The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-17
/ ALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

TEW YORK. June III can IN
IN all truth say I went to the
recent Sharkey -Schmeling bout
With an open mind and an open
heart. I didn't care particularly
which man won. This has not al
uavs been true in the past. In
the Dempsey Tunney fights l was
sentimentally a dempsey man.
knew both Of the men very well ana
liked one about as well as the other
for what they were out of the ring.
But in the ring I favored the slash
ing. gambling style of Dempsey over
tbe conservative. sound boxing tech
mic Of Tunney. SO when l sat at
The ring at Philadelphia and again
st Chicago I know I was less
critic than a pop-eyed enthusiast.
had no such emotion as ] sat at tne
ring and watched Sharkey and SehmehnE
sanare on. I had picked Sharkey to WIN
but vas only casually. II at all. inter-
sstsd In the possibility of his succeeding
nieked him solely because he was more ex-
perlenced and seemed the logical victor
hver a man who had faced only two iair-
II GOOD heavyweights in his career.
had seen schmeling stifIcn Risko with
punch and I went to the fight WONDER
ine n he might be able to do the same
thing to sharkey. get vicarious. roWoy
sort of thrill out OF a clean knockout
This being 60 / am sure would have
been more moved at the sight Of schmeling
winning bv a knockout than Sharkey on
points. IL the bout moved on to what the
ADVANCE hope Indicated would be normal
climax.
HTELL, the fight was fought and
w Schmeling won on a foul
while lying in the resin, decisively
beaten up to the moment Sharkey
ralpably hit low. The following day
7 commented he had shown little
10 warrant his being acclaimed the
heavyweight champion Of the world
that he had been outclassed from
the start and that he might have
been Knocked out himself II the
fight had not been cut short when
it was.
This is still the way ] feel about the
young Herr and his performance on that
particular evening. To be sure, may
he wrong. but up to the moment nobody
has produced any overwhelming evidence
70 prove that ! am. But this Is beside
the point Letters have come In. am
asked whv I can not be a good sport and
cbeerfuIIy accept schmeling as the cham
Mon. rs il because he Is a foreigner and
NV winning he takes the title away from
America"
7 hope I do not appear offensive to my
correspondents when I say that this sort
Of CUFF gives me a distinct pain AS II 1t
should mean anything to any fairly sane
rerson who or what country holds such
en- intrinsically. culturally and spiritually
imimportant thing as the heavyweight
championshipl My criticism Of Schmel-
ing is wholly academic. simply don't
think he is a great fighter. Not yet at
snv rate And I hasten to add 1 am
very willing and eager to be shown.
n
A. S for accepting him as the cham
~ pion in the technical and myth
fcaI. sense that champions have been
accepted from the time of James
Tigg. there can be no question that
the honors belong to him. and to
Germany without reservations or
provisions. In a fight designated as
2 championship test he met and
won from the man ranking next TO
him in competence in the opinion
of the commission which authorized
the match. Obviously, it was no
fault of his that this man in
reckless. needless furry hit him a
crushing blow to the groin and rem
dered him unfit for further action.
whether Make would have won or lost
II the fight had gone on is irrelevant. i'm
material and not pertinent TO the cham
pionship issue Sschmeling says he would
have preferred to win in a more straight
forward. convincing manner. / don't know
what else he could say. nor do l think his
partisans should protest II feel dis
posed to say the same thing. l am sure
SehmelinE is sincere and l am equally sure
am.
And as for the championship going to
another country. this will be fine for
America but very hard on Germany. Par
ticulaTly If it means that all the gum
men. beer runners. muscle men and
kindred racketeers commonly identified
with the enterprise are to follow. To say
nothing Of referees who can't count. are
Blind to fouls. and are without convic-
ton.