BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 June 1935, Page 2

BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP

BRADDOCK SPRINGS SURPRISE A POPULAR VICTORY [BY CABLE —PKESB ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] NEW YORK, June 13. In the fifteen-rounds bout for the world’s heavyweight boxing championship at Madison Square Garden, Braddock defeated Max Baer, the holder oi the title, on points. Baer weighed 20!)£ pounds, and Braddock scaled 191:f pounds, as they entered the ring, shortly after 10 p.m. The ringside betting made the champion favourite, the odds ranging from eight to one, to ten to one. These odds were the most uneven in the history ol the heavyweight championship bouts. The only comparison was Gene Tanney’s six to one odds against Tom Hcsucy. Despite there being perfect weather the crowd was disappointingly small. The Madison Garden Bowl, which has a capacity of seventy-'aight thousand, was not half-filled. The twenty dollars ringside seats were comparatively more popular than the two dollar ones for general admission. Mr. John MacAvoy was named as referee, and Messrs, cnaien Lynch and George Kelly were the judges. Braddock started well by checking Baer’s vaunted opening rush, and then gaining a point advantage in an exchange of right and left jabs, Braddock thus won the opening round. In the second and third rounds, Braddock again held a slight advantage. He was aiming long right and left swings' to the champion’s head, several of which landed with considerable force. Baer was driving at his ■ opponent’s mid-sections with hard jabs, two of which, in. the second round, obviously hurt the challenger. Through the fourth and fifth rounds, Braddock appeared to hold a point margin.

To the surprise of the spectators, Baer seemingly became annoyed, and he started to wrestle with his opponent in a clinch, and he was therefore rebuked by the referee. Braddock continued to score with his long blows to the head. The referee officially gave Braddock the fifth, round because of Baer’s using backhand blows. Braddock continped his accurate punching through the sixth round, but in the seventh and eighth rounds Baer rallied, and, by missing body hooks with long drives to the head, he scored a point margin. By this time, Braddock was bleeding from the nose, while the champion was visibly uninjured, and he laughed when Braddock landed a hard blow to the jaw.

The fighting was about even in. the ninth round, but the referee officially gave the round to Braddock, after twico warning Baer for his low hitting. The ringsiders gave Braddock the tenth round on a series of hard drives to the champion’s head. In the last live rounds, Baer’s sneering griu disappeared, and he fought grimly in an effort to overtake the point margin that the challenger had milt up, but Braddock did not weaken, ind, by consistently following his strategy of punching and covering, he managed to hold his own against his Heavier opponent. The last part of the fight was like the first, not being spectacular, but the challenger landed the more effective blows, which gained him the decision.

Both of the fight judges voted for giving tire decision to Braddock, thus .nuking it unnecessary for the referees 0 vote. A compilation of points by '■.ho newspaper critics give Braddock aine rounds, and Baer six rounds. From the observers’ viewpoint, Bradlock won through with his sure determination, and willingness to fight, .vhile Baer, with his clowning tactics at first seemingly, did not want to fight. It was the greatest upset in recent boxing history, but it was popular with the crowd of thirty thousand, which Loudly cheered the now champion. The •ate receipts are estimated at two hundred thousand dollars.

TO MEET SCHMELING

(Rec. June 15, 10 a.m.) 1 NEW YORK, June 14.

Braddock has agreed to defend the title at Madison Square Garden, against Schmeling in the summer of 1936, thus eliminating any chance of a championship bout in September. • The promoter, Johnston, said that Baer would be offered a bout with Schmeling in September. If he is victorious, he will be substituted for the German in the return bout with Braddock.

BAER’S NEXT OPPONENT

(Received June 15, noon.) NEW YORK, June 14.

The promoter. Mike Jacobs, at the Twentieth Century Club, announced that Baer had agreed to fight in September, the winner of the match on June 25, between Joe Louis, a Detroit negro, and Camera.

BRADDOCK’S CHANCE.

RESULT OF A MISTAKE.

The news that James Braddock would meet Max Baer in New York for the world heavy-weight boxing title came as a surprise. Braddock was little known. The following article explains that the bout was the outcome of a mistake/ in' tactics by the Madison Square Garden Corporation. The long-delayed contract between James J. Braddock and Madison Square Garden for a 15-round heavyweight title bout with Max Baer, the champion, at Madison Square Garden Bowl in Juno -was signed on April 13 (reports the “New York 'rimes’'). Jimmy Johnston, Garden matchmaker, said he was not yet. certain just when the fight would be held, but that it would “probably be around June 10.” By deduction, boxing experts figured that it would be staged either June 6 or 13, since the Garden regularly holds its outdoor shows on Thursdays. Although- terms were not revealed, it was understood that Braddock would receive 171- per cent, of the net receipts. The Garden, it was believed, originally offered 15 per cent., but boosted the amount in return for Braddock’s promise to make his first, title defence, in the event that he defeated B?er, under Garden auspices. Baer will receive the customary champion’s share of 37J per cent. Preseveiance, a damaging punch, errors of judgment by Madison Square Garden authorities, and stubbornness on the part of the New York State Athletic Commission all had their part in electing Braddock as Baer’s rival for the bout for the championship of the world, but the man who

had most to do with the selection was Steve Hamas. Hamas, youthful graduate of Penn State, gave Braddock his second chance at a championship in a roundabout manner, but nevertheless gave the Irishman his moneyed evening in June. As late as the first, of February Hamas sat in the driver’s seat in heavy-weight circles. He had beaten Max Schmeling a year before, and in Hie fall had received the decision, disputed, but nevertheless the decision, over Art Lasky. He had been approached by the Garden for the Baer bout in June. James J. Johnston and Colonel J. Reed Kilpatrick wanted llamas tor one more bout, a Schmeling encounter in the Garden. Hamas and his manager, Charley Harvey, agreed to the bout, but asked for a 25,000d01. guarantee. Without agreeing to the guarantee, the Garden dickered with Schmeling. The German reported by cables and trans-Atlantic telephone that Walter Rothenburg, Hamburg promoter, had promised him the Hamas bout in Germany.

The Garden pooh-poohed the very idea, and went blithely. ahead with plans, but negle'cted to guarantee the 25,000d01. to Harvey. Harvey wasn’t anxious to take an ocean voyage, and neither was Hamas, but after a fiveday ultimatum he accepted Rothenburg’s offer, much to Johnstone’s surprise and ultimate chagrin, and sailed. Hamas was badly beaten by Schmeling, and that fight turned the tide of fisticuffs. It, made the public at large acutely conscious of the big men again, and paved the way for the success of the Garden’s next few bouts. The Garden hastily cabled to Joe Jacobs to secure Schmeling for the Baer bout in June, and then billed the bouts with Camera, Impellittiere, Braddock, and Lasky as eliminations, the winner to meet Baer in June, but, having the Schmeling bout up its sleeve, with the intent to the elimination winner. The sidetracking wopld be done by Baer, who when notified of his challenger, would say that the nominee was not the “best available,” as demanded in the contract.

Camera beat Impellittiere, but could get no nositive assurance from Johnston that if he beat the Lasky-Brad-dock winner he would get the Baer shot. He immediately jumped to Mike Jacobs and signed for the Joe Louis bout. Braddock then defeated Lasky, and the Garden was in a muddle. The commissioners thereupon decreed Braddock the winner of the eliminations and No. 1 challenger. Frantic efforts were made to get Schmeling to come here for a Braddock bout, but the German seems to have the assurance of Rothenburg that Baer will go to Europe this summer. He listened to Rothenburg once, and was satisfied in taking another chance. Rothenburg has been bickering with Ancil Hoffman and Baer since last fall, bu,t Hoffman will not declare himself on the proposal. \ So Hamas started the heavy-weight muddle, which placed the Garden in the position of picking a challenger it did not want. And the Garden can thank its own shortsightedness in not giving the £5,000 guarantee to Hawvey for the situation. The Garden rulers never thought Harvey would take the ocean trip, but he did, and Jim Braddock gets another shot at a title.

After ten years of warfare on the various fistic battlefronts, fame, fortune, and the glory which accompany boxing’s richest prize await the New Jersey slugger, James J. Braddock, who only a year ago was considered through as a front-ranking heavyweight. A short time ago he retired from the ring and went to work as a sdol. a day dock worker, and were it not for a sudden turn in fortune, he might still be doing the same. Last summer the promoters of the Max Baer-Primo Camera encounter needed a fighter in one of the naries to oppose Com Griffin, at that time a rising young heavy-weight, who seemed headed for bigger and better things. Although Braddock had been inactive for some time., it was decided to tess him into, the ring against the stylish and hard-hitting Griffin. The result was a knock-out victory for Braddock, and his meteoric rise to the heights began. Successive and impressive triumphs over John Henry Lewis and Art Lasky followed, and recently the New York State Athletic Commission designated Braddock as the leading challenger for Baer’s crown.

CHEQUERED CAREER. Now 28 years old, Braddock launched his boxing career in 1925 as an amateur. After a year he entered the professional rank, where he enjoyed considerable success for a while. But it did not last long enough. He hit the downward grade and soon was almost completely forgotten. Disillusioned, the Jerseyite retired. He was employed as a stevedore when the emergency call, a chance to swing into action against Griffin, came. At present Braddock weighs 2051 b. He will leave shortly for a vacation in the Adirondacks, and about five weeks before the fight begin serious training. He plans to scale about 1901 b tor Baer. Braddock expects to dethrone Baer. Ho said he was confident of winning the title and is not the least bit afraid of the Livermore Larruper. “I’ve studied Baer’s style and I think it’s made to order for mo,” he said. “Anyway, I believe that good things come in threes. I’ve licked two Coast battlers, and Max will be the third,” he added.

With his wife and three children, Braddock resides at Woodcliff, New Jersey. On the face of his skilful demonstration against Lasky in the best heavy-weight encounter in the Garden ring for a long time, Braddock certainly deserved a further chance. He was at his best, using his head as well as his deadly right and left hands. He coolly held the crouching Lasky at long range and connected with long shots to the head.

Braddock, aside from a bruise under his left eye, was in perfect condition after the fight, and said he did not feel tired after the fitteen-round battle. Lasky passed the day propped up in bed, the left .side of his face badly swollen and his left hand swathed in thick bandages. r l’he swelling was still present and the pain was intense. Art ate aspirin tablets to settle the buzzing in his head and the dull pain in his hand. His brother-manager, Maurice Lasky, planned to stay in town for a few days and then go to Detroit to watch Joe Louis, negro puncher, face Natie Brown there." All. praise was showered on Lasky’s stamina and ability to take punishment. He took Braddock’s celebrated “Sunday” punch countless times on the jaw but weathered the cannonading. After the first two rounds Braddock seemed discouraged at the failure to bring down the Westerner, and gave Lasky great credit for taking the punches. J

PETERSEN AND NEUSEL DATE OF RETURN CONTEST LONDON, May 8. [ It is officially announced that Tuesday, Juno 25, has been selected as> the date for the return contest be- t tween Jack Petersen, the British Empire champion, and Walter Neusel, lhe Gorman heavyweight. This contestover 15 rounds, is to be held in the open air at the* Empire Stadium and i will be the first boxing show staged in that arena since the Bloomfield' Gibbons fight, in August 1924. There will be ample, room for 100,000 spectators, and the prices of admission will be within the reach of all followers of boxing. Accommodation, which w'ill provide a perfect view of all the contests, will be available for 50,000 spectators at half-a-crown. Although one of the biggest arenas in the country, Wembley Stadium is more “intimate” than any other. Tms intimaev is obtained by reason oi the “saucer-like construction” of the stands. By this is meant .that the terraces do not lie straight iac , are scopeod out like a saucer, and all spectators are consequently closei to the arena than would otherwise be 111 P C'ISG [( has’ not hitherto been revealed that the staging of this big fight on lune 25 is the direct outcome of a request received by Mr. A.. J. Elvin, the managing director of Wembley Stadium, from Jack Petersen himself. It was Mr. Elviu’s intention to 01161 Petersen a fight against Bob Olin, the world’s cruiser-weight champion, but Petersen, while naturally not refusing this opportunity, stated that he would much prefer first of all to meet Walter Neusel again. • Petersen’s attitude can be well understood when it is remembered that in their contest at the Empire Pool last February, in the opinion of most Clitics there was very little between th two boxers at the time that Petei sen received the blow which cut his eye so badly that he was forced to retire. Many people are also asking what would have happened in the second round, when Petersen had Neusel tlie ”WGlshiriaiis liglit hand had not been damaged at the time.