PHOENIX OF THE RING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20531, 24 September 1936, Page 9

PHOENIX OF THE RING

LOUIS WILL COME BACK When the heavyweight bout between Max Schmeling and Joe Louis was over, and Max was interviewed by the scribes, he repeatedly kept saying that he knew from the first time he had seen the Louis-Baer pictures that Joe was a target for a right and that he could therefore whip the Detroiter (says “The Ring.”). “I know I must land it, and when I do I win,” he said. “I practise and I practise over and over again before I come here, and then I do it again in my camp until I feel I am ready for Joe, and I find him more easy to be hit than I had expected. But Joe is a good fighter. He will be back, but he must first learn how to protect himself against a right.” And what Schmeling remarked goes doubly for me (comments Nat Fleischer). I won’t relegate Joe to the hasbeen class. I still think he is a great fighter, and he’ll prove it after he gets a rest and starts to comeback. He’ll come back—you can bet your last dollar on that. And when he does he’ll be as effective as he was against the boys he met previously to Schmeling. joe has learned his lesson, and he’ll overcome the handicaps with proper coaching. Regardless of what happened in the Schmeling bout, Louis was a great fighter before that fight, and he’ll be great again, make no mistake about that. His reputation cannot be destroyed overnight just by one adverse decision. He proved that he was a superb boxer and a puncher of the extraordinary type against Baer, Levinsky, Retzlaff, Paulino and Carnera, and even though the c’aim is made that each of those was scared out of his wits when tossed against the Bomber, the fact remains that every good asset of a great fighter was bi evidence on the side of Louis against those men.