Evening star., 1931-06-20
AMERICAN fighter
NOCTURNAL TO|LER
Schedule Conforms to Time
of B0ut-German Seems
to Have Improved.
BY EDWARD J. NEIL,
ASSOCIATED Press Sports Writer }

- LEvELAND, June 2O.--A
couple Of young business
~ men, with q million dollars
or so at stake, are busily
preparing to give the Midwest in
general and Ohio in particular the
biggest fistic thrill that has wan
dered out this way since Jack
Dempsey battered the giant Jess
Willard into subjection at Toledo
In 1919.
On the shores of Conneaut Lake in
Pennsylvania, almost 100 miles away,
Max Schmeling Is clouting sparring
partners daily. while just on the fringe
of the city, at Geauga Lake, Bill Strib-
ling trains Mt night In gentler fashion.
And in, less than two weeks these two
will battle IS rounds for the heavy
weight championship in Cleveiand's new
municipal stadium, on the night of
July g. one day. short of the twelfth an
11iverSary of DempGey's sensational rise
to title heights at Toledo.
The setting for the battle of the
black k-browed. German, who looks like
Dempsey, and Stribling. the smiling
Georgian, lacks some of the color of
-scorched Toledo, where a giant
crumbled before the iron fSts OF one OF
the greatest heavyweights of all times.
Big business today has replaced the
perspiring, shirt-sleeved Tex Rickard Of
the Toledo days. and the fighters them
selves have yet to prove their right to
comparison with either a Dempsey or q
willard.
Max Looks Improved.
Schmeling, the champion, sun-black-
ened and aggressive, looks more like
the young Dempsey every day as he
shifts, weaves and whips short punches
from either side into the heads and
bodies of his helpers. He seems strong
er, hvelier now than he did year ago
in training for his hasco with Jack
Sharkey in New York, when he won the
heavyweight title on a foul. the f1rst
time that had ever happened IN all the
history Of pugilism.- He could step into
the ring with Stribliug tomorrow If 1t
were necessary, so 1ne Is his present
condition.
The youthful Georgian, old in the
Aght game, but young In years, Is
equally At. With the aid Of Pa
Stribling, the father -manager, Bill has
figured 1t out that fighting at night
calls for training at night II he Is to
as they Will be on the night Of July 3.
AS a result, The Stribling camp scarce
1y stirs during the day, but the coming
Ct darkness brings out the sparrins
partners and the paraphernalia. Strib-
ling goes into the training ring at
pm. the exact time he believes he will
be called out 90 face Schmeling the
night before the Fourth Today Bill
is close to the 1873 pounds he expects
to weigh for the title test. ....-
Pace Big Chance.
For both of the youngsters the IS
round duel on the shores Of Lake Erie,
in the magnificent municipal horse
shoe Cleveland had built to hold 100,-
900 sports fans, spells opportunity in
capital letters. Schmeling has, never
been accepted without reservation as
champion because Of his failure to give
Sharkey a return shot at the title.
The New York State Athletic Commits
sion holds that the crown has no owner
and win not have one until Sharkey
is disposed Of. A decisive victory for
the German will at least strengthen
the SchnMling case with the faithful
who pay the freight. -
Stribling barely lost the decision to
Sharkey in Miami, Fla, over two years
ago, and since that time has won rec
ognition as the stiffest puncher In the
division. He belted out Otto Won Porat
in Chicago and went to London to nat
ten Phil Scott when the Englishman
was the despair of the heavyweights
who could not hit him above the waist.
The Southerner today Is faster, keener,
more mature. At this stage of the
training grind, at least, the critics
concede him better than an even
chance to lift the Germans crown.