The Washington times., 1928-02-13
1 E.F.. HAD
BEST SHOW.
FOR GENE
BY Gene Tunney


The biggest fight card ever held
on foreign soil was the one in which
the A. e. r. championships were
settled in Paris, April 26. 1919. Also
the 10, 900 uniformed men who were
spectators made more noise than any
crowd / have seen before or since
and that isn't leaving out the crowd
at Chicago. That was the night
won the light heavyweight title OF
the A. E. r. from Ted Jamison.
Those were the days when boxing
was carried on under the most ideal
circumstances ever known. If pro.
fessional boxing in America could
be handled as Jimmie Bronson and
Bill McCabe handled Army boxing in
those days, there would be no limit
to its popularity.
OF course. there were other officers
who helped run the A. E. F. and
interallied championships right, but
Jimmie and Bill were the leading
figures and entirely responsible for
the organization of the tournaments
which TO the 100000 soldiers left
over there by that time were the
only sporting events in the world
that made the slightest difference
In their lives.
Won couldn't tell any Of them
that every bout that night wasn't
Tor a world title. There they
were. waiting to go home, and
until they did their interest was
concentrated in their immediate
surroundings.
Can YOU imagine boxing in the
United States being run just for the
sake Of the game, with every off
cial absolutely ON the square, with
a board of judges whose honesty
wasn't even a matter of discussion
and with every fan ready to back
the man. from nearest his outfit
with his o. D. shirt purely out of
loyalty?
Well, that was something of a
picture of the boxing situation IN
the Army. winding up with the
might that seven titles were made.
I don't know that I have ever been
prouder OF winning fight than /
was when ! climbed down through
the ropes and heard 10000 leather
aunged soldiers tearing off the roof.
That was another thing about
those fights. There was bitter strife
for months after the final bouts,
but when a. man won 4 title the
whole crowd joined in cheering him.
7 will never forget that ovation,
and I doubt il there viii ever be
smother boxing crowd just like it.
y don't think there could be.
The elimination for this big night
had been going on ever since the
sArmistice and many Aof the boys
who participated had been boxing
Abefore that back In the rest areas.
There were hundreds Of regimental
champions at first, but ordinations
kept narrowing down the number
until only a few survived for the
finaI eliminations in Paris.
Champions poured into Paris,
RI from COblenE and from Breet;
from Belgium down to the ItaI-
ian sector. And In the great
barn-like building, the Cirque de
Paris, where In peace times the
French children laughed at
clowns and elephants, there was
battle, battle. battle every night.
The championships of the Ameri-
can Army were settled that night
in April and later in the summer
at the Pershing Stadium, the inter-
allied competition was held.
had had some hard battles, and
D lot of them one right after an.
other in preparation, and my hands
were 50 swollen i could hardly get
them into pair of gloves. Perhaps
I couldn't have done so If Bill Nc
Cabe had not brought a basin of
hot water TO my dressing room a
short time before l went on. That
visit was a great comfort to me
for knew had a great opponent
and also knew / had to win.
And right there was another thing
about the great spirit that pre-
vailed. A boxer wants to win any
match and feels that he has to, but
after all. IL he doesn't. it is his own
funeral.
But l felt IL I didn't win then
I'd be throwing down my pals, my
outfit and the whole service.
certainly was carrying a load of
responsibility. and the other con-
testants felt the same, am sure.
And still another sportsman
Hike thing was i'm the first event
OF the, evening, a wrestling
match between Cal Farley, of
Minneapolis. and Walter O'COn-
nor, Of Iowa, for the middle.
weight title.
Championships in all other weights
had been decided a week before,
but O'Connor refused to take the
" title by default when Farley could
not appear on account of an in
1ured knee. Wrestling would never
die out with that spirit.
There were seven championship
bouts on the card that night be-.
sides the wrestling match--a dish
to set before any sport fan. The
only class in which there were no
contestants was the flyweight, but
there were Babe Asher and George
Schneider as bantams and at the
other extreme Bob Martin and Fay
Keyser as heavyweights. In be-
tween were Bush" Graham. of
Brooklyn, and the fast colored boy
Leo Patterson, as nghtweights, my
self and Ted Jamison as light
heavies, and the rest.
sJamison was a game and clever
fighter ana he had made a mar
velous record in climbing ur
through the elimination mill. Ht
had a good punch with both hands
and was aggressive, so 1 spent the
first round sizing up the style OF
hia attack and then walked in. Ir
the third round he changed his tao
tics again, but ] solved that after
taking swift right TO the heat
which. however, was too high II
do any damage. ! saw that ] wa