Evening star., 1941-09-28
One of Biggest Crowds in Ring
History Seen as Series Fans
axe In Louis-Novo Bout

follows this noSe-busting eXtraVa-
ganZa into town by Just two days.
and hundreds of the fans with a
little of what the boys around call
scratch-and few without this
commodity-have moved in for the
duration.
Finally, the lure of Louis still is
box Office magic. Up to this week,
the fists with which he has stiffened
IS or 81 opponents and successfully
defended the fight games richest
prize l8 times for an all-time rec
ord. have attracted II gates of more
than 100000. Except fer any pos
sigle exhibitions that may come
along, he won't do his stuff for the
public again until next May at the
earliest, when he may meet up with
Billy Conn once more, or with the
winner of Conn-Nova get-togeth-
er. Gus Fan and the missus, real
izing he even may decide to hang
the gloves up for good with a term
in the Army in sight, don't want
to miss the finish.
G0tham Hotels Filled.
For those reasons, hotels through
out the city reported today that
available rooms were about as plen-
tiful as money trees. The fight mob
took over Broadway.
AS for the fight itself, Louis ruled
5to-l2 favorite along the Forty
ninth street betting stores. He may
have slipped some, and he may
have appeared like only 20 cents
worth of the old Louis in his last
trip to the post, but he still can
whistle those shots off his fists and
do queer things to other fellows.
Largely because of that. and the
fact that during a 3-month lay-off
he forgot about the fight game and
| just vacatiOned-eXcept for the time
he spent Strengthening out his mari
tai mix-up with Marva-he is this
corners choice to chalk up the 18th
successful defense of his record run
by chopping the California giant
! down in six rounds or less. He is
in better condition, mentally and
physically, than he has been for a
year.
Moreover, he realizes this is the
fight where the chips are down in
his longtime ambition to retire un-
defeated as heavyweight champion
This is the last hurdle and he hasn't
had many tougher.
Whatever else you say about Nova
his Yogi eccentricities as applied to
the fight game, his cosmic punch
and dynamic stance, which have
some of the old-time syntax slaught-
erers along Jacobs Beach riding a
merry-go-rOund, he is a big power
full fellow with a chin partly OF
cement and partly of iron and a
conviction that no one in the world
can beat him.
At times he appears in the ring
as if his feet just can't get together
on any given subject Off his train
ing chores, he has given you the idea
he's going to wade right into Louis
and swap wallops with him, which
is something like walking into q
dive-bomber on the prowl
Plainly Nova Isn't Kidding.
Yet, despite all that, as we'll as
one or two other habits he has
which figure to prove about as USE
full against the Bomber as that ole
stunt of looking for the leak ir
the gas tank with a lit match
Nova's confidence and condition
make him a distinct threat. The
way he fought back from a year:
illness after his beating by Tony
Galento is evidence enough that hi
isn't kidding.
On cold statistics, these two art
chips off the same block in a lo
of ways. The big, blond Californian
is 26 years old; Louis is 27. Novs
began tossing punches as an anna
teur in 1884, the year Louis turned
pro. The eX-collegian probably viii
be 2O2 or 203 at the official weight IL
at noon Monday in Madison Squar,
Garden. Louis says he'll hit 20
more or less on the nose.
Nova took to busting beaks as {
profession after brief colleg
career, during which he married tn
professors daughter. The Dusk,
Dynamiter's story is an old one. H
came up the hard way, from th
Alabama cotton fields, by way of
Detroit automobile factory. Win o
lose, your grandchildren still will b
arguing as to whether he is or h
isn't the best of them all.