Imperial Valley press., 1933-01-13
COMMENT ON
SPORT WORLD
BY HENRY McLEMoRE
United Press Staff Correspondent

United Press Staff Correspondent
NEW YORK, Jan. 13. U.P)-The
vacancy created when Mickey
Walker abdicated his middleweight
throne for a crack at the heavier
boys will be filled tonight when
Benjamin Jebaltosky, known to the
trade as Ben Jeby, meets Frankie
Battaglia of Winnipeg, in a Is
round bout in Madison Square
Garden
That Is, the vacancy will be filled
insofar as New York state and its
august boxing commission are con-
cerned The N B. A., or National
Boxing association, believing that
squat, hairy -chested Marcel Thiel
of France is the best 160-pounder
in the business, will not recognize
tonight's winner as champion.
Which group is right? Neither,
probably. In narrowing the field
down to Jeby and Battaglia, the
New York body overlooks not only
Thiel but Dave Shade and Vince
Dundee And the N. B. A., in
sticking by Thiel, passes the four
Americans by.
But let's not get het up about
the matter Even if tonight's brawl
does not produce true champion,
it stands to give the customers a
,un for their money. Jeby is a
6 to 5 favorite. This would seem
to prove that the boys who make
the odds rate a knockout very
lightly, indeed, for it was not many
months ago that Battaglia smacked
Jeby kicking in the first round.
These odds worried us to such an
extent that we called one of the
betting mob, and asked him the
why for. His explanation was
very lucid.
"You see," the man said, you
see that knockout has lotta an
giles. In the first place, Battaglia
was unknown when they fought in
Chicago, and Jeby, thinking he
was up against some punk, walked
out like he was going to church.
They liked to had to take him to
church, too, when he caught that
right of Frankie's on his lug. Now
tonight, knowing that frankie has
kick in that right hand like
black jack, you can bet Ben ain t
going to stroll out there and ask
for it.
viii Not Repeat
"And there's another angle. II
you know anything about boxing,
YOU know that strictly right hand
Eltters amt much on repeating.
What I mean is, a man might get
hit once by a dead right-hand
shooter, but not twice. Not if he's
smart. And this Jeby is smart. He
knows all about that right hand
of Battaglia's now, and he's going
TO be lodging it. And if you stop
Battaglias right hand, you've STOP
red Battaglia, for he wouldn't
knock your hat off with his left"
The explanation sounds logical
TO us. There's no doubt but that
Jeby took Battaglia lightly in that
first fight in Chicago. Hymie Cap
in, Ben's manager, was telling us
yesterday how, when the bell rang
for the first round, he showed his
boy off his stool with the admo-
milton to go kick that kid out and
flet's lgo see a movie" They got
a movie all right, but Ben had such
headache he couldn't enjoy
Brother Cables technique.
And knowing what weapons a
fellow carries is a great aid, too
What we mean is, it's less danger
Gus to play with a lion knowing
that he's a lion, than to play with
one under the assumption that he's
Just an overgrown collie.
The one sure thing about to-
nights brawl is that Ben won't
stop frankie. There are two reas-
ons for this. One is that Jeby is
mauler, not hitter, the second
is that frankie can take it. In
his last night here Chick Devlin,
who hits like they say an ostrich
kicks, nailed him with a right cross
that laid him like rug. Yet Ben
got up and took the next three
rounds as if nothing had happened.