Evening star., 1938-03-12
MATCH HELD EVEN
BY WELTER CHAMP
Barney Looks for Feather
King to Press Him in
Weight by May rs.
BY JOHN LARDNER.


says he has no scruples whatever
about going in there and embroiderine
Henry's brown hide. come May 26.
You know as we'll as do that the
match is not what it sounds like
says Mr.. Ross, nee Rasofsky, Arm.
strong Is no more featherweight thar
you are. and you are certainly nc
featherWeight. friend"
With a ready eye cooked at YOU,
correspondents ample frame, Mr.. Ross
paused to collect his thoughts.
Armstrong is fuu-grown light.
weight, and still getting bigger" he
continues. me. I am an undergroWr
WelterWeight. I have promised tc
come in there weighing 142, give O,
take a pound. Armstrong probably
will build himself up to 1873. Thai
means 4 pounds difference, which is
no slaughter house figure. And besides
they say this fella is strong as a bull.
Good Fight in Prospect.
All in all, that is pretty fair sum-
mary of the case Armstrong is nc
featherweight and Ross is by no means
big welter. The contest will be
nearly even, physically. 1t should be
good one. too, for Ross and Arm
strong are the finest small fighters in
the country
In some ways this match is the fight
bugs dream come true. From the
time he knocked out Petey Sarron
the hairy Syrian. for the featherweight
title, Armstrong has gripped the pub
hes imagination. He has an unstop-
pable way about him. Strong and
rugged as middleweight from the
waist up, he comes failing in with
both fists and cuts down his man
without pity or remorse. Nothing
halts him. The best punches roll of
his chin and shoulders like gin of
ducks back.
When he butchered Sarron. the
critics began to peer ahead for a
man who could fight this little fury
on something like even terms. There
was no one among the featherweights
There was no one among the light
weights. Not until they reached the
welters-and the best of the welters
the head man. Ross-did they find
a candidate who might conceivably
make trouble for Henry
Barney Is Ring Slicker.
1t isn't Ross size alone which quail
hes him. Barney is an expert stylist
perhaps the most expert in the busi-
IoN - l..
mere strength. Jimmy McLarnln
a skillful puncher and a fast one
scarcely laid glove-a right glove
On the SLY Chicagoan in their first
tight Mere sluggers have never had
a chance with him. He knows the
answer to nearly every form of at
tack, and he has some scoring weapons
of his own.
Ross is cute fighter, full of tricks
He is a clock-watcher and a ground.
saver Fifteen or 20 seconds before
the end of round he will unbottle a
fierce rally, pleasing the crowd ano
the judges without doing sustained
damage to his opponent or risking his
own chin. Armstrong is open to this
sort of tactics-if he doesn't catch
up with Barney earlier in the round
and pound him to powder.
For Henry can throw more punches
from more directions than any one
Ross has met. In the space of a few
seconds he will toss half a dozen to
the body and half a dozen to the
head, and these will come at you
helter-skelter, from the clumsiest of
angles, without losing volt of their
power.
Henry Tough to Handle.
Barney certainly cannot stand and
trade blows with AL Jolson's thankless
pickaninny. Barney can hurt with his
right hand and jab artfully with his
lett, but he's not knockout fighter.
He will have to devise new scheme of
defense for Armstrong. If any one
can do this, it's Ross. But many folks
will tell you that the only scheme of
defense against this brown guy is 20
Into the next room and lock the door.
Armstrong never will make the
featherweight limit again without cut
ting of both his legs slightly above the
knee, and that is course of action
ne opposes very stubbornly, for reasons
best known to himself. The feather
weight title will be vacated as soon as
he fights Ross. And that won't disturb
young Henry at ALL There is no money
among the feathers. There is good out
door money among the welters and
lights.
Possibly the sight of Armstrong do
Ing his big outdoor business will break
the heart Of AL Jolson. if Albert comes
10 see it. Not long ago, Mr.. Jolson
broke of in the middle of a promise
TO go back, back, back to Tennessee
and announced that Henry Armstrong
was an apostate who had wrongec
him deeply.
Heartache for Jolson.
The suffering minstrel said he wa,
entitled by verbal agreement to hal,
OF Henrys earnings. He said h.
hadn't been given a nickel.
Il got Carolina heartache. added
Mr., Jolson. in the key of three fats.
Mr. Armstrong received this bulletin
calmly, and went on with his business
He fights to good money every week
which means that, if you laid Mr.
Jolson's vanished percentages end tt
end. they would reach to the plac,
where Mr.. Jolson's nanny is waitin
Tor him. prayin' for. him, down b,
the Swanee.
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Newspaper Alliance, Inc)