The Washington times., 1938-05-02

NJ. R.sd5oo.- straight VIC
tories here
and that Is enough to diScour-
age any boxing manager. The
boys in the fight game are no
toriously superstitious and when
the breaks run only one way,
they're afraid to defy them.
The Long Island Bowl in New
York has long been q graveyard
for champions and we know
definitely that superstition sur
rounding champions there was
one Of the contributing factors
why Jim Braddock refused to
defend his title against Max
Schmeling there last summer.
OF course, a more material rea-
son was that Braddock got more
money for fighting Joe Louis.
More RanaificatiOns
But getting back to the Esco-
bar-Archibald business, it seems
there is something more tangible
than superstition in the way Of
the match. Goldie Ahearn has
Just returned from New York
where he had a long but futile
conference with Brix about a
summer bout. Brix is friendly
with Max Waxman who at pres
ent is feuding with Ahearn.
Thus Goldie was treated like q
poor relative when he went to
Manhattan to discuss terms.
Fight managers are funny peo-
pie and they're as Temperament.
tai as prima donnaS. They like
to get the edge on promoters
who in turn are engaged in con.
tinual war with the muscle
maestroS. For instance, AL WE'LL,
who manages Lou Ambers, light
weight champion, as well as Ar
chibald, resigned his post as
matchmaker for the Twentieth
Century Sporting Club, which Is
the big leagues Of boxing.
The boys on the inside" say
everything was hunky-dory be-
tween Well and Promoter Mike
Jacobs until the Carnival Of
Champions last August. WE'LL
nominally bequeathed Ambers to
his lieutenant, Charley Gold
man, because under the New
York State Boxing Commission
rules no promoter or match
maker can have any part in
handling a boxer.
Class Built Up
WE'LL is said to have received
$50, 900 for Ambers' fight with
Pedro Northumberland AL got
every penny of it although the
show didn't draw enough people
to congeSt a phone booth. That
was the end of a beautiful
friendship between Jacobs and
WE'LL and the handwriting was
on the wall-but in indelible ink.
It was the Twentieth Cen
tury. incidentally, that revived
interest in the bantamWeight
class. A couple Of years ago you
could get the champion for car.
fare from here to New York
and we don't mean at Pullman
rates, either. But along came
Harry Jeffra and he and Esco-
bar played beanbag with the
title while Mike Jacobs paid
three or four times what the
championship was worth.
Brix, according to tnforma-
ton we received, has booked Es-
cobar for a title fight in Cleve'
land on June is with a fellow
name Pace, whose first name es-
capes us. Escobar is getting
$l2,50O for this joust with q
young man who is unknown ex-
cept in his immediate family.
You can see the logic. Why
should Brix accept A1earn's Of
fer Of $4,000 for a title fight
here? Lou can pick that up in
over.the-weight matches around
the country.
So If Escobar shows here at
all this summer it will be in a
nontitle bout. Ahearn wouldn't
get enough sugar" from such
q match to draw flies.
The agitation for helmets to
protect the batter'S head is
growing every day. We don't
want to step into Mr.. Buck
O'Neill's territory, but it wouldn't
be O bad idea to extend the
plan to include the fielders, too.
We say that because Of previ-
GUS experience with the Brook.
lyn Dodgers. Up until this
year, anyway, the Brooks used
to field flies with their heads
and the casualty rate was some
thing awful. Some Of the out
fielders we used to see should
have worn steel helmets-not
to mention that little birdcage
fencerS wear.
And, apropos of nothing,
Judge lands should put traf.
fic cops on bases instead Of UNI
pireS. The Dodgers are a gre
garious people-they feel lonely
with only one base runner on
the sacks. One time we saw
three runners on the same base
and it looked to us as if they
were trying to coax the batter
to JOIN them-maybe to have
a fourth for bridge