Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-12-24
BEAVER STOPS
PORTLEY, HICKS
K. O.'S HIS Man

TWenty-seven rounds of a boxing
program at the Royal theatre last eve
ming were concentrated into an even
dozen when the final curtain was
dropped. There were Topped off by
agreement of the fighters in the semi
final which had been carded as an
eight-round go and cut to five. Then
by a knockout punch of Battling Hicks
one of the contestants in this bout,
another four were eliminated, and in
the main event, one billed for 10
rounds, the punch of Jack Beaver
added to the disposition of Ben PORT
ley, q substitute for Kid Connolly, an
other eight rounds were cancelled.
1t was a night of substitutes as well
as one of reduction of the number of
rounds. Connolly, of Bisbee, declined
to go on and Portley was entered in
his stead. Yaqui Edwards was still
suffering from the bullet wound in his
right wrist inflicted last Tuesday night
and Evans was substituted for him
Joe Dundee didn't respond to the roll
call and Bob Hohstadt a local high
school athlete, was introduced with
much ceremony in which it was as
serted by j. G.. Short, the announcer,
that he was making the sacrifice of
entering the ring without pay and un-
der his true and lawful name, Robert
Hohstadt, to make the match sue
cess and that he was sacrificing all
thought or suggestion of mercenary re-
turn because he wanted to retain his
amateur standing in athletics in the
school, And the fight in this event
was thus made possible.
The curtain raiser between colored
fellow with an ugly title, "Bone
Crusher Joe" and Kid Lee proved to be
the SnappieSt of the four. It ended
without ahyN bones being crushed, but
Joe not only was on the popular end
with the crowd but the referee held
up his hand as winner.
In the special event Speed Ball
Rogers faced T1ohstadt- Bob Hohstadt
and they went five busy periods,
Rogers apparently having trouble at
times in keeping his ears warm and
insisting on using his gloves for nuffs
-or was it because Hohstadt Bob
made them too hot? Anyhow, at the
end of the session, Referee Joe Black
burn held up HohStadt'S hand and
everybody cheered and Rogers smiled,
making the decision unanimous
The semi final lasted but part of
the opening session but that was long
enough to create conditions for the
re-christening of Battling Hicks. From
now on, so far rs Evans, his opponent
is concerned, it will be proper to refer
to him as Knockout Hicks, or in the
more abbreviated form, K. o. Hicks.
The round was probably tWo-thirds
over when Hicks planted an effective
one and Evans flattened ~: The floor.
Referee Blackburn, probably remem-
bering the fatal mistake, as viewed by
Jack Dempsey, of making a count too
long, started at once and counted with
precision the full ten! Evans was still
lying quietly and after the count his
friends carried him out while Referee
Blackburn pointed to Hicks and the
latter bowed while the crowd cheered.
The main event started off snappily.
Portley seemed to be much in favor of
it in the first three minutes. When
the second round had gone about a
third the distance, Beaver slammed one
to the head and Portley went down
easily but not limp. He was apparent
1y CO1ISClOuSf Oil O11C way OOW1l C1lO
through the count which was made by
Referee j. G. Short, the official posi-
ton having been changed. But Beaver
was not satisfied and he insisted on
Portley getting up and continuing, but
a comrade of Portley at Camp Jones
walked on the stage from the audi
ence and took him out of the ring and
called back to Beaver that Portley
didn't need to fight unless he wanted
to- That agreed with the referees view
of it and he held Beavers hand high
and declared him the winner.
That ended the bill The house was
not as large as could have been accom-
modated and that was said to have
been the cause of Connolly declining
to fight. But the other boys and the
management proved themselves fair
sports and declared they would put on
show which they did. The adj
=. - q. :.