Evening star., 1939-05-26
From the
Press Box
Eyes Seem to Have 1t
In Novu's Case
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent of The Star,

BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent Of The Star.
NEW YORK, May 26 N.ANA).
up in Lou Nova's camp, where
Dom the Omnipotent contemplates
his chest in fit of Yoga abstraction
and Nova reads Is pages of philos-
ophy day in preparation for his
fight June l with the celebrated
Confucian, Max Baer, they followed
the Davey Day-Pedro Montanez
battle with deep interest.
AS you may have noticed, Day,
lean and famished welterweight
from Chicago, was awarded tech
nical knockout over Pedro Mon
tanez, the body-bruising Puerto
Rican, in the eighth round. And
he won 1t the same way Nova won
the fight which put him on the
road to fame and the heavyweight
title.
In other words, Day won by the
width of DR.. William Walkers medi-
cal diploma, the document which
licenses the good doctor to climb
into prize ring at the drop of
etgar-ss... peer into the eve of one
of the gladiators, stop the fight
and catch the 11:10 train for his
aome in the suburbs.
esahters Specialize
fn Eye Work.
DR.. Nalker is the brother of New
York's one-time fun-loving Mayor,
Jimmy Walker, and one of the New
York Boxing Commission's official
scientists. In the last couple OF
wears, for some reason or other,
boxers have been specializing in eye
work and It's a rare night that DR..
Walker does not Chamber through
the hemp shortly before II pm. to
save the owner of a sliced eye from
q fate slightly better than death.
Naturally, I do not blame this
sterling physician, or any of his
colleagues, for his missionary work.
The good old days when they did
not stop fight until the loser bled
to death were pretty brutal, sclen-
tifically speaking, and the interces-
sion of Doc Walker and his cronies
probably has arrested many prom
Using case of blindness.
do think, however, that the bene-
ficiaries in these cases-the winners
of the fights, by T. K. O.-often get
more credit in the record than they
deserve. People forget that Battling
Whoozis won his memorable victory
over ]. Roswell Phlug by a dirty
eyelash, with the strenuous help OF
the College of Surgeons. All they
remember, after couple of weeks,
Is that he won, and won by a
knockout.
Between us, Pedro Montanez was
knocking the chestnut stufflng out
of Davey Day the other night, when
they stopped the carnage.
Also between us, though maybe it
amt secret. Lou Nova was by no
means subduing Gunnar Barlund,
the CORY Finn, at the time Dr.
Walker hoped through the ropes
with the good news from Client, and
Sheridan 20 miles away.
Gunnor's Eye Bosis
Of Novo's Success. --.
Nova's current fame and success
are based squarely on the Gunnar S
sensitive left eye. Because the
Firms corpuscles are close to the
surface-because he is what the
trade calls an easy bleeder-Nova
today is matched with Max Baer
the winner to fight Joe Louis for
the championship of the world and
q buxom bag of cash.
Nova is a game and earnest youth
and pretty good fighter. He also
Is powerful lucky.
Barlund f1oored him in the early
part of their fight and still was
somewhat ahead on points at the
moment his eye popped open. Mr.
Paul Damski, the Gunnar's mana
ger, burst into tears when he saw
the eyebrow split.
That's good-by," said Mr.. Dam
Ski dolefully. my Gunnar Is the
easiest bleeder in all the IA fjords
There 1t goes. One lucky punch
and our work is for nothing"
BY "our" work, Mr.. Damski was
referring, after the time-honoree
fashion of fight managers, to the
Gunnar's work. And sure enough
In a couple of jiffies, DR.. Walker
sifted through the ropes with hi,
black bag in his hand. gave the
Gunnar's eye sharp and search.
ing glance and declared an armis.
tice, with Nova the winner.
Shoot for the Eyes
And Collect Coin.
Nova, of course, was not techni.
cally lucky in this victory. Fight
trainers send their boys out tC
shoot for the eye and the old sea:
tissue when they face a notorious
bleeder. Nova probably shot fol
Barlund's eye from the start. Ane
its hard to keep from hitting an eye
with some part of your hand, arm
or body when you aim for it.
So that, we will say, was Nova's
strategy. But he knew DR.. Walker
was lurking in the background, with
his black bag in his hand.
Montanezs predicament was pitt.
3ul the other night. There he was
whaling away at Days midriff ane
making him bend like a yearline