Show milk AICE THE HE recent death of denny benny leonard revives the old argument concerning the best lightweight from a long and able parade no other ring division has sent out as many fine fighters the list includes such boxers and punchers as joe gans cans benny leonard jack mcauliffe frank erne kid lavigne the saginaw kid bat nelson i ad wolgast willie ritchie Ritch le fred dy welsh tony B leonard bleonard Canzon canzoneri cri henry armstrong and many others in various debates and arguments arg that have been under way for 40 years there are generally two names that finish out in front leonard and gans cans some time ago harry smith the veteran san francisco expert who has been covering championship matches tor for more than 50 years who goes back deep into ring history put this selection up to many of those who had seen both men in action in the vote that followed gans the old master from baltimore had a slight lead both were rated headline artists as boxers and punchers leonard had much the better ring record but gans to make a living had to take orders more than once that included a dive ile he was the fighter jack blackburn a great rIng nian on his big own who once had charge of joe louis picked as the best but there are many others who rate Leon leonard aard on a par gans finished his career in the last stages of tuberculosis but even when a sick man he outlasted out lasted bat nelson the durable dane no one ever knew just how good gans i might have been under cleaner handling plus better health both boxer and puncher in addition to being a brilliant boxer one who had no waste motion he also was a murderous puncher in his last fight with nelson when gans was moving close to an ear early de death ath he nailed nelson with a right to the side 1 I thought gans had used a knife nelson said later 1 I n never ever had a punch that hurt as much I 1 felt like crying leonard was smart game one of the ablest of all the boxers and a hard puncher on the side he was one of the greatest of the lot and many rank him in front and beyond that the game has known no one more willing to help any worthy cause where he could be of use on the night before the dempsey willard battle in toledo back in 1919 bob edgren and I 1 dropped by to see jess willard the 2 45 pound defending champion was more than willing to outline his plan of battle look over Demp record he said A knockout in one round another knockout in two rounds two more in one round you know what that means it means he starts punching from the bell you cant keep piling up one round knockouts unless you pile in and start swinging im going to wait for him with my left out and my right ready for an uppercut the second he comes in close enough ill let him have it and I 1 dont believe any pound guy C can an hurt me that had been Demp earlier plan jack and kearns had covered a bet against on knocking willard out in the first round naturally dempsey want to waste any time fooling around it was leonard a master mind in Demp camp who got dempsey and kearns to switch their plan this big guy will be waiting fo tor r that first rush leonard said I 1 hes dangerous with that right hand uppercut theres no use taking any such chance against a fellow who outweighs you by 58 pounds the thing to do is to make willard lead first circle in and out weaving and bobbing and keep it up until he leads then go to work strategic stalling this was wise advice for something like 47 seconds which seemed longer than 10 minutes dempsey circled willard after the manner of a leopard moving around an ox ex dempsey would move in weave bob and then move back again around and around with willard shifting position all set for the expected rush the time finally came when willard wait any longer after all willard was the champion and he had a 58 pound margin in weight many inches in reach and five or six inches in height As dempsey started weaving in again willard tried a left jab the dempsey moved in under and nailed willard with a hard bard right to the body followed in a split second bash with a killing lett left high on the cheekbone willard tell fell like a giant marionette whose strings had snapped later on in the short fight willard jolted dempsey dempse badly with the same uppercut he be had hoped to use in the first round but by that time willard was a helpless hulk this is merely further proof of leonards ring smartness he always had most of the ans answers aers |