The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-06-22
Walker Retains Crown
After 10 Hard Rounds
Nebraska Wildcat, Ace Hud-
kins, Is Given Big Ovation
in Anti.DecisiOn DemOnstra.
ton of Fans Immediately
After Fight; Rain Fell at
End of Bout
BY ALAN ]. GOULD
(AssOciated Press Sports EditOr)

stlll champion but he has the marks
and bruises of a terrific combat with
the wildcat to show that he came
out Of the fray far from unscathed.
After ten slashing, sloshing
rounds that finished in a torrential
downpour Of rain last night at
Comiskey Park, Mickey Walker, the
Bulldog, was declared the victor on
points over Ace Hudkins. the Ne
braska Wildcat, but it will be some
time before the echoes of protest
and dissent from that verdict die
down.
Walker retained his worlds mid
dlcweight crown on a two to one
decision. The two judges, Harry
Carroll and Edward Klein, gave
their ballots to the titleholder but
the referee, Eddie Purdy, cast his
vote for the challenger. In the
soaked and soddcn press row, clear
majority credited Hudkins with
being the winner, chiefly on his
tircless two-fisted aggressiveness.
Most Of the experts gave Ace a
margin in six of the ten rounds
while many credited the blond
Wildcat with as many as seven, to
offset, in a consensus, the few who
figured Walker was justly the
winner.
Crowd Dissent Great
But if there was dissent from the
decision around the ringside it was
mild by comparison with the out
burst that came from the dripping
crowd, some $4,000 to 10000 spec
tators who sat doggedly through
the downpour. fascinated by the
between the Bulldog and the Wild
eat. The roar Of booes and Kisses
grew, instead of diminishing. Hun
dreds swarmed about the ring to
shout and shake their fists. Thou
sands, more prudent even if also
vehement, went back to the shelter
of the ball parks stands to vent
their vocal wrath. 1t was one of
the widest demonstrations of dis
approval any championship fight
has witnessed in recent years, last
ing Is minutes in full volume and
a half hour in more sporadic form.
Ace Should Have Won
To most of those huddled around
the ringside, as the rain beat down
in torrents throughout the last
three rounds, it appeared clear that
the blond Hudkins, ripping into his
foe with relentless rushTs, deserved
to win with whirlwind<rally in the
last five rounds that offset Walkers
big splurge in the third, fourth and
fifth rounds. Walker, with a series
Of vicious, we'll directed clouts to
the chin and head, had Hudkins
groggy and Keeling backward and
apparently on the verge of knock
out in the fourth round, the most
spectacular moment of the fight.
Mickey had victory in his grasp
here, but could not put Hudkins down
or even prevent him from finishing
this round with characteristic
counter charge-the lunge Of a
wounded wildcat.
His big opportunity gone, Walker
never thereafter was able to beat
back Hudkins' wild rushes or pre-
vent the Ace from boring in. bury
ing his bloody head in Walkers
shoulder and whaling away with
both fists. Hudkins forced the fight
throughout the last five rounds.
Occasionally his head was jolted
back by Walkers left. His face was
mask of blood, oozing from cuts
about both eyes and his nose but
he refused to be tanned. Walker,
constantly in retreat and unable to
shake off this persistent foe, strug-
glcd and clinched, squirmed and
lodged out of corners as Ace flaycd
body and head ceaselessly.
Fight Was Savage
For unadult~rated savagery, con-
tinual and dashing action, the bout
has had few parallels. Walker was
cut in the nose in the first round
and over the left eye in the second.
Ace started to bleed in the third
from Walkers ripping hooks. BY
the end Of the fight both were GRIM
son, grotesque figures in the down.
pour as they slipped and punched,
splashed and slugged around on
canvas that sagged and held several
inches of water.
Hudkins, the agressor from the
start, was warned several times for
holding, pinning Walkers arm and
smuggling with whichever hand hap
pened to be free. These tactics,
perhaps, were counted by the two
judges against Hudkins, thus help
ing the score in Walkers favor.
Walker landed the sharper, more ef-
fective blows-when he could wrest
himself free to land them-but Hud-
kins landed oftener. The Ace was
always willing to take a few cracks
on the chin in order to get in close,
fail away with both hands and stay
there. In one round, the seventh,
Hudkins got his tousled head buried
in Mickey's shoulder and kept il
there for the full three minutes,
forcing Mickey from one side Of the
ring to the other and swinging both
hands constantly. There seemed no
limit to Hudkins' powers Of endur-
ance.
It was the wettest fight since the
nney-Dempsey battle in the rain
at the Sesqui- Centennial stadium,
Philadelphia, in 1926. The rain
came down to ruin few thousand
suits and coats, frocks, furs and
hats.