The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-07-24
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BYVlA SH
BY DAVIS ]. WALSH

BY DAVIS ]. WALSH
NEW YORK July "a Elk
actly SIC, 900 ii Heeney money
remained il the pocket of 4
wall Street broker today be-
cause he couldn' T get il down
ii THE supposedly current odds
Of 81 to favoring Tunneyy
and unless / slightly misunder-
stand the purport Of Thurs
day s enterprise, there IS blame
neither for the man who held
out the Heeney commission nor
the Wall Street crowd that Of
fered him 3 to
tt would seem that even the gam
blers realize that the time Tor 0es
bunking this situation IL about 81
hand.
The strident chant Of the pallynoo
il over. The show Is ready 20 start.
it nov must get by on what y n l
and this as the writer see y, = Aar
from occult.
r.. kSsaI.ed 81 It's last Illusion. the
affnfr stands forth as contest
between right good heayyWelgllt
ellaninfon. Gene Tunneys ana NJ
ratl1ef earnest but rather ordinary
eI1alIenref Tom Heeney. That,
auyhov Is the surface form q
tI1e afflla tfon and. because surface
Indications often tell AL. the man
who takes worse than 20 OH
HeeI,ev simply isn't giving ms
intelligence enough road work.
On the other ana remaining hand,
No have champion who has failed
Nv force 0f circumstances or other
wise. to stake himself to all the
breaks that were coming TO him.
He has fought only 20 ROUNDS
against the same man, Dempsey, ln
three years a fact over when ne
had no control. He has worked Win
sparring partners so familiar to him
frons lone association that they fig
IRE to have helped him negligibly.
He has given evidence In his tram
ing Of having acquired knockout
complex which. on the face Of ex-
listing form is q piece OF inspired
ahsurditv exceeded only by his pro-
nosal to nv down 265 miles from
Spectator on the morning of the
fight
II he wanted to give an opponent
every chance. It would seem TO me
that no particularly one who
figures 10 be keyed up physically
ard mentally could take q slirer
course than to follow the program
in question.
In view Of these known or ac-
eepted facts. the Wall Street
men who offered only $4,000
against the $4,000 commission
on Heeney were doing them
selves no particular favor. Ny
Offhand guess IS that their price
ls no better or worse than
Il should be. Tmnney, the
better fighter on paper, should
he the better fighter in the
ring and must be 80 figured nm
iii definitely proved otherwise.
The most that can be said for
Heeney is that he has better. than
q merely good chance to VIM We
know all about him or think we do.
He may be expected to furnish few,
il any, surprises and, for my part,
/ think it is senseless to point out
how tough he is or how game. Were
he ever so durable, he would be a
mark for the Tunney of 1926 AT
Philadelphia.
Tunney is the problem OF this
enterprise. He has caused to be
raised several questions in regard
to his present-day ability and, until
he answers them satisfactorily
Heeney must and will be taken
seriously, at least by me.
The champion rather obviously
has slipped some from the form he
knew in the first Dempsey meet.
ing. How much? Is it a 20 per
cent depreciation? If so, he still
should have a working margin OF
superiority over the present chai.
ienger. is 1t as much as 80 or 35
per cent? In that case, the odds
should be no better than even
money, IL not slightly in favor OF
Heeney.
In brief, Tunney will have to
slip down TO Heeney's level to
lose the fight and, since we
know he really isn't Just the
man he was, who can say until
Thursday night how great the
.retrOgression has been?
In the last twenty-four hours
thanks to 3 poor workout by the
challenger on Sunday, the critics
have gone strongly pro-Tunney
The word is that Heeney looks to be
over.trained II that proves to be
so, there will be no fight at all on
Thursday. 1t will be a shambles
A subnormal Tunney could go in
there and win; subnormaI Heeney
never.
kLAvALlERS ANGLING
The Klavatier A. C. IL on tn.
lookout for baseball competitio,
with unlimited outfits. Call Man