Evening star., 1937-01-05
ROPER WINS FIGHT
AS NADER IS HURT
Has Slight Lead in Hectic
Bout When Foe Injuries
Ankle in Eighth Round.
BY BURTON HAWKINS.

bottle Of beer, Washington's |
fstic New Year was launched
- in somewhat unorthodox style |
today, following Jack Roper's eighth
round technical knockout victory over
Eddie Nader last night at Turner'S |
Arena at a moment when both boys |
were producing some Of the most hec- |
tic action witnessed at the indoor fght |
center this season.
Mader's right ankle, injured IS he |
stalked the stole Roper. was TO be
placed under an X-ray today to de-
termine whether 1t was broken or
merely sprained. Eddie sustained the
injury almost on the identical spot
and in much the same fashion that
Yvon Robert, Canadian wrestler, frac-
tured his leg there several weeks ago.
His face q cory mess from . blood
faucet turned on inside his nose BY
one Of Roper's smashing left hooks.
and nasty cut under his left eye,
adding further to his misery, Nader
nevertheless withstood storm of au-
thoritative gloves and was retaliating
eamely and effectively when the acci-
dent occurred. Eddie twisted suddenly
and started to throw q right when his
leg rebelled after l minute and 20
seconds of the eighth round. Then
the referee halted the fight.
Roper Confounds Critics.
p OPER. whose punching prowess
was underestimated greatly, as
evidenced by the meager gathering Of
759 spectators, blended stiff left hooks
with an apologetic grin to completely
capture the following Of the fans early
in the scrap. The customers shifted
their affection to Nader, however, as
the courageous New York heavyweight
absorbed Jacks most damaging blows
while forcing the fight.
Probably not since the days Of Gene
Tunney have ringworms viewed q
fighter who conserves his strength
through the art Of relaxation as prac-
ticed by Roper. Lackadaisical when
the fighting is not carried to him, the
solemn Irish-Indian capitalizes on
virtually every miscue made by his
foe.
Nader conducted himself nobly as
long as he elected to keep his distance,
dancing around the slow Roper, flick
ing left jabs and occasionally sand
wiching q right to the head to take
the first round, but Jack reached him
with a singing left hook in the Sec
ond session, and Nader was dropped
for no count.
In the third round, which was con-
fined chiefly to heeling and mauling,
Eddie earned q margin, but Jack
staggered Nader in the fourth frame
with another vicious left hook that
backed Eddie to the ropes and ripped
both fists to the body.
Eddie Battered in Fifth.
IT WAS in the fifth round that Roper
connected with a left to Mader's
nose, which streamed blood. but Eddie
countered in the sixth with effective
rights to the head. Jack opened q
cash under Mader's left eye in the
seventh, but Eddie landed blow for
blow in a torrid exchange against the
ropes.
The Stars score sheet showed Roper
in front by half q point at the end
Of the seventh, with four rounds be-
ing awarded the Pacific Coast veteran
and three to Nader.
The preliminaries were uniformly
poor. In the best Of these Tom Ponte,
former Eastern intercollegiate heavy
weight champion from Western Mary
Land, took q four-round decision from
Dixie Davis Of Richmond, who was
hoored twice In the third round for
nine counts but managed to stick the
distance.
In other bouts Tiger Red Lewis.
Richmond light-heavyweight, and Joe
Finazzo, blubbery Baltimore veteran.
fought to a six-round draw; Buddy
Lynn. Baltimore welterweight, was
stopped by Angelo Nicola in minute
and 80 seconds Of the second round;
Hunter Crostic, Richmond middle
weight, chilled Jimmy Ortiz, recently
out Of amateur ranks, in / minute
and 10 seconds Of the second round,
and Bob Anderson and Billy Temes
battled to q draw in the four-round
opener.