The Washington times., 1929-06-06
BOT / BOYS
SLlJCGED
IT OUT
BY Jack Dempsey

BY Jack Dempsey
Every ringman who has
battled for any length of time
within the hempen strands has
run afoul of tough and still
tougher battles. Many of them
since have gone into the his
tory books as among the most
bitterly contested in ring
annals.
And to that collection should be
added-it the addition hasn't already
been made--the Charlie White-Stan-
ley Yoakum fight Of 1914 into which
was packed 10 rounds Of wild and
cyclonic action.
White, at the time. was just be-
ginning to rise from obscurity into
fame as lightweight. And Yoa-
kun who was nicknamed "Soakum,
was a reigning sensation for the rea-
son that he had won Is consecutive
fights and had shown in each the
durability of Battling Nelson and
the punching power of a middle
weight.
They fought I'm Denver.
''SOakum' YOakum was a piO-
meer In the weaving. twisting.
bObbing and acrObatic style that
Harry Greb and Johnny DUR
dee made famous In later years.
White found it difficult to tag"
Yoakum through the early rounds
because of the ''whirling dervtsh"
tactics of his rival, but finally
hooked him with his dynamite left
In the seventh. The crash took the
gaIfop out of "Soakum's" legs and
forced him to stand up and swap
punches with the man who was
then. and still is, known as among
the most terrific southpaw light
weights.
cottage OF the Jail warden" relates
White. HE thought lot OF my
chances and bet $400 that would
stop Yoakum inside of IL rounds.
'fWeIl. when / finally steadiad
down the bouncing rubber ball in
the seventh, and he stood there toe
to-toe with me at last, proceeded
to put everything I had into my
.smashes in the effort to win the
bet for the warden. But it was no
use.
I'm those days, the men l cracked
once with that left hand usually
dropped and didn't get up. I hit
Soakum Yoakum perhaps 80 times
between the seventh and the end
of the twelfth-hit him right on the
button-and he never pulled a
stagger"
In the thirteenth, White con-
cluded that YOakun'S chin was
iron and he shifted his attack
to the body. Charley poured
into it a bIistering fire Of Iefts
and rights. but the only time he
drove YOakum back was by the
force of his smashes.t
r1akum Yoakum never had
learned to retreat under fire. And
as White blazed away, Yoakum
vo1leyed back at him and through
the thirteenth, and up to the end
of the seventeenth. it was a stand
up and smash fight unlike few
others in modern annals.
IF l hit Yoakum once, / must
have hit him 400 times in those five
was so badly battered that he no
longer looked like the Yoakum of the
first round. He was what police re-
porters describe as a gruesome
sight And my own fists, from the
pounding / had dealt out, were so
badly cut and bleeding that my
gloves and bandages were dyed red
long before my seconds cut them off
at the end of the fight!'
'Yet, for IL rounds / couldn't drop
Yoakum nor stop his ceaseless
rushes.
I'm the eighteenth, near the mid
die of the round, l met him coming
IN with a right handler. 1 knew that
rush would follow. He was like
that! Nail him hard and think you
had broken his jaw and, a, second
later. he was tearing at you more
vigorously and viciously than ever!
'"The inevitable rush came. I
slapped in with him, cooked the left,
summoned every ounce of strength
In my body. and then let 1t go. 1t
hit YoalSum on the chin. His knees
buckled, his body quievered, and
down he went, seemingly dead
cold--out for the next million
years!
"At the count of Six took q
look at Yoakum stretched flat on
the floor. He was the most helpless
human / had ever seen IN my life
SO, figuring the fight was over, 1
walked leisurely to my corner. 4
heard seven eight and-then a
wild roar from the crowd! Whirling
around ! saw Soakum Yoakum
gushing at me. e
"A ghost wouldn't have sur
prised me half as much. l stood
mouth open, eyes staring, at the
amazing sight of Yoakum back on
his feet-man resurrected from
pugilism's 3 dead! And while I gaped,
Yoakum nailed me two terrific
punches. one on each side, of the
jaw and was set to throw a half
dozen more when the bell rang!
"Soakun1 YoalSum came on for
the nineteenth 'jauntily, and ready to
slug it to the finish. His face
was an unrecog gnizable mess; his
body, a ridge of welts and bruises,
crimson streaked in some places,
turning black or purple in others.
But that great fighting heart of
his was not missing a single beat,
and he tore into me with the wild
hope Of flatteninE me before the
end of the twentieth. knowing that-
was his only chance to win.