The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-29
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 BY JACK CUDDY United Press Staff Correspondent

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 United Press Staff Correspondent
 New York, May % (UP) Ut
 Cmdr. Benny Leonard of the mari.
 time service said, T rode one post
 war boxing boom for more than { million dollars, and I expect to dc very well on the next one.'
 Leonard made this significant statement last night as we rode back from Brooklyn bond-selling show that honored the 28th anniversary of his winning the lightweight championship of the world. Leonard said, "Ill remain in serv- l ice until after we lick the Japs. Then, when I get back into civvies, I'll gather a stable of fighters who can cash in on the greatest boxing boom the world has ever knoWn-a boom which will make the one that followed the last World War look like small potatoes.
 Bennah - slightly plump and slightly bald, but quite dapper in the maritime blue and gold-em- phasized that the approaching furor over fisticuffs would be terrific be- cause of CD the war-stimulated in- terest in boxing and @ television.
 Leonard, generally regarded as one of the greatest all-round leath- er-tossers that ever lived. said he regretted soulfully that he wasn't "a young punk now who could hammer his way up through the great boxing days ahead. He regret ted it because he loved to fight and because he could forsee the rich re- wards that would be claimed by suc- cessful mitt singers of the near future.
 The smell of leather was sweet to his nostrils as we rode back from the very successful war-bond show at Brooklyn's Broadway arena, where 67-year-old Jack Johnson, former heavyweight champion, had given an exhibition of three one minute rounds against John Bolle- art of the maritime service-one of Benny's boys. More than $3,00O,000 worth of bonds had been sold at the show.
 The show was dotted to mark the anniversary of Leonard's lightweight title triumph over the clever Eng lishman, Freddie Welsh, whom Benny knocked out in the. ninth round on May 28, 1917, at the old Manhattan Casino-opposite the Polo grounds.
 T had to knock him out to win the title" Benny explained. flor those were no-decision days and, regardless of newspaper opinion, titles did not change hands without a kayo. Welsh was fast, clever and tricky. although only a fair puncher. I had met him twice be- fore in non-title bouts, winning the newspaper decision in the first and losing it in the second, when I had trained too fine For eight rounds of our title bout, I couldn't hit him solidly-he was such a master of defense. Then Welsh decided to carry the fight to me-to give me a thorough facing. Early in the ninth round, as he opened up, he left an opening big enough for me to smash him on the left temple. hit him hard and hurt him. Then I was on him. I belted him groggy into the ropes He clung to the top strand. I hit him again. Referee Kid Mcfarland took Freddie's arm of the ropes and he slid to the canvas on his face, where he was counted out was champion"
 A few weeks later. Leonard enter ed the Army for World War No. 1. He was boxing instructor and he fought benefits for athletic equip ment. After the ar1nistice, he rode the boxing boom as champion. By the time he retired undefeated in 1925. My end of my earnings exclusive of Manager Billy Gibson amounted to more than a million dollars" He invested most of his money in real estate on a mortgage basis. The 1929 depression wiped him out. To recuperate, he launch CN O. SOAAiS-DdNh do WClICl WClSllG in '31, and finally was knocked out by Jimmy McLarnin at Madison Square Garden on Oct. T, 1932. The money he madfe from that return enabled him to invest in a dress manufacturing concern that now yields him rich dividends. "Old Benny is okay financially now" he said.
 Leonard estimates that he and his assistants have instructed more than 100000 men in boxing since he joined the Maritime Service in October, 1942. He is now recreation director at the big Sheepshead Bay, N. Y. station. He says: Some of the boys I've trained will come back to me as full -f1edged fighters after the war. And we'll ride the boom for plenty"