Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21
PROMOTER CAREY
CONSIDERING HIM
Must Be Recognized as Con-
tender, Madison Square
Garden Head Says.
by WALTER TRUMBULL.

N YEW YORK, July 20-"If Tommy
Loughran is sincere concern
VI ing his retirement as a light
L heavyweight" says william =.
Carey. president OF Madison
Square Garden, Il fully appreciate that
he must be given real consideration ss
a contender for the heavyweight title
Loughran told me before the Brad
dock fight that 1t would be his last as
light heavyweight and of1cially an
nounced his retirement from the class
after the bout. He leaves the class I'M
defeated to go where the bigger men
and bigger money are. Let us see what
Tommy has to offer as heavyweight.
In the first place he Is one man none
OF the heavyweights care to meet. They
have an idea that the chances are that -
he would make them look silly, and 1t
is a very sound idea. But, you may
say, marvellous boxer that he Is,
Loughran hasn't, the punch to please
the crowd. That statement doesn't ring
as true as 1t once did. Braddock has
been widely heralded as . terrific
puncher. but, at the Yankee Stadium
on Thursday night 1t was Loughran
fight. More than once Braddock, tough
and young was Jared from head TO
heel by singing rights to the extent
that his knees started to fold.
Career Is Like Tunney's.
Now. consider that Loushran. 70
make the weight, ate and drank noth-
ing for % hours and then spent IS
minutes in a steam room TO take on
the last stubborn pound before ne
weighed in at o'clock on THURSDAY
afternoon. If you don't think that 10
weakening, try 1t on your own frame.
See how much of that lost strength
you can recover in eight hours for q
minutes Of strenuous physical effort.
But, in addition, Loughran was cut
twice in collisions with Braddocks head.
and lost a considerable amount Of blood.
That didn't help his strength any. II
Tommy could rock Braddock under
those conditions. he isn't such an egg
shell puncher as he had been advertised.
Loughran's career, in many respects
parallels Tunney's. When Gene started
he also was a light puncher. One reason
was that he had bad hands. But Tunney
developed punch. Dempsey tod me
not to believe any one who SAID tnat
Tunney couldn't hit. He said that Gene =
had a wicked right hand.
Another indication that Loughrans
punch Is improving Is that he Is be-
ginning to cut his adversaries. This Is
another thing that Tunney did. Gene
was one of the most Furnishing hit
tiers in the game. He cut his adyer-
saries into strips. Against Braddock
Loughran often appeared to be hitting
harder than he ever did before.
That being so, Is there any reason
to suppose that Tommy can not vastly
improve his punching powers. He Is only
~ years old, younger than Tunney
when the latter finally considered him.
self ready for Dempsey. At what is
now his his natural weight. around las
a mi 10
er and should hit a lot harder. He viii
never be a Dempsey, but he should hit:
plenty hard enough.
Might Improve Hitting.
Moreover, believe that Loughran
could improve his hitting by systematic
exercise. A heavy puncher almost al
ways has powerful forearms and wrists.
Braddocks wrist measurement Is given
as 8 inches; Loughran's aS Ia inches
Tommy might get more power In his
punches by enlarging those wrists. Tun-
ney worked for years to strengthen his
hands and wrists.
There Is little doubt that Loughran.
as he stands today, could make monkeys
of most of the heavies. II he also
could stop some Of them, he would be
one of the great drawing cards Of the
ring.
AS boxer. he is in a class by himself.
In long years OF watching ring con-
tests, never saw q more beautiful.
more mastery exhibition Of the art Of
boxing than that Loughran gave
against Braddock But the general pub
lie does not understand the marvel Of
sheer skill, and doesn't want 1t.
What the average spectator gets q
thrill out of is q contest between two
huskies who don't know how to dodge
or block and who are wearing brass
knuckles. That generally results in q
home smiling and happy. So the sooner
Loughran develops his hitting powers,
the better he'll get along.
And these heavies, who are ambitious
for the title can't dodge him forever.
(Copyright, 1879. by North American News
paper Aliancel