The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-07-17

MAURIELLO TKO WINNER OVER
 EAGLE IN FIRST
BY JOHN A. CLUNEY

W4 OOAA4N IA OAO1NG1
 Waterbury,s Charley Eagle, 6 Tight" heavyweight at 1sS pounds, will never forget his first knock out", CD of the extra technical var iety, if he lives to be as old as Me- thuselah. With the sudden-ness of forked lightning, Eagle became a TKO victim of Tami Mauriello of New York last night at Municipal Stadium because Referee Lou Bo- gash of Bridgeport considered Eagle unable to defend himself, after ex- actly two minutes of slugging in the first round.
 The referees explanation of his sudden decision to stop the fight was: Eagle was laying on the ropes. One more punch would have killed him." In the middle of the round Eagle weighing 183 to Mauriello's 196 was cleanly knocked down by terrific overland right smash to his jaw by the slugging Bronx heavyweight. The Waterbury boy was stunned, but knew enough to recover his balance, take a "9'' count while on one knee. then get up and continue fighting. Mauriello, sens- ing quick knockout rushed at Eagle like tiger with both hands swinging. Eagle, backing away to- ward the ropes on the south side of the ring was literally crowded into and THROUGH the ropes as he tended off Mauriello's wild but fast swings. Part of Eagles body was out side the middle ropes, where he laid, looking up at Mauriello until Tami stepped back to give him chance to recover his balance.
 Too Soon [
 Referee BogaSh rushed across the ring, looked at Eagle, pulled Maur- iello away; whereupon Charley un- tangled himself and got up, appar- ently prepared to continue; but the referee put his hands on Eagles shoulders telling him that it was "all over''. Most of the crowd of 3,522 paid customers who bought $7,813 worth of tickets for the fight did not realize what was going on; particularly that the fight had been stopped; and when Mauriello'S hand was raised, angry shouts of protest came in waves toward the ring, as Eagle was on his feet and, with his handlers, very angry that he had been denied chance to continue fighting, after Mauriello had been pulled away from his while Charley was tangled in the ropes. In this writer's opiniou, he certainly was not in a defenseless position, once he had a chance to get on his feet; for, when he realized the fight was stopped and he was a TKO loser, he argued vehemently with Referee BogaSh as did his seconds.
 However, the decision must stand as is, for it was strictly a matter of judgment on. the part of the ref cree.
 Eagle more than held his own for the first half of the round, Surpris- ing all who saw him, by coming out of his corner fighting at the first bell, and he did land two or three good, solid punches before he was clipped" by a right hand wallop that knocked him down. He turned over got on one knee and took "9'' count upon instructions from his handlers Doc Moore and Dave Ka- ress; got up and was rushed into the ropes when he went down again, but not from punch. Thirty sec onds later it was all over.
 More Action
 Mauriello added to the excitement when he rushed across the ring at handler in Eagles corner, who had a water bucket poised on his should CT apparently threatening to throw it at the referee for stopping the bout 50 soon. The referee, Bogash and handlers from both corners had their hands full holding Mauriello away from the guy with the bucket, but they Steered him back to his corner; after which police climbed into the ring and Mauriello was quickly taken to his dressing room. Within few minutes he was on the way to his hotel.
 Nathan Mann of Hamden, former New England heavyweight cham pion, and recently discharged from the U. s. Coast Guard; was intro duced from the ring, Announcer Jack Freney stating that Nate may be seen in action at the local sta- dium within the near future.
 Best Fight
 Naugatuck'S Dula Kovach, at 193 pounds Slugged out a six round de- cision over 6 foot inch, POS pound Sal Berardino of New York; spar