TOIL FOR AUSTRALIA

Evening Star, Issue 22955, 12 May 1938, Page 4

TOIL FOR AUSTRALIA

FAMOUS MIDDLE-WEIGHT FIGHTER BIGGEST ATTRACTION SINCE WAR Benny Bear’s decision to bring Marcel Thil to Australia for the next summer season recalls the Frenchman’s visit to America, when he fought Fred Apostoli on the famous all-star bill, and, but for a cut eye, would have beaten the boxer who subsequently knocked out the world’s champion, Freddy Steele. France sent us a great fighter in Eugene Griqui, some 18 years ago. Thil would be the biggest attraction to come this way since tho war (says George Thatcher in tho Sydney ‘Labour Daily’). Interest will be added to the Frenchman’s visit as a result of the tour by Ken Overlin, who has been graded with the middle-weight top liners.' Our American correspondent wrote: “ They had brought Tommy Farr up from Long Branch to meet Jack' Dempsey, and tho idea originally was to have Tommy spar a round with the man who used to be heavy-weight champion of the world, but they thought better of it. Maybe they were afraid Dempsey might let go with a left hook and flatten Farr. This is no reflection on Farr. But nobody ever succeeded in teaching Dempsey how to pull a punch, and right now, 10 years out of the ring, if he hits anybody on the chin he will drop him. WHITE AND SOFT. “ So, there they were on the roof at Dempsey’s, where a ring has been pitched and a light and heavy bag have been hung. There were photographers there, and newspapermen, and Farr in his fighting trunks, looking strangely white and soft after his weeks of training at Long Branch. And Dempsey, in a double-breasted grey suit and blue shirt, the inevitable cigar stuck in his face. Arturo Godoy, the Chilean heavy-weight, was there, too, looking at Farr. And lied Burman, who is Dempsey’s fighter. “ They took pictures of Farr with Dempsey and Godoy and Burman, and the newspaper men stood around and looked at them. Farr, who is a sizeable heavy-weight, being about six feet tall and weighing a little more than 2)301b5, looked small beside Dempsey. Looked small and soft, as though Dempsey could ruin him with a punch. “ Then Jeff Dickson, the boy from the deep south, who made good in Paris, arrived with Marcel Thil. Thil was in a fair way to become nothing more than a legend in America. Part of the legend was that nobody could get him out of the Palais des Sports in Paris without dynamiting the building because he was a cinch to beat anybody who ventured within the building to meet him. But Mike Jacobs, disregarding this phase of the legend, offered him £6,000 to come to America and fight Fred Apostoli on his fourstar champonship card in September, and Marcel, who is known as Papa Thil in France, grabbed at it. “ Here he was at having arrived on the Normandie just a little while before. He was accompanied by his attractive wife and his father-in-law, Alex Taitard, who is his manager as well. And Dickson, who had met him at the pier, had brought him direct to Dempsey’s, because when Jeff asked him what he wanted to see, first of all, in New York, he said he wanted to see Dempsey. Which indicates once more that so far as the prize fighters are concerned —and this apparently goes for prize fighters all over the world—the big guy with the cigar in his face still is the head man in their profession. GRINNED. “ A soon as Thil saw Dempsey he broke out in a' grin that stretched trom ear to ear ana walked across tho root to meet him. Nobody had to introduce JUeiupsey or point him out to him. And if Dempsey was slightly puzzled as to ThiTs identity he gave no sign ot it, but stuck out his big paw and said: “ ‘ How are you, podnerp’ “But then nobody ever could tell whether or not Dempsey knew a fellow who came up to shake hands with him — whether the fellow was the middleweight champion of the world or a tourist who just got off the last bus trom Ashtabula. “ For Thil is the middle-weight champion of the world. From time to time aspersions have been cast on him, ana they have said all sorts of things about him. They have said, for instance, that he is a washed-up old 'guy who wins all his fights by grabbing himself around the middle, even when he has been hit on the chin, and sinking to the floor and yelling ‘ Foul!’ as a sure means of protecting his title, for the French are an old-fashioned race and have not yet adopted the no-foul rule, lint no matter what they say, Thil won the middle-weight championship from Gorilla Jones, the American negro, and, fair or foul, nobody has taken it away from him.

‘ Thil is bald and has a broken nose and a cauliflower ear, and looks as though he has stopped many a punch. “ ‘ Why,’ one of the newspaper men said ‘ he is an old man.’

“ ‘ He is nothing of the sort,’ Dickson said, with some show of indignation. ‘Heis 33 years old. Do not be deceived by his bald head. He has been bald since he was 21. But he has enough hair on his chest and his shoulder blades to cover his head and give him a full beard besides.’ “ POPPING OFF.” “ On the fringe of the group standing around looking at Thil having his picture taken with Dempsey was Larry White, who manages Apostoli. He is a short and stoutish fellow, and he was chewing on a dead cigar, and for a while he didn’t say anything, bub finally said: ‘ I wish that Dickson would either quit popping off about Thil or put up some dough.’ “What is he popping off about?’ somebody asked. “ ‘ He is saying that Thil is a great fighter and all this and that, and will make a monkey out of Apostoli,’,White said. “ ‘ Well,’ somebody else said, ‘ what are you beefing about? What do you expect him to say? That Thil is a terrible bum and that your guy will knock him out? Don’t you know that the more he pops off the better it is for you? You don’t want anybody to say 'that your guy licked a bum,' do you?’ “ ‘ No,’ White said. * but I want to bet £2OO to £IOO, and I have told him that a couple of times, but when I tell him that he don’t say anything, and I would like to make a little money.’ “ By this time the show was over and everybody went downstairs and bad a drink and a bite to eat, and the last you saw of Thil he was standing up at the bar with Dempsey. They were having a small Iveer and talking to each other in broken English, because Dempsey is a very hospitable fellow, and he was-trying to make Marcel feel at ease.”-