Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-06
WIN, LOSE OR
DNAW By FRANCIS sTANN
Moments of Reqret


wishes he had turned professional instead of retiring
from boxing perhaps the best amateur in the world
Remember Norvel Lee? He is the Washingtonian who
the the olympic ght-heavyweight title in 1852, who
beat the American teams heavyweight, Ed Sanders
who licked Pete Rademacher and who routed ngemar
Johansson.
81 never thought Ingemar would be champion"
Norvel said. when boxed him in Goteborg in 1851
wasn't impressed very much thought he lacked
well, let's call it spirit
Early in fight Johansson hit me with good left
hook. I guess he expected to go down because he
stepped back. just grinned and charged him and
Ingemar lost heart couldn't catch up with him after
that incident he much. But now he's champion
of the world and more power to him."
Lees grief at missing the swag that has befallen
Johansson Floyd Patterson and to lesser extent Rade
macher is not great. BY and large, NorVe is happy
teacher of mathematics English social science at the
National Training School, But, of course, there mo-
mentS of regret.
81 DIDN'T TURN pro for couple of reasons" Norvel
explains First, didn't have the style the customers
wanted in heavyweight. was boxer diagnostican
of an opponents style wasn't big hitter. Secondly,
boxing too controlled eight years ago. it
is I'm just old fashioned enough to believe that the
fighter should keep most of his not be cut half
dozen ways"
Lees skepticiSm over JohanSSon'S potentiateS
understandable in view of the record Much has been
written of how lingo turned tail in the 80 OympcS against
the late Sanders, disqualified, denied a prize and
blasted by the Swedish newspapers for showing the white
feather Even before that regreabe incident however,
lingo had backed out of fight with Lee here.
This mentioned not to old but to set the
story straight because Ingo Sweete pie Bright Lundgren
has just auhored magazine piece that is not precisely
factual The beauteouS Bright picking up few Yankee
dollars her own reports in Chicago that Johans
refused to fight and the injured hand
Our Dick OBrien and Norvel Lee know differently
1t happened in Washington back in 1851 when lingo
to this country the heavyweight of the European Golden
Gloves team that met the Chicago Golden Govers and
then of lunh
Ut WAS AN ARCH WARD promotion" O'Brien
remembers "and the old Times Herald bought into 1t
for $4,000. lingo made his fight in Chicago He lost
close decision but looked good in defeat We thought
had a great match between JohansSon and Lee and
began to bayhoo it, Our show staged at Une Arena
"A day before the show got wind of report that
Johansson had no idea of going through with his bout
with Lee Both Col Rudyard Russell Of London who
manager of the European Glover and the trainer
upset the report
lingo complained that he sick and couldn't fight
At no time did he mention bad hand This not
logical If he had injured his hand it would have been
natural to tell about it. We would have had X-rays
and taken care of it in the proper lingo was
asked to box just two with Lee and If he felt he
couldn't go it would be explained to the crowd He
refused.
"StiI he showed up at the Boxing Commission the
day of the bouts although he did not weigh in We finally
had to announce the cancellation. Col. Russell, who
later to suspend lingo for his Olympic asco also
returned home"
IT COULDN'T UNDERSTAND the fellow" Lee picks
up the story On the night of the fights he had dressed
in his ring togs His hands tapped and everything
He didn't look sick climbed into the ring but JohansSon
didn't. 1t made wonder about him."
Anxious to have his suspension lifted, lingo finally
agreed to box Lee in Sweden when Norvel was touring
Europe later in 81 "He didn't give much trouble
Norvel recalls. His right hand? Yes, he landed it
couple of times in the first round before he got dis
couraged, but didn't anything special about it.
Lee, although he had beaten the mammoth Sanders,
who chased Johansson out of the ring in the 80 Oympcs
agreed to fight light-heavy the United States
team. Patterson the middleweight. Sanders, Lee
and Patterson all won
after Ingemar disqualified for not fighting
Sanders, was convinced he'd amount to much !"
Lee smiles Nov he's the champion and guess fairly
wealthy. I'll give him this much: He fought Patterson
the right wayab ab and the right Floyd is fast
but he is neither good boxer a hard puncher."
Norvel has nothing personal against JohanSson. Gas
matter of fact" he says when I read that ngemar
had signed to fight Patterson the title wrote to Edwin
Ahlquist his advisor and volunteered to train with
Johansson and companion, although goodness
knows he brought enough companions with him. I
never received answer"
There was note of establishment as Norvel men
toned the episode.