Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-31
WIN, LOSE OR
DNAV By FRANCIS STANN
Those Who Know 1t Best

NEW YORK. JULY 31-To those who know the fight
racket best Floyd Patterson is just starting long and
perhaps distinguished regime the heavyweight
champion of the world How distinguished depends
is little threat to the 22yearolds and it may
that even at his tender Patterson could rusty
and consequently, fail to improve because there is
immediate necessity to get better.
He is not an easy young to appraise. Patterson
wears an air Of boredom. There flash and glitter
no roll of drums, when Floyd down aisle and
climbs through the ropes Dempsey wild when
ne appeared SO did Joe Louis proportionatey
Sugar Ray Robinson.
Patterson is oddly phlegmatc outside the ring and
once inside the ropes weighing ceremony
ne somehow remains that way What crowd the pro-
moter Emil Lence had at the Polo Grounds the other
night undoubtedly due largely to Jackson, whose
destructbty well known Patterson perhaps received
less OF an ovation before and after he climbed through the
ropes than any heavyweight champion in memory
few relatives friends appauded Patterson other
wise Floyd was cooly accepted the butcher about to
cut up the meat Beforehand it had agreed that he
was better boxer and harder puncher than Jackson
ana that he would be able to take anything Hurri-
cane could throw Thus he prohibitive avorite so
much so that hardly anybody wagered.
AT THE WEIGHING-IN CEREMONY at the Winter
Garden Theater Broadway lot of the old pros were
present There Jack Dempsey and Tommy Loughran
and Gus Lesnevch and Charles and Jersey Joe Wal
cott all of whom had held world titles So quietly and
unobtrsve Paerson entrance that most of the old
pros didn't know he standing the stage waiting
for The Hurricane.
wndbreaker and Elton cap. and after he'd stripped
down to his socks and trunks he shook hands with Pat
terson But, THE Animals" shake loose fist not
open palm
Standing in a wing of the Winter Garden Theater.
Dempsey shook his head "The Animal threaded his
way toward the scales I'm not predicting this fight"
Dempsey said, but I've got to like Patterson Still :"
Still what?" asked bystander
THAT big sonofagun is unpredctable" Dempsey sup
Piled jackson can't box and he can't punch but he'll
do crazy things he doesn't know he's doing himself
much less the guy he's fighting. remember Willie
Meehan."
BACK IN DEMPSEY'S pre-championship days there
was this short tubby Meehan an ex-saor. st think
met him five times" Jack said land he beat me four
times 1t was something like that, anyway. Willie
hurt me, because he couldn't punch, and he wasn't
any ring master But he did the damndest things and
was surprised all the time
Luis Frpo was the same way. That was why we had
such heluva fight couldn't figure Firpo. But there
was an added danger in his case. Firpo could hit"
Tommy Loughran, now a sugar broker, but in his
day one of the alltme great lightheaves was another
bystander at the weghin Amusedly he watched Jack
sons entrance The Hurricane with his Presley Sdeburns
and checkered headpiece brought chuckle from Loug
ran He then began to talk of Patterson who SILENT
almost Sullen he waited for Jackson the scales
That kid" Loughran said, will be great He'll take
his place with Dempsey and few others before he's
finished"
Aren't you being extravaganza" listener asked
NO." Tommy replied. Il mean every word Patter-
son can box and punch and he has rare speed in his
hands notice he's weighing 1874 pounds As long as he
stays below 200 he'll be tough to beat say he'll be great
AT RINGSIDE AND SITTING before a TV screen it
was, perhaps difficult to judge Patterson's punching
power. First Jackson sheds punishment nobody else
in the racket Secondly than veteran of the
ring suspects that Floyd could have stretched out his
clownish foe in a very early round
Over the breakfast table the morning after the fight
Jersey Joe Wacott for instance also spoke well of
Patterson.
He moves real good" Wacott saying. "He moves
so fast that didn't hardly any of Jacksons punches
on his head Most landed the thigh Just above
the knee" Jersey Joe chortled over the memory.
Patterson can hit don't say he takes you out like
Joe Louis did, but he punches real good Archie
Moore out with left hook. That guy Jackson last
night he doesn't count He is in different
league when 1t comes to taking punches But Patterson
he's my boy I'm glad amt fighting him."