner and all that sort of thing.
Luis appeared to tire quickly. He
was supposed to go through eight
rounds of boxing, but when it came
time to take on his fourth man
Frank Keeble of Brooklyn-for two
three-minUte rounds he waved him
away. No wonder, because he was
all out of wind.
Another thing that showed he is
not likely to go the pace that DeInp-
Sey is bound to set is the fact that
several times he dranK water during
the bouts. In order to be real fit he
should be able to go through eight
rounds of boxing. especially with the
caliber of men he has with him. with
out taking a hard breath-and he
shouldn't need water.
Cannot Hit Fast Man.
FiTpo has a punch-there is no
question about tSlat. His right 10
the liver appears TO be his best blow
he also swings his right hard to a
spot back of the ear that is deadly.
but how can he ever land these on a,
fast man?
Firpo did little offensive work. He
seems to be bent on learning to box.
Se-he kept trying to block punches,
His main chance, as / said before, is
10 land one of his terrific wild swings.
Anybody he hits right is sure to drop.
out an his punches are telegraphed
and he can deliver them only at long
range. A fighter who keeps in close
10 him has him tied up in knots
John Lester Johnson. the colored
boxer who fought Jack Dempsey at
the Harlem Sporting Club, New York
appearance in New York before land
Ing the title, when Jack was rather
green, boxed with Firpo and gave
him his best workout, although Johns
hands are bad. TIE colored heavy
weight carried the fight all the way.
Luis being busy blocking most of the
time, and he scored many punches
on Luis jaw. Luis landed one right
hand punch on Testers jaw when he
became angry upon receiving a hard
wallop under the heart
ghen young Bob Fitzsimmons took
O. hama at it, but Bob wasn't so sue
H@ssful landing, as he didn't keep on
%op of him. as did Johnson
Joe Mccain came next, and when
his session was through Luis called
halt. He did a couple of minutes
rope skipping before boxing and
about the same amount of shadow
boxing.
Dempsey Spies on the job.
There seemed to be a lot of spies
from the Dempsey camp present, fell