Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-19
Champion Is Working Hard.


And now for fortnight or so the
heavyweight champion of the world
has been working, working hard. get
ting into fighting condition. 1t is an
amazing thing. but this is the first
time on rcCord-certainly the first
time within the vista of my memory
that a heavyweight champion of the
world was able TO so completely sub.
merge himself from the public gaze
while training for a championship
battle
Heretofore, whenever the holder of
the title betoolI himself to q training
camp, no matter how remote, the
scrbes and the fans Immediately be-
gan infesting the place, and there
were reports of every action. actual
and ina ginary. of the title-holder.
But up to date, nary word of Gene
Tunney's condition, of his training.
of what he's been doing, has come cut
Of Spectator to the general public.
What with all the bal1yhoo about
Jack Dempsey's threatened comeback.
the talk of a match between Jack
Sharkey and Dempsey in the Yankee
Stadium on July 81. Dempsey's sud
den flying trip to New York. and his
edict, issued practically on the eve of
his boarding the train, that unless Tex
Richard guarantees him more than Is
per cent of the gale receipts for a
battle with Gene Tunney he wouldn't
fight anybody for Richard, / began to
wonder just what it was all about
And | bethought myself of the world
champion. feverishly at work i'm sleepy
Spectator.
And then | ran across Abe Bach
ner. big sporting goods manufactures
GT H.
to reaf town in the vicinity of The
place where Tunney is training. Abe
knows Tunney, and he knows Lou
Fink. The champions trainer breaks
up the monotony of camp life by Wis
itlng Bachner a couple of times
week.
Gets 'LOwdOwn" on Tunney.
Bachner gave me the "lowdown" on
the champion.
He's working like beaver.
Benny" he said, ''and don't let any
one tell you he doesn't need the work.
He's never been dissipating chap,
but he has taken on a lot of weight.
1t isn't f1abby fat, but neither is il
hard muscle. One of the things that
impressed me was this. Soon after he
arrived at Specula tor he came to NV
place to get windbrea ker-sort of
eathef sport coat. l had given him
ono when he was up there last year,
and I was surprised to find that this
time he required one four sizes larger.
Just think, Benny, four sizes! So
you can see how he's filled out.
Fink says he has already taken
off quite a lot of weight, and that
hes rounding into real routine that
will soon have him going full blast.
Lou confided to me that Genes real
objective is Sharkey Although the
champion hasn't said it, he regards
Sharkey as far more dangerous than
Dempsey, according TO Fink"
From this, | can't help thinking
that perhaps there might be some
sort of hitch that will prevent -Demp-
sey and Sharkey from meeting on
July 81, and that this battle will he
sidetracked entirely and everything
on a Tunney -Sharkey
contest in the Fall.
Dempsey seems to be losing that |
attribute which helped to make him |
such tremendous drawing card with |
fight fans, an attribute that Gene |
Tunney lacks, and is responsible for /
the fact that Gene can go into train |
ing to defend his title without caus- |
ing much more than a slight ripple |
of interest.
| will explain. what I mem: Demp- |