The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-06-20
Cong qreSsnn0n Will Speak |Aqoinst Mike
By LEO Fl. PETERSON

New York, June 20-(UP)-Ihe sports world had its first poSt-war hangover today-and 1t was . bitter one.
 It may turn out to be major one, too, for boxing.
 For what was ballyhooed as one of the greatest sports events of our time turned out to be dismal fail- ure to everyone except Promoter Mike Jacobs and Joe Louis. Lead ing the hangover parade were the financial headaches of the 4S,266 persons who paid all the way from $5 to $100-the highest price ever charged for a boxing conteSt-tO see Louis retain his worlds heavy weight championship at Yankee Stadium last night by knocking out Pittsburgh Billy Conn in the eighth round.
 They had been led to expect something peter. 4''' Congress to Hear SolOn
 Reverberations started coming In early today.
 At Washington, Rep. Donald I. OToole, D.,-NY0, announced that he would make speech on the House floor today asking Postmaster General Robert E. Hannegan to bar use of the mails to Jacobs as re- suit of the fight. The Congressman. who is from Brooklyn and who saw the fight via television, termed 1t a joke" said that only 1T real punches were thrown by both fight CTS and that Jacobs knows no ef- forts were made to get those guys in shape" .-.. .~,-
 And thousands of the vast au- dience which listened to the bout on the radio wondered if there was any significance in an announcer'S statement that Louis and Conn had touched gloves at the beginning of the eighth round in which the Brown Bomber from Detroit put his opponent away.
 According to boxing tradition. fighters touch gloves only when they come out of their corners for the final round. And Louis and Conn were scheduled to go 15.
 Jacob In TOrrid Seat The fighters, their handlers, Ja cobs and almost every one. else scoffed at the reports. The news paper writers and others at ring side did not see any touching of gloves. .-...,,
 But there wasn't any doubt. but what Jacobs was in a hot seat. His hangover may turn out to be worst of all for while his biggest pro- motion laid an egg, 1t was only a rotten one for the public. It was a golden one for Jacobs, even if the gate fell far below expectations.
 He had expected a crowd of be- tween 75,0OO and 5000 and a gate of 5000, GOO. He got instead a gate of $1,924,564-which was a lot of money for what the customers saw. For it was anything but q championship boxing bout.
 Moneys Worth Wanted
 It may well have been, ag one $1OO ringsider put 1t, "the end of the black market" In boxing. But Jacobs could be pardoned for : not weeping. He went a long way financially-with little-while Louis and Conn, along with 12,OO0 GOO other fellow Americans, were taking care of the Japs and the Germans. He drew record gates with fighters and measured in pre-war standards were for the most part, strictly sec ond raterS.
 It turned out that Billy belonged in that class last night. And if the early reaction to the flasco was any indication, it looked like the promo ton which Jacobs thought would make sports history-and which did in reverse--probably was the end of the easy dollars for Uncle Mike. For those 45 5,266 in Yankee Stadium made it plain that so far as they were concerned they want thAix moneys worth from now on in.