Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-11
CROWD OF 75,ODO
DUE TO SEE BOUT
As Usual, Confident Claims
Emanate From Camps of
Rival Scrappers.
BY ALAN GOULD,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

Associated Press SpOrLS WElIcr.
n Jew YORK, June lin the
most interesting and most
Y extravagantly ballyhooed
fistic affair since the late
Tex Richard pulled the strings of
the heavyweight Punch and Judy
show, Jack Sharkey will fight Max
Schmeling tomorrow night Is
rounds or less at the Yankee
Stadium for the heavyweight
championship of the world"
It is by all odds the most significant
heavyweight bout since the retirement
of Gene Tunney, but whether the win
ner viii be recognized outside OF Ger
many, Litnuania and the United States
remains to be seen.
With any kind of an even break from
old man wheather, a crowd of $4,000
fans probably will pay in excess OF
S700,00 to see the big show. This Is
a far cry from the figures attending the
last of the outstanding Rickard extrava-
ganzss on Chicago'S lake front in 1927,
but it excelS anything on the books OF
the heavyweight business for the past
three years. In addition the customers
will have the happy opportunity TO
serve a double purpose in benehttlng
the children's milk fund, sponsored by
N1I6. Wlllldn T1Cd4ots anu AL
aiding the recovery Of the INDECENT
heavyweight division.
Many Questions in Debate.
Today, the two main questions up for
debate among the railbirds are:
First, can Schmeling carry the
fistic heights that three previous
foreign challengers, Firpo, Carpenter
and Heeney, failed to do?
Second, can Sharkey overcome the
temperamental jinx that has seemed
to pursue him in international COM
petition and fight at his best?
This fight is no exception, when 1t
comes to the speculative Ifs" and
butts" or even the loose talk that
everything is "in" and all right" for
one principal or the other. So far as
that goes it is just the ballyhoo that has
become part of the game.
The claims from one corner that
Schmeling will win If he crowds and
harnesses Sharkey from the outset are
countered by the cries that the Teuton
will have his ears cuffed OF If he mixes
too willingly.
The belief that sharkey is due for
one of his good fights and, therefore,
will emerge the winner Is offset by his
record of consistently putting. up
mediocre bouts against foreign rivals.
It is this strange feature of Sharkey's
career that seems to give Schmeling the
best chance to capture heavyweight
honors that any invader has had since
Luis Angel Firpo knocked Jack Demp-
sey out of the ring at the Polo Grounds
seven years ago.
Sharkey has fought his good fights
almost exclusively against the domestic
punch abSorberS. His most impressive
performances were scored against
Harry Wills and George Godfrey. the
so-called black menaces; Jim Maloney
and Tommy Loughran, representing
the Irish-American contingent.
Against this. there is Sharkey's
record of being knocked out early in
his career by Romero Rojas, the
Risko, the Austrian baker boy; held to
a draw by old Tom Heeney, the New
Zealander; victor over Phil Scott, the
Englishman, In q very questionable
bout at Miami, where Phil might easily
have been declared the winner on a
foul whether or not he was hurt by
Sharkey's low blows.
Sharkey 9 to S Favorite.
This information may be food for
the bunch players, even though not
consoling to the patriots, who viii con-
slider 1t a national calamity, scarcely
less important than the Wall Street
II GIlc 1lcdNyWC4S4G G4G4C - 1Ocb
to America. In spite of 1t, the form
players have made Sharkey a to 5
favorite in the betting and he prob
ably will enter the ring at that figure.
The training camps have contributed
little but wordage to the general dis
cussion. The main facts are that
Sharkey, best of poor crop of Ameri-
can heavyweights, has the fighting
equipment and experience with which
to beat back the challenge of the young,
hard hitting and courageous German.
No one yet. however, has successfully
predicted what Sharkey will do on any
given evening in the ring, so that the
rest of the argument may just as well
be reserved for tomorrow night.
The tale outside Of the ring may be
more impressive than that within, for
the ringside seats will be occupied by
dazzling rows of notables in evening
frocks and stiff -shirted costume. The
ranks of the famous 900 millionaires"
of Madison Square Garden may be
somewhat depleted since recent events
in Wall Street, but they will all be
there, anyway. The price, S2.l0 to
S2625, have been scaled to fit the
rocketbooks of the faithful in all ranks