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Show SPORTLIGHT Dempsey Seeking Heavyweights ' ' By GRANTLAND RICE JACK DEMPSEY's attractive home in Beverly Hills, arranged largely large-ly for his two good-looking young daughters, aged 15 and 17, was the scene of the confab. Jack has planned a world-wide survey and test of the best amateur boxers now living between the Mississippi Mis-sissippi River and the Suez Canal, or between the Pacific Ocean and the Rhine. "Our border is the world," Jack says. "They come to us as ama- quickness. A slow-moving, lumbering lumber-ing fellow is no good. I'd say that quickness was more important than speed. Joe Louis, for example, wasn't too fast afoot, but he had natural hand speed that helped him a lot "You need quick reflexes, where you see an opening and punch on the split-second, or where you see a punch coming and block it on the split-second. A slow-thinking fellow won't be of much use. "These are among the things we have to watch, study, and later pot to use. We know that most of those we try eat wen't be any geod. But working acress the country we'll find ane here and1 another there. We won't find so many, bat we'll find the few seeded to stir things up. "We'll give these fighters the best instruction possible. A let of these modern heavyweights know nothing about the true art ef fighting. fight-ing. Many of them never had the chance to learn. These boxing shows will be televised, and they will be worth seeing. They may be crude, but they'll be Interesting. "We may have a number of teurs but the winners win-ners will turn into well-paid professionals. profession-als. We open at Toledo, t to Pittsburgh Pitts-burgh and then keep moving building and building, cutting cut-ting up and cutting down." This led to our dip in the big heavy- GrintlaflsRkt h " "What makes a good heavyweight?" we asked. "If anybody knows anything about a heavyweight, it should be you. You and Tunney. What are you looking for in a new champion?" "The first thine a heawweieht heavyweights who can't fight now, but who show promise for the future. At the very worst it will be an interesting experiment. And it will be given a thorough trial." I've never seen Jack Dempsey quite as interested in anything before be-fore as he is in this new heavyweight heavy-weight plan. Thirty-two-and-a-half years have passed since he knocked out Jess Willard. More than 25 years have slipped away since he lost to Tunney. But he call of the old game that made him famous and wealthy is still sounding. At any rate, it will still be something to see. Television and Football needs is desire the ambition to be a fighter. If he hasn't got that he will never make a fighter.. He must be keen to learn, keen to train, and keen to win. He must understand it's a tough road and be willing to take it "The next thing a heavyweight needs is a punch. This can both . come naturally and be taught A heavyweight who can't punch is no good for anybody and even a natural puncher needs Instruction. Instruc-tion. One can find out very soon whether a fellew can ait and hart. "The third thing," Jack said, "is the ability to take a punch. I've known heavyweights who were good boxers and who could also punch. But they couldn't take a punch. There was Bombardier Wells of England. He was a fine boxer. He carried a terrific wallop. But any sort of punch to the body or to the chin would knock him out. He knocked Carpentier down four times in the first two rounds. Carpentier happned to land one and Wells went out like a candle in a gale. "There are men who simply can't take a punch to the body or t the chin. They will never be any good as fighters. We can find that out pretty quickly. There are no really good heavyweights around today, to-day, and we are building from scratch. Other Needed Matters "Another point to consider," Dempsey said, "is a man's speed or The N.C.A.A. has decided to continue con-tinue its policy of policing or curbing curb-ing TV displays of college football games for 1952. Along one line at least this Is a somewhat morbid r melancholy melan-choly Idea. For through 1951 the TV committee picked out an extremely soggy card. The one game that meant something was Notre Dame vs. Michigan State. Most ef the ethers were too dull La be worth watching. If the 1952 TV committee doesn't know, we can name a few ef the better teams the public at large would like to see. East: Princeton, Navy, Pennsylvania, Pennsyl-vania, Cornell and possibly Holy Cross or Pitt South: Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ken-tucky, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Virginia and Miami. Possibly Pos-sibly Vanderbllt Tulane and L.S.U. |