Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-22
From the
Press Box
AIbertunti Discovers
Lightweight in Dark
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent Of The Star.

Special Correspondent OF The Star.
NEW YORK, Aug. % CN.A.N.A0.
1t gladdens this heart to learn
that Francis Albertanti, the great
outdoor man, who once held a chip
munk at bay for 10 minutes while
yelling for Jim Braddock to hurry
up with the sawed-off shotgun,
has discovered new fighter.
C1re a boxing nut always boxing
nut, is what it amounts to. Mr.. AL
bertanti decided a few years ago
that the fight game, which he had
adorned so long, was not for him
any more. 1t was getting in his
teeth and hair.
Mr.. Albertanti reached this deci-
sion while identifying bird calls at
the bar of Mickey Walkers saloon.
He promptly hurled his spare cuffs
into his knapsack and left civiliza-
ton behind him, winding up as a
race-track plugger in Havana. Cuba
and Southern California, two spots
which virtually are filled with sun
shine.
If you. know how Mr.. Albertanti
feels about sunshine you know what
a sacrifice this was. The man who
built up Braddock with a type
writer and a couple of old nails in
1885 had been outdoors only twice
in his life before he made the
plunge I speak of.
Tried to Have Hovono
Turn OFF Sun
He spent his first two weeks in
Havana urging the civic authorities
to switch off that blankety- blank
chandelier. On learning that the
thing was natural phenomenon
Mr.. Albertanti retired to his private
Office at the race track drew the
shades and never came out till dark.
A scientist tried to. reassure him
once.
After all" said the man of
knowledge, the sun is 100000
miles away"
That's too close" snarled Mr.. AL
bertanti.
Things were not much better in
Los Angeles, despite the intermittent
torrents of dew. 1t was inevitable
that Mr.. Albertanti's deep-rooted
night blooming instincts eventually
would lead him away from daytime
pursuits and back to Gods own
neon light. And once an old boxing
man begins to work in the evening
again, he is bound to turn to box
ing.
Mr.. Albertanti has completed the
cycle. He now keeps professional
eye cooked on the Hollywood sta
dunn, where the cultural leaders of
the film colony 60 for their cauli-
flower. His new lightweight discov-
cry is an educated Czech by the
name of George Latka.
Roft is Port-Owner
Of New Fighter
Mr.. Albertanti describes Latka as
q darb and lulu, the greatest
lightweight produced by California
since Willie Richie, Joe Benjamin.
Joe Rivers, frankie Mandot and
Jack Silver. He has licked Baby
Breese, Baby Arizmendi, Richie
Fontaine, Jimmy Garrison, George
Crouch and George Hansford.
Just to make the boy official,
George Raft has a piece OF him.
If you took all the fighters that
Mr.. Raft has owned pieces of-as a
matter of fact, if you just took the
pieces-you would have something
like 819 per cent laid end to end.
Psychologists tell me that this
jigsaw complex of Mr.. Rats is
natural reaction to environment,
and they do not smile when they
say it. 1t appears that so many
agents of one kind or another have
owned pieces of Mr.. Raft that Mr..
Raft must turn around and buy
pieces of fighters to preserve his
psychic equilibrium.
This mechanism is known among
Its chums as suppressed 10 per cent.