Evening star., 1924-03-30

We began to wonder whether Firpo's
fight was to be the signal for young
revolution.
On the morning of the fight the
chief of police came to the hotel and
told me he understood / would be at
the ringside to cable news to South
American newspapers He was very
friendly, and told me ii frequently
happened the spectators began shoot
ing when they were dissatisfied, and
he always had found that under the
ring was the safest place. | made a
mental note of the advice and deter
mined to follow it should the bcca-
sion arise.
At exactly 3 o'clock the heavens
seemed to open and it poured; the
ring was soon flooded and reSem b1ed
a lake. We were convinced the night
couldn't be held. / saw Segurola in
the distance. He seemed to be jubi-
liant. Presently the representative of
the city council stepped into the ring
and announced that because of the
rain the fight would be postponed to
the following Sunday.
Spectators Demand Action.
We believed this to be final. but
we had reckoned without the public.
Every one by this time was thor
oughly wet, and they saw no reason
why prizefighters shouldn't also get
wet. The crowd refused to move, be-
came very ugly and threatened TO
"TtCh ever lnlH6 ullltSS lL1f as ~
went on Immediately. Meanwhile,
President Obregon sat in his box
with a few friends, also thoroughly
wet. and awaited developments.
The members of the city council
must have been used 10 these demon
strations, and no doubt believed that
discretion was the better part of
vaIor. SO they ordered the fight to
proceed. Seglifola was in tears. The
fight was soon over. Two rounds and
~ 90
Every body was thoroughly disgusted.
They threw the heavy cushions. which
are used TO sit on during the bull
fights into the ring, but there was no
shooting.
Prizefghting is not popular in Mex
ico. It is considered cruel. Bull
ighting, in which at least dozen
horses are butchered by the fnfuri-
ated bulls, is considered gentle
mans sport, but prizefighting is re-
garded as inhuman. The Mexican
says that when he sees bull fight
he sees mans superior intelligence
fighting a mad animal The man must
have superior Intelligence, because II
lighting means that two men of nor
NAL intelligence enter a ring and
batter each other when they should
know better.
Fight a Financial Frost.
From a financial point of view the
fight was "A total failure. Although
5000 spectators saw the fight, besides
1000 soldiers and police, very few,
according TO Segurola, paid to get in.
Men holding official positions in Mex
leo who want to see these affairs
merely come with their friends and
walk in. They do not even bother TO
ask for tickets. They come and take
the best seats available and nothing 6
can be said. 1t is the recognized priv
ilege OF officials.
Immediately upon his return to
New York from Mexico. Firpo went
into training for his match with Jess
Willard. His trip had occupied a few
more days than the original plan
called for, and less than two weeks
remained to train. Firpo agreed to
leave for De Forests training quar-
ters at Allenhurst, although the South
American champion deteSted the
country,
One would think that a big man
like Firpo would like the open coun-
try, where he could run and be in the
open as much as he wanted But
Firpo, in many respects a ring freak,
is a city-bred man, who prefers large
cities. Nothing suits him better than
to do his work in a gymnasium in the
center OF things and living on or near
Broadway.
De Forest, who has been wonder
fully successful in training boxers.
believed that Firpo should be trained
like other men Perhaps De Forest
was right and perhaps he was not,
but it is obvious that Firpo is very