| Show Hard Pull Puts Corn Conn I II I In Money By HARRY FERGUSON United Press Sports Editor NEW YORK June Nine IS-Nine 18 Nine I years ago a a. man walked into a Pittsburgh gymnasium and said to Johnny Ray who oyne owned the tumbledown place The big boys in our block are picking on the kid and Ill I'll give you a b buck ck a week 1 if you'll teach him how to fight At that moment Billy Conn be became became became be- be came a fighter In all of his 23 years he never has been anything anything anything any any- thing else If he can get money for fighting so much the better If he cant can't hel fight ig t beca because e ehe he I loges loyes i it Pale Youngster The man who spoke to Johnny R Ray y was Billys Billy's father The kid of course was Billy Johnny Ray took one look at him and saw a frail pale youngster with pipestem pipestem pipestem pipe- pipe stem arms and a f face ee that was almost girlish Standing there in inthe inthe inthe the corner of the shabby gymnasium gymnasium gymnasium Billy looked anything inthe Inthe in inthe the world but a professional fighter Until he put his hands up and nd shadow boxed R Right then I knew I had something something something some some- thing Johnny Ray said and so I took the kid for a buck a week Tonight Billy Conn and Johnny Ray cash their biggest dividend on the invest investment ent they made nine years ago They stand on a peak after a jo journey up a long slow road Hard knocks and hunger have been their companions most of the way But win lose or draw against Joe Louis this evening their troubles troubles troubles trou trou- bles are over They will walk walkout walkout walkout out of the Polo grounds with and if they win they are are on the road to half a million Its It's more money than either of them knew existed in the days when they were on the tank town circuit fighting for as little as a bout and never dreaming that one one day the heavyweight championship of the world would come within range of Conns Conn's flashing left hook There are factors in a prize prizefight prizefight prizefight fight besides footwork hooks jabs and straight rights There is an intangible something called fighting spirit and Conn is crammed with it I think he is too light and too much of a pow pow- puff der-puff puncher to handle Louis but Im I'm looking for him to put up a whale of oL a scrap while it lasts Natural Fighter He is a natural fighter in the sense that Harry Greb and Dempsey Demp Demp- sey were natural fighters They loved to fight and they found out outto outto outto to their astonished surprise that people would pay money to see them do it The other type of boxer is the synthetic fighter Tunney was one of those He cared nothing about the prize fight racket but buthe buthe buthe he saw in it a chance to work hard and get rich He did both bothof bothof of those things and retired Carnera Camera was a synthetic fighter too b but t of a different type He was an amiable giant who was taken in hand by men who knew the angl angles s and how to cash in inon inon inon on them He never cared about fighting and never pretended that he did o Fighting spirit is deep in the Conn family Billy has a little sister who recently lost some teeth in a fight And they say that Billys Billy's father gets involved in an extracurricular fight almost every time Billy goes into the ring It usually happens in a club or around a radio where an argument starts and the elder Conn goes to war in behalf of the family The story is that Billy phoned after one of his fights and his father inquired Howd you come out son I won my fight Billy replied How did you do in yours |
