Evening star., 1927-06-28
BY BENNY LEONARD.

Retired Lightweight Champion of the World
NEW YORK, June 28.-Now that
Jack Dempsey and Jack Sharkey have
signed articles to fight here next
month the boys are getting out the
old record books and looking up the
past performances" of the two men
in an effort to dope out the winner.
This is more or less a waste of time
and mental energy, for the records of
the fighters generally are useless when
it comes to forecaSting the outcome Uf
q battle.
The reason for this Is because AL
White might be able to beat Bill Smith
every day. in the week and Bill might
be able to trounce the daylights out of
Joe GlutZ any time they meet, but Joe
might have the easiest time of his life
in Walloping the tar out of Al.
In thi connection 1 can't help think
ing of those two really great little
men, the late Young Corbett and
Terry McGovern. Corbett beat Nc
Govern every time he met him, re-
gardless of condition or conditions.
used to see fellows outlook Corbett, fell
lows that McGOVern could take" with
ease. and yet Terry never could beat
Corbett.
Recalls Fight i'm PhiIly.
I remember as if it were only yes
terday their six-round fight in Phila-
delphia. This came a long time after
both had passed their peak, long after
Corbett had knocked out McGovern
the second time.
McGovern looked the picture of
health and condition when he crawled
through the ropes that night. He
had been playing base ball, swimming
and training all Summer. and he was
so tanned on the arms, head, neck
and shoulders that he looked as if he
were wearing a white sweat-shirt. so
marked was the contrast between his
tanned skin and the natural color of
his torso.
Terry was full of nervous energy.
light Of foot, quick as a cat and ap-
parently eager-yes; over-eager-for
the fray.
And then Young Corbett STROBE
down the aisle, climbed up the steps
to the ring, and laboriously craWled
through the ropes. He was so fat
and flabby that the crowd gasped. 1t
seemed impossible that he could last
even q Gound with the once Terrible
Terry. His eyes had puffy bulges
under them, his waist line was bal
loon-like and cascaded in a roll over
his tights belt, and he snorted and
snuffled like a two-cylinder car that
was missing fire.
Whsn the bell rang to open hostili-
ties, Corbett rose from his stool and
stood still, waiting for the bounding
Terry, who sprang from his corner
like a suddenly loosed tiger. AS
Terry came rushing in Corbett, stand
ing fat-footed, merely mechanically
swung his right fist in a long arc
nd 10
Credit Due to Style.
This brought up McGovern with a
start. and from then on L never saw
a prettier exhibition of one style
against another. McGovern's style
was simply made for Corbett's. 1t
wasn't Young Corbett himself that
beat McGovern, it was Corbett's style
Of fighting that always beat McGov-
ern's. If Terry could have changed
his natural style to meet conditions
things would have been different.
But Terry was what we call mat
ural' fighter. He could fight only
one way.
One of those right handlers Of Cor
belts dropped McGovern, and Cor
bett landed this deadly right in every
round at least once. That was enough
tiously until he got his confidence
back, and Terry was always a sorry
looking creature when he tried to
fight cautiously. And so it was that
Corbett was able to not only last the
six rounds as per schedule, but ac'
cording to the majority of the news
paper men present. actually outpoint
McGovern. Some, 1 remember, called
it draw.
I mention this to make the point
that nearly always the fellow with the
winning style will win a fight. / al
ways realized this, and that is why l
used often to fight much differently in
the second or third round of fight
than / did at the start. I'd discover
that the other fellow was just natur-
ally countering, or else naturally
blocking or evading my punches by
following out his bent as a fighter.
Three of a Kind.
Take fellows of the Dempsey,
Ketchel and McGovern type. They
make the most colorful fighters, be-
cause they not only could take it to an
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