Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-10
Johnson Hopes Age
0veriakes Moore in
Title Bout tomorrow
By The Associated Press

BY The Assesisssd Press
NEW YORK, Aug. 1o.-Some,
old fighters fade gradually.
Others show their age In just
one fight and then the star is
gone.
So far Archie Moore. the
37k-year-old lisht-heavyweight
champion. hasn't shown even the
faintest sign that he's on the
way down. And that's after IL
years Of pro battling and 141
fights.
Harold johnson. who cele-
brated his 26th birthday yester-
day, hopes old age will catch up
with Archie In one sweep tomor-
row night when the two collide
in a 15-round title scrap at
Madison Square Garden.
Previous Fights Close.
IF he falls apart In one fight,
] sure hope 1t happens Wednes-
day." said the usually nom
talkative challenger from Phila-
delphia. But I'm not counting
on anything like that. He's
tough, real tough. Every one of
our four previous fights have
been close and hard"
Moore won three Of the four
10-rounders, including the last
one January 90, 1852. johnson
scored his victory December 10,
1851 Archie hasn't been beaten
since. The strong armed, clever
champion has won 10 straight.
johnson, q superb counter
puncher, has won IL in row.
including decisions over Ezzard
Charles and Nino Valdes, the
two top-ranking heavyweight
contenders.
Both boxers wound up their
boxing over the week end and
the muscular contender finished
in spectacular fashion. He
dropped Sparmate Alex Brown
with a short left hook and hurt
him with a right to the jaw.
Moore S-to-5 Favorite.
Johnson's fine workouts and
his grim determination, plus
Moores matchmaking problem,
brought about a shortening in
the odds. Moore now is favored
8 to S. Before it was 2 to /
and higher.
There Is growing support for
the theory that weight-making
finally is going to catch up with
the aging champion. He's had
difficulty making the division
limit Of ITS pounds for some
time and constant weight reduce
ing at his age is bound to weaken
him.
He was a hefty 1891 June 2
when he stopped Heavyweight
Bert Whitehurst in six rounds.
After his last title defense
against joey Maxim, January q
In Miami. Moore said he melted
on five pounds on the final day.
He looked great. too, in shellack-
ing the 32-year-old Maxim over
Is rounds.
But the veteran Maxim never
was q speed demon afoot. John-
son Is no flash when 1t comes to
moving, but he is finely condi-
toned. q clever boxer, and takes
a good punch.
Danny 10 Perez of New York
won his TV boxing bout at st.
Nicholas Arena last night, while
the other network show from
Eastern Parkway Arena in
Brooklyn ended in a draw be-
tween Walter Cartier of New
York and Ted Ola of Milwaukee.
Perez. 139, stopped Dickie
Wong, 1891, Honolulu. In 2:07
of the second round, handing the
Hawaiian the first defeat of his |
career. Wong was dropped by a
left hook to the jaw. arose at the
count of nine. then staggered
back as Perez prepared to close I
in. Referee Petey Scalzo stepped
In and stopped the bout.
Cartier and Ola, both scaling
1872, put on a bruising battle for
10 rounds. Ola lost the seventh
for low blow. and his rally in
the late rounds gave him the
draw. There were no knock
downs. but Ola bled from the
nose from the fourth round on.