Evening star., 1938-11-07
Chance Is About All
He Has in Match
With Champion
Earnings Held Down
By Lack of Class in
Light Heavy Ranks
BY GRANTLAND RICE,

NEW YORK, Nov. John Henry
Lewis is the latest to demonstrate
that if a fellow tries long enough
he will get his chance at the main
prize, regardless of the field in which
he is a competitor. John Henry has
been punching around for quite a
while now and he seldom has made
much money, although there never
was any doubt that he had plenty
of ability. Now, after years of plug
ging away. he is getting a crack at
the heavyweight championship of
the world.
OF course, when it gets around to
the time of the fight, John Henry
will climb into the ring as the short
ender in the betting. Louis, any way
you can figure him, carries too many
guns for John Henry. But at least
John Henry will be in the same
ring with the heavyweight cham
pion and any time challenger gets
in with the champion, he has some
kind of chance to win. No great
chance, maybe. But a. a'chance-
which is more than Lewis seemingly
could have hoped for just a little
while ago.
Not Exciting-But Good.
Lewis has been one of the under
rated fighters. This is because the
light heavyweight division, which
he has commanded since the night
he won the title from Bob Olin
in st. Louis, has been SO sparsely
settled by good fighters as to have
passed almost unnoticed in the fistlc
parade. Indeed, there have been
times when it seemed that the light
heavyweight division consisted OF
John Henry Lewis.
Once there were real good fighters
in large numbers listed among the
light heavyWeights. But Lewis took
the title from Olin, who never was
much of a fighter and Olin had
taken it from Slapsie Make Rosen-
bloom and the most anybody ever
could say for Make was that he
was a hard man to beat. That was
when Make was at his best and
he had passed the peak when he
hooked up with Olin in what prob
ably was the worst championship
fight, in any class, that ever was
held in New York-and, no doubt,
points North East, South and West
So John Henry came into the
championship on the heels OF
couple of dull and unexciting title
holders and he had to start from
long way back in his race to cap
ture the imagination Of the fans.
The truth of the matter is that
he never quite succeeded because
John Henry is not very exciting
figure in the ring himself. But he
is better fighter than either OF
his two immediate predecessors and.
barring Louis, it would be pretty
hard to pick heavyweight who
could beat him.
Lewis Difficult to Hit.
Lewis is smart, thoughtful boxer
and long campaigning has sharpen
ed his boxing to point where 1t
is difficult to hit him solidly. In
all the years he has been boxing
the only man ever to have him on
the floor was James J. Braddock.
Jim dropped him twice in a fight
that was one of. the several turn
ing points in Jim's dramatic march
from the docks to the heavyweight
championship. Braddock's victory
over Lewis earned for him the
match with Art Lasky and as a
result of his victory over Lasky,
he moved into the No. spot among
the contenders and thus compelled
Max Baer to take him on in
title fight.
The fight between Braddock and
John Henry was so close that the
two knockdoWns, plus couple OF
rounds taken away from John Henry
for hitting low, resulted in Braddock
getting the nod at the finish. And
hitting the deck under couple of
Braddock's punches was not exactly
knock on John Henry. Braddock
had Louis on the floor, too, in the
Chicago engagement that ended
with Louis winning the champion
ship. The only conclusion to be
drawn from those two fights was
that Braddock could knock down
anybody he could hit solidly.
A Fighting Champion.
Louis, by accepting John Henry
as his opponent in his next bout,
has furthered his reputation as a
fighting champion. 1t is customary
for all fighters, on winning title,
to announce very loudly that they
will be fighting champions, willing
to risk their titles against any and
all opponents. Louis, however, is
one of the few ever to keep his word.
Benny Leonard was like that.
Leonard considered, when he won
the lightweight championship, that
he was not merely the best white
fighter in the world at 135 pounds,
but the best at that weight regard
less of color-as, before him, Bat
Nelson had considered. Benny and