Evening star., 1940-10-05
zivic 0utpoints
Armstrong 10
Win Crown
Game, Though Blinded
Henry's WeIter Title
Passes in Thriller
BY SID FEEDER,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

NEW YORK, Oct. 5.-For two
years, every time Henry ARM
strong has gone to the post in de-
fense of one or the other of the
championships he has held, the
wise guys" have been saying "this
is the time he'll burn out"
Each time, they've been taking
betting chances against him on the
hunch that the rings perpetual
motion machine couldn't keep it up
that soon or later he would run
down from the fearful pace he set
Well. they're cashing their bets
on Fritzie Zivic today at the juicy
odds of 4 to /, but their hunch was
dead wrong. Lii Perpetual Motion
was all wound up and still running
in high gear last night, but he was
blind, both eyes punched closed. and
he couldn't see where he was going
or whom he was fighting.
Henry Game But Blind.
And, since you can't hit what you
can't see, he lost his world welter-
weight championship to the young
est and toughest of Pittsburghs
Five Flying Zivics," in a wild IS
round thriller that had 12,081 Madi-
son Square Garden customers
screaming and hopping up and down
all the way Yet, while he lost, and
by a unanimous decision at that,
the little buzzsaw still was charging
in right to the finish, and putting on
the most gallant exhibition OF
''moXy' since Barney Ross lost this
same championship to Henry 2la
years ago.
For the last half of their fierce
15-rounder the great little Negro
just went along on his heart Fritzie,
putting on a superb boxing show
and doing his damage with a good
straight left and snappy short
right uppercut. belted Henry's left
eye tight shut in the first few
rounds. all but did the same to the
right eye before the ninth came up
and gashed Armstrong; mouth.
Yet the champ" still drove forward
in his eternal rush and, but for the
last two heats, in which he took
more punishment than a riveter's
hammer, he might have won the
fight, it was that close on the score
cards. Even while his personal
physician was sewing up the cuts
along both eyes and the deep slice
on the inside of his mouth, damage
that will keep him sidelined for
weeks. he still was pleading for a
return match. He lost, but like a
champion.
Return Match Assured.
There's no intention here of
taking anything away from the
clear-cut merits of the title win by
the rugged 26-year-old Pittsburgh
er, who learned his fighting as chief
bouncer in his fathers saloon. He
took 9 of the Is rounds on the
Associated Press scorecard, but it
wasn't too much of a trick to put
on his stretch drive to victory
against the sightless Armstrong,
who stayed on his feet under the
bruising until the final bell. Then
he collapsed and had to be led to
his corner.
Fritzie, at 145k, held a 3h pound
weight bulge on Buzzsaw, and, once
he found the combination, he kept
right on using 1t, dancing, boxing,
stabbing and uppercutting and
slowing down from the second to
the seventh rounds to save as much
strength as possible for the stretch
in the first 15-round fight of his
career.
Chances are there'll be a return
match between him and Henry
some time during the indoor season.
as provided in the contracts for
last nights fight.