The Washington times., 1929-02-28
JACK ADDS.
LITTLE To !.
PRESTIGE
BY JAMES L. K1LGALLEN

By JAMES L. KILGALLEN
MIAMI BEACH, Fla, Feb.
% I.N.S.).-Jack Sharkey,
the garrulous COB of Boston,
wore a 100000 smile today
as result of his voctory over
w. Il. (Young) Stribling, the
acrobatic scrapper of Macon,
Ga, before a glittering as
semblage in Flamingo Park
last night, but he certainly
had no justification for brag-
ging very audibly over his
accomplishment.
For. although he beat Stfibling
handily enough, he did not rise to
any great heights in SO doing. he
fought a good fight. but not
brilliant one, and very few OF the
IS, 900 fans who paid about $4OO.UOe
to witness the spectacle questioned
the decision rendered by Referee
Lou Magnolia of New York, after
ten rounds of battling.
1t was an easy 100000 that
Sharkey earned. He emerged from
the ring almost without mark,
and while he did not add greatly to
his prestige, there was no gainsay-
ing the fact that he had, once and
for all. disposed of the handsome
young Southerner as serious
heavyweight championship con-
tender.
Stribling had his big. chance,
and he mufEed 1t. He simply
was not good enough to cope
with the heavier and stronger
Sharkey.
He tried hard. enough to come
through for the strongly partisan
Stribling assemblage, but he did not
have it in him. For one thing, he
weighed only 1872 pounds. exactly
ten pounds lighter than Sharkey,
which counted; and for another, he
tired badly after the fourth round,
demonstrating that he has not the
necessary stamina when up against
first-class opposition.
The young Southerner, however,
made two bold bids for victory, once
in the fourth and again in the ninth,
but each time he either could not
see his opportunity or could not
seize 1t because of lack of stamina.
He rocked Sharksy to his heels In
the fourth with hard right to the
jaw and a terrific left hook to the
chin. but he did not follow up his
advantage.
And again in the ninth he belted
Mr.. Sharkey squarely on the button
with a hard right, but the Bos-
tonian did not go down. And from
that moment on, "W. L." as his
parents call him, subsidized.
Sharkey fought what might
he termed a heady fight. That
is to say, the kind of a battle
that while not conducive to thrills
fOr the spectators. was never
theIess a sure road to victory.
He iabbed away at Stribling's face
with a mean straight left that drew
blood from Striblings nose and
mouth as early as the third round
and he occasionally varied his at
tack with hard hooks to the body
which had the effect of wearing
down his lighter opponent. =. :,
The tenth and final round found
Stribling a. rather pathetic slgnt'
HIS race WAS CoHOIOu WAhh
and Intellectually trying to stave OFT
the crowding Sharkey Had the.
fight lasted a few, rounds more
StribIing could not have stood the
mace, and he most certainly wou
have gone down. He was very
weak. indeed.
This writer recorded two ROUNDS
for Stribling, two even rounds ana
siv for Sharkey, At no stage h
the contest was the Bostonian IN
any real danger.
MA Stribling, who sat at the
ringside, stop-watch in hand. s9lo
that her son was robbed" OF fhe
decision. She was almost aiot.e
e, fbis belief. PA StribiinE, his
,aanager declared his son was suf-
fering from sore rib and neurltls
~ the shoulder and that this began
10 have an effect upon nim after
tha fourth round. Stribling himself
expressed the opinion that ne
fought a good fight and thai had
he batt1ed Sharkey four days ago,
before he strained his rib. he would
have beaten him.
Sharkev was magnamimcus in
victory. He may have been think
ing of that easy 100000 he made.
ANYWAY he gave the S"utherner
credit for being "a good hitter,
adding:
'sHe was much better than !
expected. He hurt me badly in
the fourth and ninth rounds.
and had he known a little more
he might have made it mighty
tough for me-"
The bout itself was colorless
affair, although the crowd that saw
1t was as picturesque AS any that
has ever witnessed major prize
fight In this country. The first
round was even. with both men
feeling each other out. Snsrkey be-
came the aggressor in the second
and took that round by slight
margin.
Drawing blond from Stribling's
nose with sharp straight lefts in the
third. the big Bostonian went into
the lead Stribling did manage to
Jar Sharkey bit with a left to the
head and a right to the body.
When in the fourth Stribling de-
livered two of his three really effec-
tive blows of the contest-a hard
right to the jaw and resounding left
10 the hutton. Sharkey hlinked.
seized StriblinG around waist, and
held until his head cleared.
RhaRkav RagtNaad fha Offanaiva in,