Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-01-08 | Page 22 | Wrecko Greco May be next Ring Leader

I W recko Greco May Be Next Ring Leader Leaderly I I By ly JACK CUDDY I NEW YORK Jan 8 UP UP- UP Meet the next lightweight champi cham- cham pi Johnny pion-Johnny Johnny n-Johnny Johnny Greco of Montreal It seems a bit previous to Introduce introduce in- in young Greco as the cham cham- to pion-to-be when the current titleholder titleholder title title- holder Beau Jack is so new on on the throne that his royalty is recognized recognized recognized rec rec- only in New York and New Jersey But year old Greco is evoking press raves in New York while Champion Beau Jack the dynamic bootblack ex-bootblack of Augusta Ga is hunting in the south Greco displays his leather- leather tossing wares again tonight at Madison Square Garden Gardena He tangles tangles tan- tan les with veteran Bill inthe in inthe inthe the round eight-round semifinal to the Chester Rico-Bob Rico Montgomery main event Naturally Greco is favored to win This d haired dark haired rk-haired Canadian fighter fight fight- er who has the face of Sammy Mandell but the height and build of Tony Canzoneri may be making making making mak mak- ing his last fight as a civilian He Heis Heis Heis is to be inducted into the Canadian Canadian Canadian Cana Cana- dian army January 13 Young Greco son of a former forme r acrobat would like to get a deferment deferment deferment defer defer- ment or permission from the Canadian Canadian Ca Ca- nadian government to continue e fighting during his training H Hhas He e has two reasons 1 He wishes t to tobe tobe o be the first Canadian scrapper t twin to o win the world pound crown and 2 he is trying to pay payoff of ofa off offa f a mortgage on his parents' parents home and and that's not the old Horatio o Alger malarkey Johnny the who ha has s knocked out 16 opponents while e winning his last 20 fights is th the e son of Ralph Greco former acro acro- bat Perhaps for that reason Johnny Insisted upon tumbling g about the deck during his earl early y bouts in New York a year ago His New York manager Abe Elkin says that Johnny looked Tooke d so terrible in training and in hi his early fights I was going to send acne him back to Canada He kept kep t getting hit bit on the chin and taking g the count of nine My brother e r Murray Johnnys Johnny's trainer figured figure d Johnnys Johnny's neck was too small t to o take up the shock of a punch Si S So he he developed Grecos Greco's neck fro from rr size 14 to 15 15 And he be hasn't hi hithe hit t the deck in his last 15 fights Greco captivated New York f in n his last Garden appearance That Tha t was in a preliminary to the Tarn Tami Mauriello-Lou Mauriello Nova bout on D December December De De- cember 11 Greco tackled tough tong h hyoung young Harold Green that night nigh and knocked him out in the first firs firstI t I round It was a thunders thundering eg se seMon session session ses ses- s- s sion Mon in which both yo youngsters youngster s broke away t to fast to commit ma may may- hem But the combination of of Grecos Greco's smashing left hook a and nd stunning straight right floor f ed I Green three t times mes before the re ref ref- f 1 L intervened