Evening star., 1940-05-16
Little Chance Seen
For Another Title
Contest Here
Slim Crowd Sees Petev
Score Over frankie
In Sixth Round
BY LEWIS F. ATCHISON.

~ ~~~s~~ ~ q AAOA kuNO4Cs MOIC@
over. last nights N. B. A. title bout
between Petey Scalzo and Frankie
Covelli failed to pan out as expected.
It drew only $2, 400 in round figures.
The publicity was good, the match
seemed fair on paper and it had the
wholehearted support and blessing
OF the N. B. A. as well as the Dis
tr1ct ring commission. And what
happens? They're still looking for
Ben F1nkel. on the supposition that
ne put the whammy on the busi-
ness. But this featherweight situa-
tion,- which was supposed to be
cleared up. is so confused but
why try to explain? Let's take it
step by step.
Monday night at Baltimore Joey
Archibald, defending champion, and
Harry Jeffra, the lad who out
pointed him last September and was
robbed OF the decision, will have It
out for the non-N. B. A. crown, valid
In Maryland, New York, California.
Louisiana and a few other COM
munities.
Not Interested in Jeffrs.
Immediately before last nights
principles stepped into the ring
Goldie Ahearn, Turner'S one-time
partner, who has been shivering out
IN the cold since the partnership
was dissolved, rushed up to the press
bench and proudly announced he
had grabbed Harry Jeffra to fight
the winner Of last nights bout, pre-
viously mentioned, at Grifiith Sta
dium. Heine Blaustein, who owns
Harry's left ear, which is by way Of
saying he has q piece Of him, was
along to verify Ahearn's story.
Reilly. informed of Ahearn's coup,
said as far as he knew Scalzo
wasn't fighting anybody for 80 days
and then 1t wouldn't be Jeffra, Arch
ibald or Perrin. He wasn't even
certain Jeffra would win.
They had chance to fight us for
Is per cent" he screamed in clipped.
precise of Brooklynese, plus a heavy
English brogue, "and wouldn't take
him, so now they want to fight for
1871 per cent? It doesn't add up"
Reilly meant that henceforth
Scalzo will exercise the champions
privilege Of taking 371a per cent Of
future gates-as he did last night
leaving the rest of so per cent, the
full price promoter pays for q title
fight. for the challenger.
Scalzo Ready to Loaf.
But Reilly is in no hurry to send
Petey back to war. He kept his
agreement with the N. B. A. by de-
feding the crown within 80 days
after it was handed his warrior and
now has 80 days before he must de-
fend 1t again Meantime, the Jeffras,
Archibalds, Perrins and other rank
ing 126-pounders can 60 fly their
kites.
He hopes an unknown will come
bouncing into the spotlight to chal-
lenge Petey. A kid with a potent
box-omce punch, color and glamour
who can make Scalzo's 371a per cent
fat pay day, and he doesn't care
how tough or clever he is because
Reilly figures Scalzo's good for six
years as champion. That is one Of
the reasons Pete looked so bad in
the gym.
why kill yourself in the GYM"
Reilly asks? you don't get paid
for what you do in q gym and these
boys who try to murder one another
actually cut two or three years of
their careers. A baby could box
Petey in the gym and come out
without scratch. He just jabs and
moves around-that's what I tell
him to do. Save your fighting for
the ring, that's where it counts"
Winner Sticks to Plan.
Scalzo followed instructions for
this bout. You wouldn't have given
a counterfeit Confederate dime for
his chances in the gym, but he
fought perfect fight with the chips
down. He weighed in a couple of
pounds below the expected figures,
l21, at 2 o'clock. Reilly said he was
fretting about the 15-round distance,
q route he never had been obliged
to travel.
He was worried about the dis
tance from the first bell, and it
was obvious that Covelli was de-
termined to set slow pace, saw
ing himself for the last five rounds,
when he had a chance to come on
and win on points. But Scalzo
followed a pace, too. He threw no
foolish punches, tried not to put
Coveli away with a furry of leath-
er In the first couple of heats, but
bided his time and patiently watt
ed Tor Frankie to poke his head
into the open. Then he let 60 with
the heavy artillery.
Coveln went down four times in
the fifth for counts of 8, 8 and 8,
with the bell preventing q count
on the last knockdown. He was
down for again in the sixth
before going down the last time,
when Referee Ray Bowen stepped
in and halted the slaughter one
minute and five seconds after the
start of the round.
AA8uG OPPCICut xS113s
Frankie didn't know what hit
him, and for his information it
was short right uppercut that
snapped out from Petey's waist
like q Jack-in-the-box and scored
bull,s-eye.
The first damaging punch Scalzo
landed was a jarring left hook
that sounded like it ripped away q
piece OF Frankie's jawbone. After
that he brought both hands into
play and sprayed soporif1c leather.
In the preliminaries Ray Lands
made q successful pro debut at In
dian Gonzales expense, rocking him
to sleep In 2:20 Of the fourth
round. Rex Romus kayoed Joe
Zwick after 2:30 Of the 1irst round.
Buddy Scott 'outpointed Felix Del
Paon in q bruising battle and Carl
Guggino won over Jackie Carter.