The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-01-24
BY Gene Tunney
world Heavyweight Champion

By Gene Tunney
WorId Heavyweight Champion
por,n~ III my opinion. 4 the
Ma rest thing To q universal spors
that exists. IT If the most na!ural
snort. too, find. because 49,
take to boxing more Ply INSTINCT
than to any other game.
1870. have visited the homes "a
s-s~,,ae vrho were not even boxing
800. and watched their youngsters
y, ioving their Christmas gifts. Al
1901 aIwaya tl1e boys diyed nrst
eor hoxing gloves which usualI
ware among their presents. They
.,s,rrvad 4 natural preferences LOE
the cloves and / think boys are az
!. yreat deal alike I'm this respect.
81 ~ 4 very excellent thing too.
nava seen many 4 pair Of ycunB
h~othara with the playrOOm win
a,,s,. thrown wide open, going
s.o,,,,la 81 rounds with their new
cloves which did more good than al
she doctors pills In the world ~
uaYa off atomach aches after three
heIpinrs 81 plum pudding.
Parhaps they'd lose their tennpers
AZ the first sock on the nose put
have Ii from many fathers tnat
soon afterward they learned ~
keen their tempera in check ana
that the number Of DEothe ~
clashes aside from those Win Ins
gloves were cut down ~ Per 800
III homes whore younG boys DOAsu
together.
T..w .oor learned, the
fatI,ers telI me, that there
~as1't any snort IN boxing I'M
iea~ tI,ev aid keen their terIapers
a,,g tI1ev anmlied the rule 20
other games 81 their 0Wn
accord.
gut you ask. how does that
prove anything about oo1in8 neAn.
lr,fversals First Of all Il proves
y We fhat American boys have
natural liking Tor boxing gloves.
Ask anv BIG sporting goods store
proprietor about his sales Of junior
sized. heavily padded gloves, espec.
/ iaI1y around vacation Or MONDAY
seasons. There is every reason 20
Relieve that the same thing exists
the world around and I viii tell
YOU why think 70.
Amonr the thousands Of young
boxers either in or breaking info
the professional class. am surs
/ i can count almost every natlon-
atty in the world. do not beiieye
| ,sve ever seen d Chinese aspirant
| for ring honors. but / do know
| < number 81 japanese students IN
| the universities who were members
of the varsity boxing teams and
could easily have stepped into the
| nrofessional classes Ia they had
wanted TO do 50.
i R,it ~ for the rest Of them, they
REPRESENTED everything the gee
i graphy has to offer. They used %
i blossom out principally under Irish
names. but now they ara getting
more and more to appear unoer
their own colors.
Incidentally, speaking q the variP:
i ties, Of boxers. ! remember ona
Dummy" Smith. . deaf and dumb
lad. who graduated from the
boxing game in the club tourna-
lments around Chicago.
why don't YOU stick to the
wrestling game, you're better nc
THAR his friends used to ask him
by the pencil and paper method
"Oh." he would scribbIe back,
i with 3 grin, 1--WE got = couple
81 natural caulIfIOWer ears. any
way, so there's nothing left to
| be afraid Of
But as to the variety Of national
titles in the boxing game. there
lis no use pointing out that Amer
lea imported boxing-or fighting--
at least, from England. nor that
L-u t.anNR ~Afraas 40 II HAraa taesn.
in one form or another for years
and years.
Germany every year is developing
more and more boxers, perhaps no
heavyweights of any renown but
some fast boys like Kurt Prentzler
who looked pretty good to Billy
lGibson.
OF italians, the gymnasiums are
fun and there are representatives
I could name of Poland. Czecho-
SlovalSia, Russia, Greece, Spain, the
Philippines, Cuba, Mexico and even
the pampas of South America.
Years and years ago New Zea-
land was producing fighters and
all old fans win remember how
Jimmy Clabby was kept busy NOW.
ing down Australians for more than
a year back In his prime. Sweden.
Denmark and Holland all have good
boxing.
Well, it seems to me that such
an assortment shows pretty clearly
that boys throughout the world
can box, like to box and do box.
But almost every other sport ID
tconfined to one or two nationalities.
There Is baseball, for example.
Many natiOnalities are Just not
built for throwing basebalIs or
any object meant to carry far.
The shoulder arches OF = good
many Europeans simply do not
function for the old baseball
whip.
A. f.. F. trainers tried their best
to teach European youngsters base.
ball but they couldn't even get
them interested. Yet with the box.
ing gloves they would begin to show
form right away.
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