BOXING.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10725, 24 October 1928, Page 9

BOXING.

TUNNEy ..CRASHES - SOCIETY

GATES,

WHO WILL BE NEXT CHAMPION.

(By Arty gchiriner, the Melbourne Globe’s Special Representative in

America)

■Gene Tunney 'is in Europe, and, as befits a retired champion, he is hob-nob bang with the elite.'“ A serious aud sincere champion, ho never was what you would term popular with tho masses. He was highly ambitious} and his most evident aversion to those who made up the background of Shis . profession dent the' impression arid, possibly, correctly so that lie .was high-hatting the .boxing world.' • That to a degree made, him unpopular. And now that ho has 'flown into the lap of/riches, the. fans are quite convinced that their hero was never really one of their own mould. Now he; is married.- Mrs. Tuiiney (formerly Miss Lauder), who is just 21, nine years the junior of Tunney, is tall, athletic and very beautiful. She is fond of all sports, and. her father, George Lauder, jhr., •"'ho died 12 yeai’s ago, was a’prominent yachtsman. He was- a. member of the crew at Yale,' ancll'went into yaeht racing after graduation. In T 924 the Lauder ’ family gave 400,000 /dollars to the Yale Medical School to •He "called the “Anna M.' R. Lauder, 'Eutict,*V in memory of George, jurir’s mother. • . /■'• . .

■Miss Lauder’s grandfather, George Lauder, senr., who died in 1924, was the founder of the Lauder fortune, and' was a pal of Andrew Carnegie, being associated with the great ironmaster from tho beginning of his career. The family fortune is estimated at' 150,000,000 dollars, and Miss Lauder will come in for her .share of ithat wealth. 1 .■Gene Tunney is the first professional-'boxer to crash the gates of the select, and his entrance upon the hooks of the social register \also constitutes the first acceptance of a boxing knight. In the wake of his-departure there have been rumours of Tunney’s entrance upon a business career on Wall street, but lie managed to make it emphatic that he had done n< thing definite. - *

“it will be a business, not a professional career,” Tunney informed. “But I have established no connection to date.”

APPB OAOHING TOURNEY.

Tunney’s hurried exit has scrambled the pugilistic situation decidedly, as I explained before. Rickard holding the hag which is fully 200.000 dollars short after the recent Tnn-ney-Hoenev encounter, is formulating plans for his approaching heavyweight tourney, which will ■ carry through the fall and winter on into next spring, and summer, when the new heavyweight king will be clowned and. presented with the belt emblematic of the title by Gene TunnCy, the donor, himself. ■ According to tho present outlook, the majority of the old characters will figure in the tournament—Jack Sharkey, Jinhnny Bisko, Paulino liy-ondun, Knuto Hansen a: d, possibly, Tom rloenoy, now in New Zealand. ' ■ • •

Four or five years ago I announced that at some time or c:her Gtno Tunncy would eventually win the heavy weight crown. He had the frame, the boxing'ahility,. ami, above all, the brains and determination to succeed. Now wc have another Tunney, in the person of Tommy-Lough-ran, of Philadelphia, the light-heavy-weight champion, who has ivncmnced his title to enter the lists for the heavyweight crown. Loughran is to box Jack ‘Sharkey some time this fall. LOUGHHAN FAVORED. ' I am not predicting a Loughran win, but lie will come close to defeating the Poston battler, who will have a 20 lb. advantage.’ However, should Loughran suffer a reverse, it would only be a temporary one. - 1 feel positive in the prediction that at some future date Loughran will win the heavyweight' championship. He has everything with which to scale the ' heights—boxing ability, brains, 1 determination and courage. He . has ideas on the Tonnev order, and I venture to state that when he finally hits the top ho will be a far greater boxer and fighter than Tunney was. Tunney’was never over aggressive.- Loughran is. He has the heart of a Dempsey with the polish of a Corbett, and-that ■combination will, put- him out in front some day. HANSEN’S CHANCE. The favored man at present in Tex Rickard’s eyes in Knu’te Hansen, of Racine, AA'is. ■ Hanson is the boy who stopped Scott in one heat. He can box and can. punch, and appeal's intelligent. He quit the game and jumped' to Europe; passing up his chances, simply because he refused to box under the contract which, he holds, was forced oii him. j He is back now and fighting- his case -before the New York Commission. If he can gain their leave ;to box under more favorable- leadership, he should be the big man in the tourney. ' ' ft should be quite a scramble between Sharkey, Heenoy, Hansen and Loughran, and, while it may take us a, year or two to develop a worthy successor to “Gentleman Gene,’’ we will have him eventually.