Evening star., 1940-01-08

Jul pOWOLeT ana WQLCNWQkeT III
local history, 1Das noped to ,Drttc
this piece as an adjunct to the
SerfeS.)
BY HARVEY L. MILLER,
President. National Boxing Association.
The doldrums in which profess
sional boxing in the District flnds
itself is but a reflection of the hard
times besetting boxing nationally.
With the exception of New York,
where Mike Jacobs ties up leading
fighters and finds them bolstered
further with nationally syndicated
columns, all emanating from New
York: and Seattle, where Al Hostak,
middleweight champion, can draw
100000 gates in title matches, box
ing gates have dropped all over the
country. Even the trend in New
York has been definitely downward
Among the older fellows who
know boxing up. down and through
the middle there is a most definite
opinion that the salvation of boxing
lies in giving it back to the gay
90s." BY this I mean the boxing,
managing. promotion, training and
sports writing of the COS. 1t may
seem incongruous to many-al-
though the oldsters will agree-that
reversion to a bygone day is what
modern day needs. Here are some
concrete examples of what I mean:
Blackburn Taught Old Stuff.
With the advent of Joe Louis
reams were written about the new
stuff" this great champion had on
the ball. He had 1898 sutton
balance, counter-punching. The
crowds had been demanding, and
getting, SOCK em, rock-'em fights
with a lot of youngsters able to 60
10 rounds until some of them wound
up on their heels. Max Baer won
and defended the heavyweight title
by dint of an overland right. Muddy
Ruel to Bucky Harris. A punch like
that would have landed on James
j. Corbett every other Tuesday at
7:30 am, provided Gentleman Jim
oversight.
To put over that kind of boxing
the trainers and managers must
have called for it from the fighters.
Thus the training has retrograded.
Jack Blackburn, trainer of Louis,
properly should be credited with
Louis style Of fighting. Blackburn
had been, for some years, "out of
circulation" When boxing slid
backward Jack was not in a position
to slide with it.
At first blush it may seem like
far cry from the world heavyweight
champion to Maryland's green
campus ringsters. But here. too. the
Southern Conference asked, What
new stuff is being taught at Mary
land to enable the Terps to go
through two undefeated seasons out
of three, to win two conference team
titles out of three years Of competi-
tion?" The answer is, 1890 on
balance counter punching" Most
college teams tear In to do or die
for dear old Rutgers. Maryland
let's 'em tear in and hopes they
will. If boxer weighing $50 pounds
can be taught to hit a perfect
punch, his body behind it from the
heels up, he should be able to dis
place a 150-pound dead weight. If
that dead weight can be made to
come charging in the impact is 300
pounds and the fellow that gets
hit cleanly will either go down or
do most peculiar things standing
up.
Money Prime Consideration.
Many trainers today never had
on boxing glove. Many of them
wouldn't know an old-time right
cross counter from a page out Of
Godey's Lady Book.
Managers get more for their
fighters than they used to, but
they forget that John Public pays
the freight. Old John will cease
to pay when the attraction is in
sufficient. When I returned from q
recent trip to Venezuela to> referee
the Scalzo- Chavez bout the question
fired at me was not, "Was the fight
good?" but, What was the gate?"
Money seems the prime considera-
ton, particularly in the handling
of champions. Sportsmanship is
relegated to second place and the
managers of champions might learn
a simple lesson from Webster's def
inition Of champion" It follows:
"One formally acknowledged su-
preme in a branch of athletics or
game of skill and ready to contend
with any qualified challenger"
Boxing promotion consists Of
nothing in the world but making
good matches and getting favorable
publicity in advance. Locally, we
had a great demand for a return
Archibald-Jeffra bout, but the cham
pion's manager knew only two
words, Fifteen grand" But what
promoter would pay that after
Archibald, the champion, had been
defeated by Scalzo, Gilligan, Chavez,
Mancini and had Santa Claused into
a win over Jeffra? Defeat after de-
feat and "still champion" No won
der even sports editors do not know,
offhand, who is bantamweight
champion Of the world. Back in the
1900s every school kid knew the first
three fighters in any class.
Many old-timers have been WON
dering why all nationally syndicated
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