Evening star., 1937-06-19
FIRST GOOD SOCK
LIKELY TO DECIDE
Mau|er Does Not Believe
Science Will Play Big
Part in Title Go.
BY JACK DEMPSEY.
~H1CAGO, June 19-James J.
I Braddock and Joe Louis ap-
N pear TO be about on even

pear 10 be about on even
terms so far as physical con-
dltlon Is concerned. as they wind up
their training for the fight in Comis-
key Park on Tuesday night. I'm sup
posed to compare the strategy" OF
the two men in this article, but. 30
far as I can see, there amt going
to be no such animal" in this fight
When Jim and Joe face each other
It'll be a case of catch-as- -catch-can,
and the fellow who's lucky enough to
get over the first telling wallop prob
ably will be the winner.
Let's see how they stack up:
Louis-Falls for a feint: has good
sock in either hand; cay to hit with
right; susceptible to head punch:
is bit punch shy; has youth in his
favor: has trained defensively; not
. good chaser, not aggressive; not as
good as he was.
Braddock-Doesn't fall for a feint:
has good right, pretty good left:
not so easy to hit with right: can
take good punch on head; is not
punch shy; has more experience:
trained extensively and defensively:
can go after his man: can be aggres-
sive; nearly as good as he ever was.
Thinks Schmelinx Slowed Joe.
THOSE are few things that We
can set down for facts. So far as
these fellows have shown in their
training. except for infrequent spurts.
hnfh hoyo el,trnjeh {v, thntr
training. This raay be better for
Braddock, for it means that he will
not leave his fight In the gym"
When Braddock eased through his
training, it was apparent that he
wasn't trying, but when Louis looked
sluggish somehow I got the impress
sion that he was trying to do better,
but just couldn't develop the pep.
I think the night with Schmelna
took more out of Joe Louis than folks
think it did. Joe took a pretty good
hellacking in that fight, and those
who are close to him-but not fnan-
cially interested-assure me he hasn't
the zip and power that he showed
before the Schmelng fight.
Braddock has not taken any ter
rife beatings. His lay-on OF two
years hasn't been q complete let
down. He didn't go hog fat. and he
did keep in fair condition with light
work.
Louis is not a great boxer; neither
is Braddock. for that natter. but Jim
| has shown boxing ability in some Of
his fights, better than Louis has
shown.
| Louis most Of the time had his
opponent scared when he went into
the ring In most cases the other
fellow seemed to be licked even be-
fore the fight started. The opponent
seemed to expect defeat.
Louis Licks Some Poor Ones.
RRADDOCK is not the scary type.
He has the advantage of knowing
that Louis can be knocked out-that
he has been knocked out-and he be-
lieves he has the guns to turn the
trick.
Louis knows that Braddock is the
kind Of fighter that is more danger
GUS when he is hur. than any other
fighter he ever faced
l don't mind saying I believe sew
eral Of Joes victims could have got
up If they'd mind to after he'd
put them down. Braddock is a guy
who's shown that hard knocks are
no strangers to him. He's the kind
of do-or-die fellow who won't admit
I hA'e hrkAd utnnf n,iif
Both men looked pretty terrible
most Of the time in their training
bouts. II a stranger, knowing neither,
happened to drop in at some Of their
practice bouts he would have labeled
them both palookas. Only in rare
flashes did they show any class.
And gauging them on these work.
outs. I'm forced to conclude that
right now this is no better than an
even-money fight.
Braddock's legs are good, better
than I expected they would be. In
all his training not once has he
shown the slightest sign that his legs
are likely to fail him.
I say that Louis doesn't look ~
good as he did formerly. But I also
say that while Braddock is-or ap-
pears to be-in about as good physical
condition as he ever was, he still
isn't up to the fighting form he
showed in his training for the fight
with Max Baer
Braddock No Open TARGET
roth men have been socked clean
rights to the jaw, but Braddock
has not been such an open target for
this punch as Louis-in their training
bouts.
Naturally. the fight in the ring
Tuesday night will be altogether diff
ferent than these camp set-tos, but
when those punches begin to fall
one OF them Is going to be luckier
than the other. Can you figure which
one 1t will be? I'll tell you what I
think about this later.
Copyright, 1877