Imperial Valley press., 1928-09-29
BY FRED SCHANz

After getting away ~ good
start in the preliminary battles at
the Arena last night, the fistie
show presented to valley fandom
took terrible flop. Fans were
forced to sit through six rounds of
punk scrapping in the semi
final and the main go was much
worse.
Timmy O 'Brien defeated Homer
Gaines in the final session to win
Ithe lightweight championship of
the valley but fans were given
ght-weight throughout the ~
rounds. We'll correst that to read,
the fight started in the tenth.
Andy Brooks did his share to
make the semi-final interesting but
Burt Wagner, who week ago
created sensation by knocking
Brooks out in the first round,
fought the entire battle with a
broken hand and gave Brooks lit
tie opposition.
There were some good minutes at
the show, however. They came in
the preliminary bouts. Fans saw
Monte Hill take the rubber from
Henry Inlowe by knocking the I'm
Ierial colored boy into the land of
nod early in the third round. They
also saw Andrew Armstrong lick
Robert Smith in a slashing four
round opener.
Fandom should not mourn the de
parturc of Homer Gaines into Mex
leo after the exhibition he gave at
the arena last night I'm fact we re
in favor of having him dcported
Immediately. Not that we feel that
Timmy o Ericn should be given Il
gold medal for his part in the pro
1 ceedings but because Homer show
! Cd himself in his true form, n
flashy fighter that throws lots of
fists that don t connect. A slap
artist, a grandstand player and cX-
| ponent of the tango fits him to II
letter.
| While Timmy O'Bricn didn t give
Homer any poinctrs on how 10 con
duct an offensive battle. he did
prove to Homer and to the fans
that Gaines wouldn t stay long in
the same ring with good hoy.
During the first two rounds Homer
landed Just four punches. Three OF
these came in the first three min
utcs of battling aud one in the see.
ond round. In the mcantim"
| Q 'Briem slapped Homer enough to
give him slight edge in each ses-
| sion.
Crashes Through
Homer managed to crash through
J somewhat in the third and fourth
rounds. Enough to even up the
count, perhaps take slight lead.
The firm, the llvclicst round Thus
far in the scrap was even up. Homer
had the better of the first part but
O 'Bricn finished strongly.
\ few brief flurrics with no one
| hurt best describes the sixth up un-
Ill few seconds before the bell
| when O'Brion crashed through two
pretty punches. In the seventh
! O'Bricn led all the way. Homer
didn t land one punch in this round.
The eighth was about even and
Gaines had a slight edge in the
ninth. But if there was any ques-
tion as to the leader up to this time
il was settled in the tenth. II was
the only good round of the fight
end furnished fans little excite
mcnt.
O'Bricn scored dozen good
punches in this round 4 heavy left
followed by stinging right sent
Homer into the ropes aud a minute
later O'Brien wiped the smile off
the coIored boy s face with a crush
ing right that landed square on the
button. O'Bricn had much the bet
ter of the round.
Tackett s decision in favor of
O'Brien brought many catcalls from
the audience and an avalanche of
cushions One man was placed under
arrest by Chief Oswalt as a result
of the dclugc.
Just why the fans razzcd Bill is
question to thc writer. Homer s
flashy style and slapping of o 'Bricn
on the shoulders and gloves might
fave fooled some Of them. II Ger
tainly didn 7 fool Tackett for he
put the decision in the right place.
Q Brien' 5 manner of defense from
the Gaines attack might also Dc.