"WATCH STRIBLING"

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 151, 24 December 1930, Page 6

"WATCH STRIBLING"

(By Jack Dempsey.)

DEMPSEY'S ADVICE

COMING CHAMPION

(Copyright.) Not so long ago, I spent considerable time with my friend Young Stribling, In-faet Billy gave me an air ride and * few flying thrills, and made me realise that aviation held quite a lot of kick that you can't get even in a light—say, with Firpo. I always have been impressed with the great possibilities of Stribling, and after having becu with him, and hay ing gone over the heavyweight situation, I don't see why ■ this . young Georgian should not be thrown right into the foreground of the small group of serious contenders. First let me tell about the things Stribling said regarding Primo Camera. You know, Stribling has met the giant Italian twice —in London and in Paris. There is one thing about Stribling that stands out, and that is his willingness to give the other fellow his due. "Say, keep an eye on this Camera," said Stribling. "I know all about that bird. Right now he is no SharKey for cleverness, and he doesn't know how to hit like Dompsoy, but any man as big as Camera is, with his natural speed, should be watched closely. Imagine— 270 pounds, a real giant, moving around pretty fast, and hurting with every punch, even though he knows little about the technique of hitting. "Why, every time he landed he hurt me. If he hit you across the leg he'd break it. My arms got sore and swollen from stopping his swings. Ho pushes, but he hurts, and if he ever learns how to hit —well, keep an eya on this big circus man." UNCERTAIN, NOW. Which is exactly what I have been thinking about Camera. But the Italian seems to have been handled none too well, and it is a question now where he will land in so far as the heavyweight situation is concerned. As for Stribling, he is young, and he is fast, and he has had more actual ring experience than all the other contenders. He has ambition and determination, and is game to the core. Stribling would like to leave the fighting game, I know. But before he hangs up his shoes he would like to> win the title. He thinks there is no one in the arena to-day who really should stop him in his eagerness towards that goal. "Now he is nursing that hand he hurt in England, but he'll be ready in a short while, and when ho starts again, keep your eye' on Young Billy from Georgia. Stribling has had a strange career. Examination of his record shows a great fight, then a poor one, then another good one. I think that was due largely to overwork —too much campaigning. You can't engage in boxing as you would in a trapeze act in a circus. You 'ye got to exert a certain amount of 1 rd effort even if you know your opponent cannot beat you. You must guard against a slip-up, and continual fighting wears you down. I think St 'bling has learned the value of that lesson. At least, that's what he indicated to me. From now on Stribling "may be expected to confine himself to serious effort towards the championship rather than the piling up of a record that means nothing, for prirses that do not come within one-fiftieth of what Young Stribling rates in a real fight. That's one thing I neve* could see—circusing around the country, socking palookas here and there —and for what? After you have paid your expenses and taken out for time wasted from serious work, you find you are in a financial hole. Anyway, Stribling knows all about that now. I think he will fight at Miami th,ia winter, and get going all' over again. And the man whom he meets will have to keep a weather eye on that Georgian.