The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-06-20
HOFFMAN BARES.
NEW FACTS ON
F | c \ 7
By DAVIS ]. WALSH

ASBURY PARK, N. j., June 20
Open and unqualified charges Of
interference and tampering with
Max Baer before his losing fight
with Braddock last week were
aired with considerable freedom
today by the exchampion'S man
ager, Ancil Hoffman. in an ex
elusive statement to the writer.
He said Baer was a changed
man" from the moment he hi
New York the day before the
fight. He mentioned a penthouse
in which this remarkable change
was alleged to have taken place
He quoted a scene in the dressing
room in which bandages, pre-
Scribed by Hoffman, were mate
rally altered while his back was
turned.
In q word, somewhere in be
tween the time they arrived ir
New York from the training camI
and the moment when Baer en-
tered the ring to make one of the
most groteSque fights of all his
tory, somebody seems to have per
manently borrowed Mr.. Hoff
mans prize fighter.
II don't want to make direct
accusations until Pm sure of
exactly what happened" Hoff-
man said. 'I'm going to find
out, however, Baer entered the
ring with bad hands, and we
let him do it, thinking he had
cinch. We made a mistake
there and we freely admit it
now.
But that doesn't account for
the almost incredible change in
Baer from the moment he hit
New York the day before the
fight. 1 allowed him to go to the
pent house of L. manning
man who was nationally prOmi-
nent in sports some years ago.,
and was busy with details about
the fight for the next SO hours.
1 kept in touch with him there
and finally became uneasy when
1 noticed the great change in
him.
Gle had been confident Ieav-
ing ASbury Park. Now he seemed
low. diSpirited and inclined to
treat the fight as of no great
Importance. 1 tried to reason
with him but couldn't seem to
make him change his attitude"
At the arena, Hoffman said, he
was surprised to note that Baer
was nervous, a somewhat unusual
symptom for this boiSterous young
man. In this, by the way, the man.
ager is supported by DR.. William
Walker, boxing commission ply.
sician, who said Baer's blood pres.
sure of $50, as compared with 1873
a few days before, indicated lex.
IRENE nervousness"
Anyhow, Hoffman, aware that
Baer's hands were not right,
claims to have obtained the sane.
ton of Commission Chairman
Phelan for extra heavy bandages,
and these were applied before he
left the then champions dressing
room. He then repaired to Brad.
docks quarters, and was gratified
to note that the then challenger
also was abundantly bandaged
from knuckleS to wrists, meaning
that there would be no protest
from either side when the fighters
entered the ring.
II felt pretty good" Mr.. HOff-
man cOnfided today, gIOOmiIy.
But when I got back to Baer,
all bets were off. So were the
bandageS. He'd removed every.
thing and had his hands GOV.
cred with only thin protection
of six feet of gauze, with no
tape whatever.
when / asked him what he
meant by this, he complained
that his hands were so sore that
he couldn't stand the pressure
of heavy tape and gauZe.
! "'YOu're telling me that
now" 1 said, bitterly, and then
AC@AACU bA10U
we had tipped our condition to
one of BraddOck's camp who
was standing there listening to
it all. His report must have
given BraddOck just the conf
dence he needed to go out there
and fight as he did in the early
rounds but that doesn't matter
now.
"The important thing is that
somebody came between mana
ger and fighter right before the
defense of a worlds heavy
weight championship and, bad
hands or none at all, that's the
real answer to Baer'S showing
the other night"
All the writer can add is that
he is glad somebody has a new
one. He has heard IL variations
of much the same answer since
last Thursday night and, frankly,
none of them is good.