SPORT IN BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26707, 28 February 1948, Page 7

SPORT IN BRITAIN

BOS MURPHY’S PLANS

GREAT INTEREST IN JOE LOUIS AUSTRALIAN CRICKET TOUR N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 27. Back in training again at Croydon (London), Bos Murphy is preparing for two fights before he meets the formidable coloured boxer. Dick Turpin, at Coventry, on May 17. The first will be about March 16, but neither of his opponents lias yet been selected. It is likely that an announcement will be made during the coming week. , After a short holiday—he had intended to go to Scotland but got no further than Manchester and Blackpool—Murphy declares that he is feeling very fit and that his ankle, which he injured in the first, round of his fight with Vince Hawkins, is “ coming along nicely. - ’ . , Murphy is keen on having extra fights before meeting Turpin and is taking his training . very seriously. He will get 20 per cent, of the gate at Coventry. The fight will be staged on Coventry’s football ground. Visit by Joe Louis Few Americans visiting Britain in recent months have received more publicity than Joe Louis, _ who pronounces his name ‘ Lewis. Flona “L time he set foot on the Queen Mary in New York with his party of seven, including his wife. Marva, he has been the subject of daily bulletins When he finally left the train at Wateiloo. he received a tumultous reception. Louis, wearing a navy blue coat ove. his enormous shoulders and a giej silk tie patterned with eircles °f P and red, seemed bewildered at his re ception. His face puckered nervously as he faced a score of clicking camera, but he raised his hat obediently and then made dogged progress through the surging crowd to his limousine. Arriving at the three. flats which house his party, and fo L^ h ‘uAmnion paying £75 a week, the champion found that a burst water pipe had robbed them of any heat. To keep warm he embarked on a tour of favourite London spots, Westminster Abbey and General Eisenhower’s old headquarters. He denied that he brought a car and abnormal quantities of food with him. Louis, who now weighs over 16 stone, has stated that he is definitely retiring in June after his fight with Walcott. “This time, ah means it,” he said. Though his manager says that Louis has made the best part of £1,000,000, he admits that he has not got as much as he would like to retire on. At least 80 per cent, has gone in taxation. _ “If ah came along when Dempsey and Tunney came along, ah would have been sitting pretty, but ah came along when taxation and cost of living are way up high,” he said. Asked what he would do on his retirement, he replied: “Jest git fat, ah suppose.” J . . He has business interests in insurance and real estate and is a vicechairman of the Cancer Research Association in New York. Bowler for Bradman

English bowlers are among the various sportsmen in England getting fit. Their ,big job will be removing Don Bradman from the wicket One of them is Douglas Wright, of England and Kent leg-break fame, and whom Bradman regards as the best English slow right-hand bowler of the last 30 y€ Asked what it feels like to bowl to Bradman, Wright said: “Providing I am fit and strong and not having oft

days, I enjoy it. You know for certain that anything loose will be punished but this acts only as a stimulant” He thinks a ball just outside the off stump is Bradman’s weakness —if he has one—but a bowler s chief hope is to get the Australian’s wicket early. Olympia Preparations Over 200 British athletic “ possibilities” for the Olympic Games are to attend a big holiday camp meeting from April 16 to April 19 at Clacton. The enthusiasm shown for the idea of the camp has surprised officials Several athletes are also planning to spend a training holiday in Sweden during May or June. Several weeks before the, Olympic Games open, the Olympic Torch will be lit at Olympia on the western side of the Peloponnesus. From there it will he carried by runners in relays by way of Patras and Athens, to a port opposite Corfu where a British warship will pick it up and take it to Italy. From Italy, it will again be carried by relays of runners to Calais, and after being shipped across the Channel will be taken by other runners to Wembley, where it will light the Olympic fire. e The Olympic Organisation Committee hoped to be able to run the torch all the way across Europe from Olympia, but the plan was scotched by the attitude of Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria, who, when asked to cooperate, made no reply.