New Britain herald., 1924-02-08
VILLA WILL DEFEND
 FLYWEIGHT HONORS
Meets GeorSie Marks in 15 Round
 Bout at Garden

New York, Feb. Smother world $ championship will be at stake in the Madison Square Garden ring tonight l when Pancho Villa defends his fly | weight title against Georgie Marks of 1 California in 15 round bout to de- cision. In view of the fact that this
 will mark Villas first appearance in q
 New York match since he won the championship crown from Jimmy Wilde of England at the Polo Grounds last summer, and that in Marks the little Filipino will meet his most for
 midable rival next to Frankie Genaro. the American champion, interest in the match is running unusually high and indications are that the Garden will sec another capacity crowd. In terest in the contest is still further heightened by the announcement from Villa, that. should he emerge vic- torious over Marks tonight, he will be ready to come to terms for cham pionship match with Frankie Genaro, who has been Villas most persistent challenger since the Filipino gained the title.
 Despite the fact that Villa is eX- pected to enter the ring favorite in the betting, Marks is not without his followers. There is no denying that Marks has an enyiable ring record
 He has engaged in 14S ring battles and has yet to suffer a knockout de- feat. Only once has he been forced to accept an adverse decision, that coming at the hands of Abe Gold stein.
 In Villa, however, Marks will be confronted by one of the most active
 little ringman ever to reach the top. While Villa is not repnted to be the possessor of knockout wallop. there nevertheless is plenty of snap behind his blows and it is his ability to drive these blows with startling rapidity that makes him so hard to beat. It was his rapid-flre blows and bewildering style that enabled the little Filipino to lay Jimmy Wilde low in their titular bout last summer.
 Like Marks, Villa has trained faithfully for this bout as he realizes that in the Californian he will meet an opponent who cannot Dc taken lightly. Although he has not appear cd fin New York ring since winning the title, he has engaged Tn q number Of bouts in various sections Of the country, and while none Of these op- ponents extended him, these engage ments nevertheless served 10 keep him in good trim.
 Both Villa and Marks have posted forfoits of s2.5oo to guarantee that they will not weigh above the stipu- later ll2-po,ind limit Of tho flywoieht division. but neither is believed to bc in danger of losing hts forkeit Villa, 10 whom tho weight comes natural. is certain to be well within the limit. In fact it is known that the champion can scale down as low as no ponndAl and still be strong.
 Marks was said to have had jo work . trinc harder to make the weight. bnt his manager. Charley Cook, stated yesterday that he had no fear his boxer would be over weight Cook said Marks scaled 1l3h pounds yesterday and that a night of drying out would bring him safely inside the il2-ponnd limit. | Cook further stated that Marks really | encountered no difficulty in making the weight and that ho was confident Marks would enter the Garden ring ;n | the best shape he had ever attained |
 The eight-round semi final tonight | also is expected to produce an inter. l vstlng bout between Sonny Smith and l Pete Sarmiento. Two six-round pre- liminarics will prccede the semi final. ], In the one Jack Snyder will meet | Buck Josephs. while the other will | bring together Eddie Mack and Jack | Rosen. Al Fielder and Bobby Rosen l will box in the opening four-round | bout. l