Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-23
Causes Of the Collapse.

| THERE are many causes assigned for
i the collapse of the caultf1ower boom
at q period when money was at its
easiest. Dempsey and Tunney were COLI
orful. figures, or at any rate they were
made to appear so by the excessive
ballyhoo, and Rickard, too, was per-
sonage who had been built up by StandU
ing always where the publicity lighting
would play on him.
The figures that are left in the fight
game are not like Dempsey and Tun-
ney. They are a sorry lot by COMPARE
son, and the ballyhoo for this game has
sunk to q very faint rumble. Nearly all
of the contend0rs are barred from the
State of New York, where the biggest
gates are to be had, with the exception
of Jack Sharkey and anybody who Will
agree to meet Jack Sharkey.
NY own idea is that the structure Of
the gilded age of caulihowerdom came
down of its own weight. 1t had been
pyramided so high that 1t had to fall
The bigger the fights, by way of gate
receipts, the less glamorous they be-
came.
less fugitive sport that had to be held
in the out-of-the-way places there al
ways was an interested curiosity about
1t. But Richard, with his specially ar
ranged arenas where many thousands
could see it, brought the familiarity that
breeds contempt. Somehow these shows
came to give the feeling that one was
sitting in the gallery OF dissecting
room. The nights were that perfunctory
and businesslike.
Whatever may be the cause or causes
nobody will deny that the gilded age of
the fight racket has come and gone.
The Present Crop.
T OOK over the contenders and COM
IL pare them with Dempsey and Tun-
ney, who were the principals when
the biggest sporting gate Of all time was
assembled. PROFESSIONALLY Max Schmel-
ing, the German. is the best of the lot.
Last year the New York State Boxing
Commission, which has assumed juriS-
diction over the cauliflower of the uni
verse, proclaimed him the heavyweight
champion of the world.
This year the New York State Boxing
Commission has declared Schmeling
null and void and announces that Jack
Sharkey Is the defending heavyweight
champion of the world There was no
protest when the title left America"
Nobody seemed to care much since John
L. Sullivan's time.
Sharkey is an in-and-outer, as they
say. Out of the ring he is noisy. In
the ring he is historical.
There Is young William Strihling, the
acrobat, one of the most cautious of
the prize fighters, who is managed by a
doting but financially wise parent.
Sharkey and Stribling at the Battle of
What Of It?" at Miami Beach, produced
a bout that put all of the customers to
sleep. If they meet again, the result
probably will be just about the same.
There is Primo Camera, The Tall
Tower of Gorgonzola," bigger than VIII
lard and a great actor in and out of the
ring. They say that he is the greatest
drawing card of them all, but they do
not say much about his fighting ability.
And he cannot draw because he is
barred from nearly every State of the
Union and some of the countries of
Europe. And messing up the whole
caulidower industry sits the New York
State Boxing Commission, whose boss
is James A. Farley in the dual role of
chairman of the State Democratic Com
mittee and the State Boxing Commits
sion. The works, as they say, are
gummed, and they never will ungum
them to the point where there viii be
another 100000 gate for a prize fight.