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Show JlllllllMlllllllllllllllllllll!!lllllllllllli: I Speaking o I By ROBERT McSHANE S RlaMd by Wtlm Nwtpopf Unlea nllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllR: PRITZIE ZIVIC, current king of ' the welterweight division, has one of the oddest boxing careers on record, rec-ord, having whipped some of the greatest fighters In the country and having lost to some of the worst second sec-ond raters. During the past seven years Fritzle has fought 116 times and lost only 20. He has lost to such gentlemen gentle-men as Johnny Barbara, an Individual Indi-vidual whose mediocre talents commanded com-manded little respect even among his friends. On the credit side be licked Henry Armstrong twice-whipped twice-whipped him thoroughly not more than half a year after being clouted around by the ham-and-eggers. Among his opponents have been Billy Conn, Sammy Angott, Mike I Kaplan, Milt Aron, Chock Wood and a host of others. Fritzie, one of five Zivlc brothers, all of whom have at one time or another made living with their fists, is slightly on the screwball I V 1 t V FRITZIE ZIVIC side. According to Scotty Stratch-am, Stratch-am, a Detroit promoter, Fritzie will fight 10 times a week if the bouts can be arranged. No Training Slave While the 26-year-old Pittsburgh youth may like to fight, he isn't enthusiastic about training. In fact, he is practically immune to training rules. It has been suggested that he slays up to four or five in the morning morn-ing sometimes drinking beer. This Is a great sorrow to Lew Carney, his manager, but to date Mr. Carney Car-ney has not discovered a pastime which his fighter is willing to substitute. sub-stitute. The youngest of the Zivic boys has one or two other ideas which are strictly original. Occasionally he will send Carney back to Pittsburgh and tour the country clone, handling himself and making his own contracts. con-tracts. While this may not be an ideal arrangement from a managerial manage-rial standpoint, Carney still gets his share of the swag. Self-Analyst Whether or not he's the family's best fighter, Fritzie is quite well pleased with himself. He knows,, too, why he has the unhappy habit of dropping an occasional fight to a dope. That, he says, is because the Zivics are an emotional lot He admits ad-mits that at times his fighting is far trom inspired. And that's because the opposition hasn't the fire to move him isn't dangerous enough to be taken seriously. He was Inspired for the Armstrong brawl, however. He was so eager to meet the champion that he instructed in-structed Promoter Al Abrams to offer Armstrong a $25,000 guarantee. guaran-tee. Zivic was willing to fight for expenses ex-penses in the match, originally scheduled for Pittsburgh. Mike Jacobs Ja-cobs was so impressed by the setup set-up that he booked the fight for Madison Mad-ison Square Garden, figuring the bout was good enough for New York. The rest is ring history. Hammerin' Henry lost, then lost again in a return re-turn engagement If ever a fighter came by his trade naturally, Fritzie did. A Zivic who coudn't scrap would have been at an awesome disadvantage. Each of the five boys believes that he could, during his prime, have whipped any and all of his brothers. To make it even more baffling, their friends agree with them. To do anything else would not be diplomatic. Zivic never will be known as the greatest welterweight champion in ring history. He doesn't take his business seriously enough for that But when the blue chips are stacked high on the table, and the competition competi-tion is tough, then Fritzie gives the family plenty of reason for its Zivic pride. Sport Shorts C One of the oldest active boxers is Ceferino Garcia, 34. former New York middleweight champion. C Mike Enich, Iowa tackle and captain, cap-tain, missed only 23 minutes of the seven games played by the Hawk-eyes Hawk-eyes last season. C. Sammy Snead has won Bing Crosby's annual $3,000 golf tournament tourna-ment three times in the five-year history of the pro-amateur meet CThe University of California spends approximately $35,000 a year on intercollegiate rowing |
