| Show 0 C P CE T TONY ONY ZALE middleweight ruler starred In the best ring fight of at 1946 with a dozen miles to spare His hurricane meeting with Rocky Graziano Grazi Grazi- ano happened to be one of at those thrillers you wont won't see twice in a lifetime There was no other fight even close lo to this one I cant can't recall any other fighter who ever eve r showed more Intestinal intestinal Intes intes- final fortitude than zale showed that September night when he came out outs outs' s' s of a foggy dreamland dream land to knock ck out oot Graziano It so happens hap pens that Zale is in inthe inthe inthe the toughest divi divi- sion ot of them them all aU Tony Zale Among those after his middleweight crown you'll find Jake LaMotta Marcel Cerdan Georgie Georgie Georgie Geor Geor- gie Abrams Charley Burley and one or Dr two others others all all tough Graziano the toughest of at the lot has had his li license license li- li cense tense revoked in New York but the National Boxing association has ruled rule l that he can fight In any place under NEA's jurisdiction This gives Rocky a lot of territory to swing his lethal fists in Zale had been away from ring action so long when he met Graziano Graziano Graziano Grazi Grazi- ano that his handicap was known to tobe tobe tobe be a heavy one Various crowds had bad seen too many baseball and football football football foot foot- ball players from the service show a startling lack of time old-time form Including including including in In- speed and timing Zale had hat been away longer than most close to o four years So when Graziano knocked him down early in the fight and then had him dazed bewildered and badly battered his reign apparently was over But Zale down the stretch proved several things He proved that he was dead game and could take t the e hardest punch the hard hard- hitting Graziano could throw He also proved that he had hadia Ja a punch of at I his bis own He proved that he knew how to fight fight and and what to do In a storm Faces Tough Competition With more time In which to get ready it stands to reason that Zale should be a better fighter in 1947 1047 than he was In 1946 His win over Graziano gave him greater confidence confidence dence fo fort fot one thing He is also sure to be In better around all physical shape Yet in this present middleweight middleweight middle middle- weight outfit no one is safe Tony is surrounded by a pretty rough crew the best in any other weight division and he will have to be better than good to keep his crown LaMotta is a rough and read ready customer who wont won't be any soft mark LaMotta is a hardy man to hurt burt and he also can hurt on his own Cerdan made a promising debut over here and he should be better better bet bet- ter on his next visit when he has a longer time to become acclimated and to get in better physical condi comB tion There Is no Stanley Stanlcy Harry Greb or Mickey Walker hanging hangIng hanging hang hang- ing around the premises but there Ismore is ismore ismore more class in this section than the ring has known for many years Just how boW the tangle will be unraveled is another guess LaMotta lotta must be given a chance and so must Cerdan K Jl he ho can repeat his opening performance perform perform- ance or show improvement In addition to the leaders named Jersey Jones still Insists that his hisman hisman hisman man Burley can slash his way through the entire ent rc list With the heavyweight bunch outside outside outside out out- side of ot Joe Louis In such a sad state it begins to look as if it the middleweights middleweights mid mid- must take over a big part parl of the show But as good as many ol of his challengers are they will find Zale none too easy to shove around Two West Coast Stars The west coast is keeping an alert eye on the coming actions of its two favorite baseball sons Their names are Joe DiMaggio of ot San Francisco and Ted Williams of at San Diego both reporting from the extensive domain of ot California DiMaggio bothered by physical ailments had an off year Regarded Regard ed as one of ot the great outfielders ataU of at all aU time a brilliant artist fielding hitting and throwing Joe finished with th the worst season he has known in big league baseball He fell feU back backwith backwith backwith with many other big league stars who had been In war service Williams who looked as if il he were on the verge of at wrecking the entire American league without help up through mid-July mid began to skid later later later lat lat- lat lat- er and spent an unhappy fortnight during the 1946 World series Despite Despite De De- spite this decline Williams batted well over which left his all all- I time average still over 50 Ulcers Stopped Joe Anyway Joe and Ted were not what they had been In fn their former seasons Only Dom DiMaggio came along to repair part of ot the damage as is far as California was concerned Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky were two wes west coast features from further urther north Joe DiMaggio wasn't feeling eeling any too well when he reported report report- ed d for spring training A few stomach stomach atom ach Ich ulcers didn't help him After an early start at high speed Joe began be be- gan Itan an to ta fall away |
