Evening star., 1939-06-11

iggeSt box office attraction. We had.
in action on the Baer-Nova card,
and although he won by a knock
out, We honestly thought DeChard,
although still in the amateur stage,
looked 1000 better. Jimmy is faster
than ComiSkey, hits cleaner, boxes
| better, and makes better appear
ance generally. A clean-cut young
/ ster, DeChard doesn't look the part
of a fighter, but watching him in
the gym, seeing him flatten oppo-
nents in the Golden Gloves tourna-
ment with short, well aimed blows
| gives you the impression that ap-
| pearances are deceiving.
Declares Jimmy Can Take 1t.
! We wondered, however, about De-
Chard's chin, could it stand a.
healthy wallop? What about his
courage in stormy going, and was
he easily ratified when his oppo-
nent had the upper hand in battle?
This boys got the biggest ticker
| in the world said frankie with
one of those n't-believe-that-stu =
| expressions. And if you notice his
chin closely you'll see it isn't Ian
tern-shaped, but square and solid.
And as for getting ratified under fire,
I've never seen him lose his head
yet, and he does things so instinc-
| lively it's hard to force him into
. mistakes.
The biggest thing in Jim's favor,
/ though, is up here" And Frankie
tapped his forehead Hes always
one thought ahead of you. I've
/ never seen fighter think as fast
a he does, and all you have to do
is tell him a thing once and he's
got it. He'll never make the same
mistake twice. No, l don't think
you'll go wrong picking Jimmy to go
places. He's got the makings"
The Site That Failed.
Speaking of heavyWeights recalled
the Dempsey-Car bout to
mind-Frankie's mind Did we
know that fight was almost staged
at the District line on Bladensburg
road? We did not.
We'll it was averred Mr.. Mann
II had promoted a few shows at
burned down, and was looking
around for new site Jimmy
LaFOntaine owned Ardmore. One
day he called me on the telephone
and asked me to meet him at his
place. l went out there and Jimmy
and a couple of engineers repre-
Senting Tex RiCkard were looking
over the premises, trying to figure
out way of putting a bowl on the~
place. You see Jimmy Was-and
still is a good business man. He
was going to let them build a stad-
ium there, promote the fight for
nothing, and take over after the
bout and run his own shows.
ut was good idea. and
Richard was all for it. but the
ground was just little too
small-the railroad was too
close-and Rickard finally took
the fight to Boyle's 30 Acres.
Jimmy was great fight fan,
and I guess he still is. He was
good manager, too. I remember
he had Pat Ready, brother of the
retired police captain, Mike Ready,
and almost won the middleWeight
title with him. Pat was the greatest
middleWeight ever developed in
Washington-bar none, and Jimmy
finally got a match for him with
Tommy Ryan, the title-holder, at
Syracuse.
Well, they fought 18 savage
rounds and Pat had Ryan hanging
on-just getting set for the knock
out punch when the crowd broke
into the ring and stopped the fight.
A police captain led the mob, and
Of course, they awarded the bout.
to the champion. That town was a
Ryan hot-bed, he couldn't lose
there
So Jim Braddock is going to get
25 grand-taX free, for going through
the motions with Thomas Farr in
dear OIL Lunnon. Seems to me
Tommy was the star boarder at
James hash house before it closed.
You couldn't go in the place. with
out seeing BraddOck and Farr. arms
flung around one another's should
ers, cracking jokes or discussing
the weather Wonder if they'll beg
pardons after sticking out a left.
or tossing a right cross? 1t is a
peculiar situation, and if the Brit
ishers are looking for fight they'll
have to insult the bloke in the next
seat to get it.