Evening star., 1934-01-07
MUCH TRANSP|RES
TO AROUSE MARTY
SPLIT With Groves, Who Goes
With Rival, Kennedy Incl
dent Held Enough.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN.

IF MARTY GALLhGHER ISL I
in a nail-chewing mood when
he fights Dewey Kinney in
1O-round heavyweight scrap
at Portner's Arena Tuesday, he
might Just as well hang up his
gloves for keeps and go down in
the books as guy who had
everything necessary to be a
good ringman except an atom of
killer" instinct.
Those close to Gallagher know why
he has not progressed as he should have
done in boxing. Every real pal the
big, good-natured Foggy Bottom Irish
man has had in the last six or seven
years has been trying to ruff1e his feel
ings sufficiently to cause him to go out
and knock his opponents ears of.
The attempts of these well-wishers
so far have been pretty fruitless, but
they've remained, for the most part,
undiscouraged Marty. they know,
can hit, box and owns superb body
for a fighter. Now they see, in chain
of peculiar circumstances, a ray of
hope for Marty to acquire just enough
temper to go somewhere in the ring
game, starting with Kinney.
Marty Center of Ring Storm.
TN THE last week Gallagher has been
the center of ring storm which
has not yet blown over. 1t all hap
pened because Marty refused to fight
Les Kennedy because, to use Gallagher's
own words, beating Kennedy doesn't
mean thing any more"
AS result of this refusal Marty's
trainer, Harry Groves, split with the
local heavy and from the Kennedy
camp came enough verbal attacks to
'em one better. So apparently dis
gusted did Harry become that he up
and shifted his allegiance to Kinney
and will pilot the Tarheel from a corner
Of the ring when he boxes Gallagher.
On all sides Gallagher has been at
tackled. His reason for refusing to fight
Kennedy as allegedly promised was
Scoffed at by many. Kennedy, popu-
lar figure, especially in Alexandria
where he resides now, kept silent, but
many admirers of Les bitterly accused
Marty of looking for soft spot to make
his latest comeback"
Baer Meeting Called Dig.
"A IL this is not calculated to put
~ Marty in particularly good
frame of mind. AS matter of
fact some are taking an unusual slant
on a little incident which happened a
couple of days ago at Loew's Fox
Theater where Max Baer, foremost con-
tender for the worlds heavyweight
championship, Is making a personal
stage appearance.
A sort of Damon and Pythias rela-
tionship has grown between Baer and
Kennedy, fellow Californians. 1t dates
back to the time when Kennedy and
Baer split even in two bouts on the
Coast. They never fail to boost the
other
Gallagher, it seems, went backstage
at the Fox the first morning Baer was
there and posed with Max for pictures,
ostensibly as part of the publicity pro-
gram for Tuesdays fight. One pose
shows them shaking hands. Baer, just
arrived in town, did not know, of course,
that Gallagher had turned thumbs
down on his old pal because beating
him wouldn't mean anything"
A few hours later Kennedy and
Manager Jimmy Erwin visited Baer
backstage. They looked at each other
in near -amazement when it was re-
lated that Gallagher had preceded
them. Baer, of course, was not to
be blamed-but to use Max as a boost.
for the fight in which Kennedy liter
ally was thrown out as principal was
a little disconcerting