New Britain herald., 1928-10-25
FIGHT GAME SEEMS
| DEAD and BURIED
At Least Is Idle Is Joe Beckett
Upon the Canvas

The fight game 10 as idle - .
painted Joe Beckett upon . painted
canvas.
The good ship "Fisticuffs." which
for seven seasons sailed the seven
seas Of financial success with golden
sails a-billow and the matches fair
ly popping with prosperity, Is in the
doldrums. Captain Tex has gone be-
low and the crew doesn't know what
70 do about it.
The honey-l laden breezes stirred
up by tho demand Of the cash Gus
toners for seats. which used to keep
the cauliflower craft cleaving the
crest Of one wave Of certified checks
after another. have died away.
From 1921. when Richard intro
duced his irst battle Of the century"
to . $1.62S.5S0 audience. until 1928.
when the three leading boxing pro-
moters Of the United States al lost
heavy money. the tight game reach
ed its peak and then fell flatter
than . British heavyweight.
Right at the moment, there 10 but
one champion prepared to defend his
title. only one promoter able to pay
him to do 80, and probably very
few fight fans who care very much
one way or another.
There is no heavyweight cham
pion, and II all the contenders were
put together. retaining the best
| features of EACH" the result
wouldn't be so much.
The light heavyweight champion
won't fight In his class and the mid
dleweight champion can't.
Joe Dundee. welterweight cham
pion. has agreed to meet Young
Jack Thompson in Madison Square
Garden on November Is. but the
ltitleholder and his hand carved man.
lager. Make Waxman. still are fass-
ing about the ticket prices, Thomp-
son. coming in over the welterweight
limit. flattened Dundee in Chicago q
few weeks ago, only to have his owr
woolly head all but knocked off by
Little Jackie Fields shortly there.
after. So the hrst of the indoor sea.
sons championship fights is nc
particular bargain. even at the more
popular prices now prevailing.
The lightweight champion wont
fight lightweights and the feather
weight champion won't fight Amer
leans and there ia less public inter
test in the still lighter divisions than
n the middle name of Abdel B, Ell
Ouafi.
Tex Richard. who Is by no mea nj
stone deaf where the tinkie Of 4
cash register is concerned. ha.
strained his ears for sounds of pub
; lie enthusiasm until they are a
; much like cauliflowers as those o
any of his performers. In the mids
of "a silence you most could hear,
the great promoter folded his gol
pants and stole away to Florida
That is the difference between Rick
ard and the other promoters who d.
1t for a living. All his eggs do no
necessarily need to be golden.
There once was q superstition II
fistic circles that the public "alway
falls for heavyweights," especial!
II the heavyweight are of the scr
to do a little falling themselves. A
the moment. not even the prospec
Of modified Mastodon murde
evokes enthusiasm with a .casl
background.
The first OF the indoor shows o
the season on November feature
Pauline Uzeudun. the bunglini
Basque. and Otto Won Porat. an
when one hears that the Norwegian
is being billed as the deadlies
puncher in the heavyweight divi
sion" one realizes that the poor oil
division has certainly lost its wal
lop.
Roberto Roberti. who works TO
Humbert J. Fugazy, the Ebbet
field optimist. in the summer time
has been offered a, sum Of rea
money to meet Knute Hansen unde
!. Richards auspices. but has jus
: about decided to go home and b
decorated by Mussolini before los
I ing any more ribs or teeth in hi
9 newly chosen profession. JAG
Il Sharkey is conveniently incapacitatet
Leo Lomski. an eXpectant fathel
has retired until December, Georg
9 Godfrey is taboo with Tex and Tor
u | Heeney still has pocket money.
The fight game. admitting Their
P Is any necessity for At at ALL need
, a tonic. A certain young thespia
is fearful OF his job. There is mer
ton of Jack Dempsey appearing
the talking movies, but not anon
those who have heard him talk.
- It would not be surprising
Dempsey. who. a few weeks ago az
mitted that his retirement was NJ
necessarily permanent. would perm
himself to be persuaded to retur
. to the ring next year. When JAG
Is was fighting or even talking abo'
e it. or even keeping silent about
the whole game was prosperous. 1
. decline dates with his departure. NJ
IL with Tunpey's