The Washington times., 1938-07-23
TONY SICK With
PNEUMONIA IN
N. J. HOSPITAL
Bout With Lewis Next
Tuesday Called Off
By LAWTON CARVER

ORANGE, N. j., July % G.N.S0.
Tony Galento, short, burly idol of
the JerseyiteS and No. challenger
for the world heavyweight cham
pionShip, lay ill today in Orange
Memorial Hospital, victim of sud-
den attack of pneumonia which
knocked him out of the biggest
fight of his career.
A bulletin issued at the hospital
this morning said Galento had a
good chance" for recovery.
He spent the entire night in an
oxygen tent set up over his bed.
And all through the Oranges his
thousands of followers, many Of
them almost worshipers of his
antics, spoke of little else except
the barrel-bodied tavern keepers
illness and of the fact that he
would not be able to meet John
Henry Lewis, the light heavy
weight champion, at Philadelphia
next Tuesday night after all.
1O4 TEMPERATURE
These followers are the ones
who many time have bent their
elbow over Galento's bar, and
slipped with him of his big stems
OF beer, which he insisted kept
him in shape for his ring engage
ments, that and Mrs. Galento's
spaghetti. He trained on it and
thrived on it.
He was rushed to the hospital
late yesterday with a temperature
Of 104 and Immediately placed in
an oxygen tent. His condition
today was pronounced by hospital
attaches as unchanged and fair"
The heavy-fisted, short-armed
and pudgy rough-and-tumbler first
complained of illness Thursday
night after he completed heavy
training for the scheduled fight,
and gradually yesterday his condi.
ton grew worse, with the result
that Promoter Herman Taylor Of
Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania
Boxing Commission officials were
summoned.
TAKEN TO HOSPITAL
Soon thereafter Galento was
taken from his home to the hos
pital in an ambulance, accom-
panied by his manager, Joe
Jacobs.
The Philadelphia fight, sched-
uled for the Sesquicentennial Sta
dium, where Dempsey lost the
championship to Tunney in 1926,
was to be for Is rounds, although
no title was to be at stake and
it was regarded as a $150,0O0 pro-
motion.
1t was to be Galento's stepping
stone toward match with Max
Baer or Champion Joe Louis, and
the rotund better had trained for
this one as he never had before.
The suet ran off his body in
rivulets. until finally his weight
was down to 227 pounds. Then
this illness spoiled it all.
And it spoiled it for the custom
ers, too, for, while they never had
any illusions about Galento'S
aHA4AGy do a POlIoIICO SIdO4dGO1S 1lo
has the two things they love-a
wallop and a weird sort of rough
house color. The combination
sometimes was just about devas-
tating to the customers. He could
punch, and he gave them a laugh
and they loved it.
PLENTY. OF FIGHT
He also gave them a fight, with
elbows and an occasional head
shake in close that might be con.
strued as an accidental butt, and
when he popped an opponent with
that left hook of his he stayed
popped. The last fighter that he
met failed to finish.
That helped to earn him Nation
al Boxing Association ranking as
No. l challenger, leaving for him
just one goal-a bout with Louis
for the championship.
And he probably still will want
it when he gets out of the hospital.
if the pneumonia doesn't end his
career.
In Galento's words: