| Show Backseat Driving By Frank K Baker Telegram Sports Editor Kid Scraps May Prove Valuable After All AllIC If It your son comes home with hi his hair mussed an m eye ere blackened and his face faco scratched from a private littie lit m. tie war with the boy In the nex next block dont don't be alarmed alarmed and and above all aIl dont don't interfere That scrapping ability may m mean some good old U. U S S. S dollars not so many years hence Those boyhood tussles are good training George Phil Nichols new holder of the National Boxing association association tion light heavyweight championship is s a living example Its It's all a happy story now to George who with his manager Jack Singer of Buffalo 1 is spending a 8 few da days s 's In Salt SaIl Lake I It goes something like this 1 A few years ago George was setting setting set set- ting pins In a a bowling AUe alley at Sandusky Sandusky San San- dusk dusky Ohio When business lagged ar arguments ments developed between the pin boys boS and often found their settlement settlement settle ment In some sort of a scuffling matth match George with his rough and ready tactics and his Italian temperament tempera tempera- ment was usually ready to use his fists with any of them and was not long In convincing the rest of the fellows that he could fling a mean I set of dukes Set of Cloves Gloves Makes Sport of It All AU II Somebody dug up upa a set sel of old boxIng boxing box ing gloves somewhere so it was ws n not no t tong long Jong ong b before fore the boys boys' were sparring with one another when not picking the wooden soldiers out of at the pit George vJ went vent t. t to a no fight show one evening with his older brother One of the boys In a p preliminary bout h had l proved oved too hea heavy and before belore the c I 17 Li- 3 GOT E Et t F l 10 old year G George orge knew what was hap pening his older brother had substituted substituted sub sub- him for the ineligible boxer and hauled him out of his scat seat and Into the the dressing dressing room Yo YoUre re going in there to fight Jim JimI I the older brother told him half hlf that So with a protest I didn't know what it was all aU about I 1 found myself In the ring in a pair of of ill fitting tights and with wit a couple of sweaty veaty mitts mitts tied to my hands George smiled reminiscently Just go after him the way you do dothe the boys down at the bowling alley was the brothers brother's par parting ling bit o of en en- S Georges George's foe cam came out of his corner with a rush He tapped me on the chin lightly and kept bobbing my head back with short little jabs that made me peeved 1 George rec recalled for our benefit I decided that I h had d better get busy if it I was to do any fighting so I ducked my head and tore at him letting fly a left to his mid mid- section He backed away hall half doubled up then came came cam at t m me in ina a raging fury I guess gues he forgot and left himself wide open Anyway Anyway Any Any- w way y I clouted him with a left full to the chin and he fell over and was counted out That got me ne st started for I had a n number of other fights and finally got my chance to JO take to boxing seriously serious serious- ly iy under Mr Singers Singer's management management manage manage- ment and Im I'm mighty happy that lv Ive I've been as fortunate as I have Nichols Leads with With His Southpaw That is Georges George's modest version of ot his rise to the national championship p but he leaves out a lot of incidents that prove his high-class high caliber George won the title in an elimination elimina elimina- tion lion tournament at Chicago stadium winning a cut clear-cut decision from Dave Maier Majer about a n month aft after r. r beatIng beat beat- Ing lag Billy Jones Jones' in what he describes as his toughest fight He lie spilled Jones in the resin three times and had Maier Maler in m the horizontal position a a couple of times George was never off au his feet Nichols is one of those rare fellows who lead with their left hands Southpaws South South- paws are considered poor investments investments invest invest- ments by some mana managers ers on the premise prem premo ise isa that many fighters balk at meeting them them b but Manager n ger S Singer nger S stoutly pro pro- claims Nichols as an exception He HeIs Heis Heis is a a club fighter lighter who wades in spec spec- Not a clever boxer he punches hard and the customers rs pay to seo that k kind nd of fighting Consequently Conse onse- onse plenty of opponents can be found so long as the paying customers custom custom- ers are lire numerous enough to make the assignment worth while Georges George's mother didn't favor his boxing so he used to fight under an assumed name in his home town scraps so she wouldn't worry Now sh she h is rec reconciled to a fighting son Not Afraid of Few Extra Pounds Nichols weighs pounds now but scales about when ready for ring duty Singer says h hes he's s 's practical practical- ly Jy assured of a 8 bout with Mickey Walker at it Chicago o in September We hope George will put iut on some more mor weight some of these days but until he does were we're not letting a few pounds advantage for the other fellow worry us He is 2 24 now and arid has been boxing less than five live years Nichols Nichols' real name is Phil the George being attached by New York state ate boxing circles because another an an- other Phil Nichols was was was' active in that district Singer p proudly claims the management management manage manage- ment meat of two champions lonS' lonS now Tommy Paul the thc featherweight titleholder being the other Paul is in Los Angeles An An- geles recuperating from an operation on the nose by the same physician who did Jack Dempsey's famous bit bitof bitof bitof of plastic surgery |
