Show W S D DOWNINGS OWNING i H 11 M FIGHT FIGHT FIGH T D D. D o OPE k By Hardy K Downing l RE New Nev j. j ork boxing fans are in line to see what sho should ld be the J rIflE greatest battle between light heavyweights that has been l Haged led ed in in inthis this country for some time when Tommy Gibbons Gibbo ls ah and antl Harry Hay Greb step through the ropes in Madison Square Gard n next t Monday night t Tommy Gibbons by his wonderful string of miming l' up lp P to twenty-one twenty straight without a break when Bartley Madden l S 1 st stayed the ten ro rounds with him and then adding a couple more i afterwards has hils made himself one of the most talked of light heavies s i nT the world today and is most prominently mentioned mention cd as the logical lical man to meet Jack Dempsey for the worlds world's title That is is f J h 6 Q is the most logical man with the possible exception of Harry Harryf f i wills who to my way of thinking is absolutely impossible either I i f of the thed 8 as a logical candidate or as a possibility on OIl account d difficulties in staging such a a. a match In Li press the Gibbons Greb-Gibbons match the prompters promoters haw have hawI I laid id great stress on the fact that th this 3 match will prove whether or t Gib Gibbons ons would d have a c chance ance with Dempsey a and d th that t he lie he must I win Will n decisively either by a K IC 0 O. or clearly outpoint Greb or of the I loatch will put him him out of the r running rinning which makes good reading the match really doesn't prove anything as far as Dempsey is concerned for Gibbons can cert certainly claim nothing for beating providing providing ho does for does for he will have the edge of ten or fifteen een pounds pound and how can a light heavyweight be considered a real contender for the heavyweight title just because he beats eats a middleweight 1 It is really ridiculous And on the other hand bould Greb beat Gibbons what a joke it would be to consider I j matching him with Dempsey a man who at hi his best probably could I I Qt the heavier than pounds J not step through ropes any t I have contended all aU along that Gibbons is IS' s just as lo logical ical a J I contender for Dempsey's crown a as any man in the world today i t mean It-mean n by that that he has ha IM as good if not a better chance to beat leat Dempsey Wempsey than any of them but that does not mean that I consider i a real contender for I dont don't consider there is a man in the I orld today who has as much as a one ono to twenty chance against t As far as the Gibbons Greb bo bout t is concerned it should be a j I h hale le of a battle and I look for Gibbons ns the larger man to win I j they have met et a co couple pe of times before and neither has oyer y er r been able abler to gain am a decisive lead Gibbons has been going good and is n. n noi flO doubt the h hardest hitter of the two anti and inight slip over the winning punch otherwise they will probably g the full distance with the decision being close chose I dont don't b give Lye Greb much chance for a decisive win mn while Gibbons Gibbon's might do dob doso so so but ut as far as having any any bearing on a bout with Dempsey forget forget it Its It's It f demonstrate that neither l a joke mig might demonstrate one has as any business with mth the champion champlOn but it never can prove that either cither one has e C. C E. E of Pocatello Is going going to give his hs P PROMOTER 1 patrons what looks like a a. a real treat next Wednesday night when he I sends Midget Smith the the- local featherweight champion against Meyers the recognized junior lightweight champion for a twelve-round twelve bout These boys bos met in a six-round six bout at the Hippodrome theatre several severa I m months ago and although Meyers was awarded awarded the the decision by the judges who were picked to render tho the decision it was admitted by all that it was a mighty close shave for the Pocatello boy and he was mighty lucky to get better than an even break Smith has never been satisfied with that verdict and now that ho he has hal chance it-chance chance to reverse it he can be depended upon to put up the battlo of his life r f Just to show how anxious Smith is p to turn the tables on Meyers and In his home town at that he went to P Pocatello catello the middle of last week more than one week before the tho match to put on the finishing touches to his tr training and took George Sollis Souls along with him as sparring partner and chief adviser as Sollis has met twice and should be a big help to Smith in this th s match This wil will probably be the first time that Smith has really buckled down to real hard training for more than three or four days at a time and if he gets Bets in shape to step the full distance at top speed he should give jive the thet Pocatello boy the toughest battle ho he has hs e ever er had a a a HEN VV V THEN Al Walker of San Francisco was brought here to meet I W VY George Sollis Souls a few weeks ago or to be more accurate when lie he was induced to stop over h here re on his way back home from New York and St. St Louis where he had bad been boxing a great many of the local fans figured he would walk out to the center of the ring and bd slap Sollis Sallis on the chin and the bout wo would ld be over and when h he hn n not t only failed to do that little thing but stopped one with his own chin in the that came mighty near ending the bout md ind continued to take a. a severe severe lacing for the first four rounds finally rounding to and holding his own in the the fifth and fighting th the local boy off his feet in the sixth it was quite a surprise to the te fans and a great many of them instead of giving Sollis credit for the wonderful bout he put up were inclined to criticise Sonic Some o o. o of the H wiseacres who had probably lost as much as a couple of dollars insisted Walker had loafed on the job others doubted whether it was really Al Walker or not while whilO others insisted that the reports of Walkers Walker's great bouts in the East were all bunk Many of the local fans have failed or in fact have haye refused to realize that George Sollis is one of the best featherweights the intermountain country h has s ever turned out Sollis has really never had a pleasing personality in the ring and when he lie first started had a lot of mannerisms in in- inthe the ring that displeased mall many of th the f fans ps Although he has overcome most of his faults by hard Conscientious work and ana persistent efforts to please many of the fans have been unable to overcome that pr prejudice judice against him and refuse to give him credit where it is du due Had Lou been t tl the man to meet Al AI Walker and give him the trimming Sollis did tJ there ere would have been no looking for alibis or belittling the loser If would nave have been all praise for the winner Its It's really too bad that some of the fans will let their prejudice outweigh their better judgment Although handicapped with one one defective eye and entering the boxing game under a handicap in other ways wa-s that made mado it ita a a rocky Iq d to travel he has fought his way right up to the top of the the- local featherweight division Although Midget Smith holds the title of local champion through having beaten Lou when he vas was the recognized kingpin Sollis has to be rated as good as Smith for the simple reason that he showed his true mettle when after losing a decision to bot both and Smith he came back and held them both to good draws draw and its it's a toss up ip right now which one onet t guld be returned the winner if they were sent to a decision over longer route Vi 1 i. i Sollis ollis is one of the most conscientious workers who ever evet appeared at the local club and trains practically every da day of hi his I life He is tough as a pine knot and game to the core and on top tor of that he carries the hardest punch of any of the topnotch L f feathers fathers athers around here and lias more to his credit than Smith L Land and combined as far as as' as local battles are concerned I Smith is one of the best natural fighters I ever eyer saw and lia ha a wonderful fighting brain while is one of the classiest boxers anyone could wish to see and I am not taking an anything hing p away Yay from them but I do believe its it's time time- th the fans really gave Lre d o Ns credit for wh what t he be does s st 9 f always alway trying t to belittle 3 for fellow ch t t t A I h iX I f i t i F l |