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Show SPORT LIGHT I Vonder in What Far-Off Rings? By GRANTLAND RICE J T UisUt.K . w6i r o rj; Jim Corbett't spectr waits oh view? Wbert Jefferies booti and old Fitz swings Or Louis spins his follow through Vi'hert is Jack Pempsey's trashing fist As 1'unney holds thi jot at bay? S:'l looking through th$ fogs and mists W'hert art ghosts of yesterday? The Ezzard Charles Rating Since the melancholy spectacle In Chicago known as the N.B.A. heavyweight championship, various experts and noncombatants have' been busy attempting to rate Ezzard Ez-zard Charles, the winner. The best rating would seem to place Charles somewhere between the post-Tun-ney and the pre-Louis period. It is difficult to make any clear cut estimate since he was facing an opponent who refused to fight, the same being Jersey Joe Walcott. Charles is a better boxer than Max Baer, Primo Camera and t : T- 1 J l T t Jim rsrauaocK. rie is no better a boxer box-er than Jack Sharkey or Max Schmeling happened hap-pened to be. He can't punch with Baer, Braddock or Schmeling. That post-Tunney, pre-Louis pre-Louis Deriod was a tion doesn t want any more ot Jersey Jer-sey Joe Walcott This recent show was one place where the promoters had to work without any working material. The fight mob for years had bern accustomed to fellows like Dempsey, Tunney and Louis who could box and also punch. Tunney was no stick of dynamite dyna-mite but ho could cut you up and hurt you. The fight moli had become too accustomed to Joe Louis to start cheering for an Ezzard Charles or a Joe Walcott, Wal-cott, minus any part of personal per-sonal appeal. Or even Impersonal Imper-sonal appeal. Charles was at least willing to fight, while to Walcott the thought of hitting someone or being hit was decidedly abhorrent. Walcott would have been an ideal soldier in the War of the Roses. More About Charles Charles is a serious, earnest young fellow who is a good boxer and who is willing. But he is never overanxious. He is careful. He tried to make a fight of it but his punching punch-ing was too feathery to make him dangerous. Charles is not much of a puncher, even with a fair shot at some antagonist. an-tagonist. Here was Walcott in front of him for 15 rounds and yet Walcott Wal-cott emerges without a knockdown or a scratch outside of a split upper lip. This isn't the type of fighter who is going to revive the lagging fight game and start the multitude cheering loudly. For all of that Ezzard Ez-zard Charles is very likely the best heavyweight fighter left In the world today. lie should have no great trouble handling either Woodcock Wood-cock or Savold. Woodcock never was very much and Savold Is well over the hill. Charles lacks any touch of fire or flame. lie Is merely a pretty good workman work-man who is involved with inferior in-ferior material. Louis has been through for several sev-eral years. His title was worth at least a million dollars to some ambitious am-bitious fellow who could learn how to box and punch. The inducement has been the richest prize in sport. The ring game has had at least six years in which to develop Just one fighter, one good fighter. The net result has been Ezzard Charles, who, in baseball parlance, would be rated a .270 hitter. Gene Tunney stopped Tom Heen-ey Heen-ey and retired in July, 1928. Max Schmeling won from Jack Sharkey on a foul in July, 1930. Grantland Uice sad one for the fight game especially the heavyweight heavy-weight game. This new era, now rolling in, will be just as sad or possibly even sadder. The winner of the Charles Woodcock Wood-cock vs. Savold contest won't require re-quire much on either side. This is just as well since neither side has much to offer. At the very best, such a meeting should be worth perhaps a $10 top, if you happen to have $10 you don't need. There is no complaint about the N.B.A. calling the Charles-Walcott Charles-Walcott fiasco a championship fight. It was a terrible fight to watch from start to finish. Jersey Jer-sey Joe Walcott started at a rather brisk pace but, after the second round, suddenly decided that he was through for the evening. He had collected three pretty fair purses in a row and he had been around 19 years. He had squeezed about all he could out of mediocrity. You can't keep on making lemonades lemon-ades out of one lemon. Certainly the heavyweight situa- |