The Washington times., 1928-04-30

The chances seem good that Tex
Rickard will sit tense and preoccu-
pied throughout, with at least two
fingers crossed on the hand that
writes the checks, for the occasion,
sponsored in all innocence last
month has developed possibilities
that are worthy Of being viewed
with vague but depressing alarm.
The betting odds say Sharkey
should win decisively and not q
few Of the sharpshooters are pick.
ing him to win by a knockout. IL
he does, the build-up for the Tun-
ney-Heeney heavyweight champion
ship fight in July will need the
architect who designed the Wool
worth tower. This anti-climax Of
the elimination tourney may pro-
duce q better attraction than the
man who already has been signed
and sealed for July delivery.
The fact Of the matter 10 that
Heeney has been named rs the
challenger without SO much as
scoring . knOckdOWn against
Sharkey, johnny RiglkO or De-
Ianey. A knockout for Sharkey
tonight, therefore, viii look
very good by comparison, par
tiGulaFly since many are con-
WINGED that he failed to get all
of his change when they called
the Sharkey-Heeneyt fight
draw.
Even at face value, this decision
made Sharkey no worse tnan
Heeney, 81 that a knockout over
the man whom Heeney knocked not
at all surely would start Few
tongues to chattering. OFF hand, 1t
might appear that Rickard, in lin
ing up this seemingly innocuous at
traction, stepped into fast one
when he was all set for curve.
In Risko, he already has one more
challenger than he can conveniently
use, unless he decides to take the
JULY fight out of the handicap class
by sending two fighters in with
Tunney at one and the same time.
Sharkey will make the third who
ought to be in there, provided he
can clip Delaney on the buzZer. In
fact, quite a. few remain uncon-
vinced of the fact that he doesn't
belong right now.
At that. it is understood that
Sharkey has been promised >
match with George Godfrey, 1t
he wins, and the bait held out
for an Delaney victory is another
shot at RiskO. To n man on a
limb, these plans look like q re-
quisltiOn for dynamite. with the
official challenger getting no
chance at the head lines, mean
time.
Speaking of a Delaney victory,
the possibility is not being taken
very seriously. The alleged rapier
never has beaten even an ordinary
heayvweight and his performances
against Pauline and Heeney rather
clearly indicated that he fears the
worst when he goes in there. De-
laney is a master Of all holds, in
cluding the stoke, and II Sharkey
doesn't discontinue him in the al
loted IS minutes of play, it either
will mean that he has gone back
beyond redemption or that Delaney
has thought up several new Nelson
grips since the last time out.
Anyhow, they are dying very hard
on Sharkey. A lot of them thought
he beat Dempsey and so came back
with q rush to see him loaf through
the Heeney fight. Even his indif'
ferent effort against Risko didn't
kill them off. They are saying now
that these last two fights, supple
mented by his outdoor training, will
bring q new Sharkey into the ring
This unforeseen optimism has
served to create a real gate for Mr.,
Rickard. who had started out with
the laudable idea of filling in an
open date with a couple of idle
employees. A week ago, the gross
looked like q mere $35 900. Today,
they are talking in terms Of $75, ,000
with the possibility OF the increment
mounting even higher.
It ig hard to say what this proves
unless 1t In that you can't keep q
mugK out OF the group pictures.