Evening star., 1938-06-01
SAME FATE HELD
DUE FOR AMBERS
Ripped and Shaken by Left
Hook, Barney Is Lucky
to Go Full Route.
BY GALE TALBOT. :
Associated Press Sports Writer.

NEW YORK, June If you see
little blond man running today like
his coat-tails were on fire and glancing
back fearfully over his left shoulder
every now and then, the odds are you
are looking at Lou Ambers, the light
weight boxing champion, who agreed
in moment of avarice to fight Henry
Armstrong this coming July.
Lou, no doubt, has heard how ARM
strong beat Barney Ross into a bleed
ing, stricken pulp in is rounds last
night at Madison Square Garden Bowl
to add Barneys welterweight cham
pionship to the featherweight crown
he already held.
The consensus of those who sat
through the slow, agonizing destruction
OF Ross, one of the truly great little
fighters Of the decade, was that AM
bers had a similar fate in store as
soon as he faced the relentless Los
Angeles Negro
Takes Terrible Beating.
Armstrong gave Ross such terrible
beating that Barney, the right side Of
his face swollen like a half-moon and
his eye tightly clenched, muttered in
MS dressing room that he would never
fight again.
1t wasn't Ross % years or failing
legs that cost him the title. It was a
left hook that for Is rounds almost
ripped his head from his shoulders.
For the last half Of the fight he was
intent only on lasting the distance.
He tried to fight back in f1urries. but
his blows after the fifth round had
nothing behind them. Armstrong,
amazingly strong. merely bore in the
harder. At the finish he accepted his
new championship completely un-
marked and as fresh as paint.
Would Be Triple Champ.
If he whips Ambers, Armstrong will
have captured championships in three
different weight divisions in less than
year.
Last night the human pinwheel
weighed 1872 to Ross 142. Even so.
Armstrong was the stronger man every
second of the way He bulled Ross
about in the clinches and never al
lowed Barney to take the play except
for brief fiurries. The only thing he
lacked was stiffening punch.
The Associated Press score sheet
credited Armstrong with IL rounds
Ross with 4, and one of those went
to the Jewish lad because Referee
Arthur Donovan thought he had been
StrilnK 1nu After
1t was all Armstrong. Several times
Barney's managers, Art Winch and
Sam Plan, begged him to quit, and at
the start of the twelfth round the
referee added his plea, but Barney
shook his head and went out to take
his medicine.
Can't Avoid Left Hook.
The most surprising thing about the
hight was Ross inability to escape
Armstrong; left hooks to the head.
Those who had established Ross 8
7-to-5 favorite in the betting had
banked on his defensive skill to
thwart Henry's attack. But gradually
these lefts wrenched Ross face out of
shape and left him all but helpless.
For the first half, Armstrong most
ly pumped his right into Barneys
ribs. Slowly Barneys guard came
down to protect his side, and then
the Dark Destroyer blazed away at
Barney's left jaw.
I wasn't soing out lying down"
Ross said later. Armstrong is a hell
OF a fighter, but would have got up
If he had knocked me down a dozen
| times"
Fight Easy, Says Henry.
Far from finding Ross tough, Arm
strong told newsmen it was one of
his easiest fights. He said Barneys
blows never bothered him, even in ths
opening rounds when the heavier man
was landing with everything he had.
There was considerable talk i'm
mediately after the scrap that Ross
had been handicapped by injured
hands, but Barney denied it.