Evening star., 1931-06-12
HAS 8 SCRAPPERS,
BUT NO BUSINESS
Saws Some Of His Feathers
Have Grown to Middles
Through ldIeness.
BY FRANCIS J. POWERS.

HCAGO. June 12.-"The
fight game is punko-
very, very punko," sighed
Ray Alvis, the cowboy OF
the fistic business. Here I have
a great stable of 35 boxers and
actually some of the lads are
growing from featherweights to
middleweights through idleness.
In the good old days of 1928, be-
ing a member of Ray Alvis' stable
guaranteed a boxer at least one
bout a week. Now some OF the
boys do not toll more than once
or twice a month. If this condi-
ton continues it will not be long
before the old cowboy has to
walk"
You get the same story on every side
AMI when q busy manager like Ray Al
Wis puts on the moan the racket must
be anchored right in the middle Of the
Sar1aSso Sea. Many fight managers
blame It on the times. Others, more
farseeing, put the onus on the long
series Of punk fights the pub<c has
been handed over the past two o. three
years.
Also too many managers have vailed
TO recognize the general shortage Of
cash. They still demand boom times
prices and promoters are unable to FUR
nish them. Many promoters are either
broke or badly twisted and consequent
.ly boxers are going without work.
Differ as to Gate.
Those connected with the boxini
game are speculating on the gate for
the Stribling -Schmeling championship
fight at Cleveland. July 3. william
Carey, president of the New York Madi-
son Square Garden Corporation, pre-
diets the German and Georgian will
trade hooks before S1.000,000 crowd.
Prof. William Mccartney, one of Schmel-
ing's managers, puts the stake at $780,
600. Others with no personal interest
in the financial returns declare the
fight will do well to cross $400 600.
Some one is going to be wrong when the
receipts are counted.
The fight may draw much better than
the outsider suspects, but it will need
q lot Of smoke during the next three
weeks. So far nothing has come out OF
either the Schmeling or Stribling fight
camps to start any heated arguments
among the 1anS.
Il hope the fight draws well. but still
more hope Stribling and Schmeling
put on a great show" declared one
prominent Midwestern boxing off1cial.
"A rip-snorting fight in Cleveland would
do lot TO revive interest in the game.
II would wipe out the bad taste the
fans still have every time they think
of the Schmeling -Sharkey, Godfrey
Carnera and Sharkey Scott fights. Let
Schn1eling and Stribling put on fght
that compares somewhat with the sec
ond Dempsey -Tunney or the Dempsey
Firpo battles, and the game will quickly
have boom. The fans still are in
terested in the game. but they want
something for their interest"
WeIter Title Go Planned.
Madison Square Garden now Is dick
efing for a fight between Jack Thomp-
son, the welterweight champion, and
Jimmy McLarnin, to be held in the
Yankee Stadium some time In August.
That fight is more or less OF a natural,
and New York fans will remember the
great battle the pair put up in the
Garden two Winters ago. Alvis ex-
poets to close the deal for Thompson
within a few days, and 1t Is believed
Pop Foster will grab the opportunity for
McLarnin.
The writer hears that several Nevada
millionaires are going to bank roll Jack
Dempsey for a real heavyweight cham
pionship fight at Reno in 1882. and
that the Paolino-Baer fight the Old
Mauler Is staging July is just pre-
liminary to bigger things out on the
desert in the future