The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-01-28
TALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS


THE talk on Broadway is still Of
4 the Primo. For fighter who
accomplished nothing in stopping
a fifth rate opponent who did not
offer a single legitimate lead he has
become the biggest public sensation
the ring has known in twenty years.
The matchmaker at Madison
Square Garden, skilled in such mat
tiers. says he could put the Primo
back this week against another ami
mated bale of hay and again play
TO a capacity business. The odd
thing about the Primo Is that in
spite Of his brief performance, by
which it was impossible TO get any
sort of line on his ability, If any,
great number of critics profess to
be enthusiastic about him.
'sHov Is anybody going 10 beat him"
demands Dumb Dan Morgan. the man
who made Jack Britton WelterWeight
champion Of the world. He is too strong
too big and altogether too powerful
Morgan doesn't see how IL is possible for
ANYBODY to break through the giants
natural buIwark Of bone and muscle with
a punch that will hurt him.
n
DY the simple eXpedlent OF nav
ID ing grown by gradual processes
10 the size of a horse, the Primo
has become a figure Of international
consequence and curiosity, and be-
cause he walks in an upright man
ner and speaks a human tongue
there is more lively interest IN him
than any of the amazing freaks OF
nature (the basic appeal being the
same) which Barnum ever displayed
under the big tent.
n fs auIte possible this situation
nortsuds a significance on modern civiilza-
4ion th=s is not readily foreseen. When
nen and women rush to worship bullying
bIceps and mountainous shoulders II is
time for the serious thinkers TO give the
matter some concern. Tied up IN the
thing somewhere there may be surglng
desire for a new race peopled BY super
men.
POSSIBLY it will be necessary TO
Il revise the whole fistic arrange
ment and create a super division to
be known. say, as the heavy-heavy-
weight division. There is precedent
for this in the light heavyweight
division. wherein the big men OF
smaller stature compete. Auto
matically such a revision would re-
duce in artistic Importance the
fighting proweSs of the Dempseys,
the Tunneys, the Sharkeys and the
SchmelingS.
The modern trend generally is IN the
direction Of gigantic enterprises. The
WooIworth building is no longer the eye
pepper Of the New York skyline. You get
much closer to the gods from the top
balcony of the CbrysIer edifoe. There
should be no popular diSapprOval of human
skyscrapers. For all anybody knows this
NAV he a material manifestation Of
bigger and better humanity. and with
IL the promise of finer world.
EOR centuries the underdog has
Il always been the favorite Of the
multitudes. There was nobody in
Goliath's corner the day he was
flattened by David, and when 265-
pound Jess Willard crawled be-
tween the ropes at Toledo to face
18O-pound Jack Dempsey, he was
booed. jeered and ridiculed as 'big,
fat sIob."
r
II has never struck me that this
attitude was wholly fair. The rule of
combat is to ask quarter and give
none BY the same token there should
be no sympathy or sentiment. With the
multitude the underdog rides solely on
sympathy and sentiment And no
gladiator truly brave at heart wants this
sort of support.
q
With the coming of a new breed
OF giants to the ring all this may
be different. It will be possible to
keep these 200 pound pygmieS where
they belong and reserve the windupS
for men who are men.