Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-17
ITALIAN SCRAPPER
IS GOOD PROSPECT
liuch improved Since Wills
Became His instructor.
Needs Seasoning.
nv WALTER TRUNiBuII..

Roberto Roherti. the Italian heavy
weight Is said 10 be much improved
heavyweight since Harry Wills began
II teach him the art Of sock and block.
Concerning this l cannot testify. for
his bout with Johnny RiSko was the
first in which had seen him. But !
can say that the big italian has color
and that he is more promising pros
pect than many have seen.
Roberti is far from graceful and
finished fighter. hut he has plenty of
rugged power and certainly takes his
profession seriously One might have
guessed that he had been training with
Wills. He has the same trick of wrin
king his forehead, presenting picture
Of deep and almost painful thought
There was considerable talk of the
Italians straight left l didn't see him
use a straight left that was worth
much, He did have left hook 10 the
head and s left swing to the general
atmosphere He also has fine punch
in his right hand. but he telegraphS
ahead. stating the time Of its intended
arrival At times he leads with his
right hand. something I am sure Harry
Wills never taught him. To lead with
the right hand is considered bad form
IN flStic circles. II is as improper as
for golfer to bend his left arm before
arriving at the nineteenth hole.
Has Little Rhythm.
Another thing about Robert is that
he never seems 20 be really in accord
with his feet and legs. Sometimes they
start of without him, and in other in
stances they fail TO follow where he
leads This lack of cooperation be-
tween head and feet may be because
Roberto is so altitudinous The distance
between makes perfect liasion difficult.
You must remember. however. that
Luis Angel Firpo was no miracle OF
grace Roberti has not had any great
number OF professional bouts. and in
facing Eisko he was up against fighter
many good men have found hard TO
handle. You may say that Roberti had
"a pounds on the Cleveland baker. and
that facing each other they gave the
impression of man and a boy. but the
fact remains that ROberti was badly
outweighed in experience. and that he
made remarkably good showing while
the battle lasted
Fisso IS no killing hitter. but he has
landed ii TO the Italians head and body
without perceptibie damage Risko him.
self Was always in a certain amount OF
danger. RoberEi can hit. and If he had
lanGed some of the punches he started
the Cleveland boxer might easily have
been eliminated from further conSidera-
ton IS heavyweight contender.
Roberti did land some fine wallops
ara seemed 10 have plenty more in
his system. If this big fellow can be
taught TO shorten his punches and use
his feet 10 more advantage he is going
70 be q tough customer for anybody
] think that the chances are that
Risko knew too much for him and that
johnny probably would have beaten
him II the bout hadn't ended in a
foul but Roberti was far from out
esassed ano alwaTS had a chance.
Not Ready for Sharkey.
To match Robarti with Sharsey a,
the present time looks foolish as it
might ruin him. but such a bout nn-
coubtedly would fill Ebbets Field at
popular prices. That would not mean
anywhere near as much money for
GisSrkey ss his managers appear TO
think he Is worth
Al the Risko- Roberti bout / talked
with Ten Heeney who left for home
to-day Tom told me- that he had every
Intention Of returning TO the United
States and that he probably would be
back By the first OF the year. The
New ZealanseT bore no marks of his
bout with Tunnev and said that he
never had felt better.
Turning from professional to anna
teur sport. the East-West matches in
tennis which start TO-DAY should show
some interesting competition Tilden
viii BE- absent, but II Tnden inten-
tianally threw his match with FRITZ
M>rcur ~ Rive he deserves to be absent
Merctir should not on form beat Tiiden
ore match in 100 Perhaps this WAS
The one match but II Tilden lost
Intentionally he 6id q highly unsportS-
uaniike thing and one which seems to
me to deserve fer more eensure than
anr articles he wrote OF course. he
NAV have had bad dsr or h may
no longer be abe 10 stand the strain
81 tournament play.
fCopyrisht 1923 hy North American News