Show IN TN VIEW ot of a number of some 1 what sombre events that have taken place lately it Is now a simple matter to announce joe louis next defense of his heavyweight championship in the new program louis win will meet joe baksi owe ezzard charles violent ray and jersey joe walcott c ott under the following conditions he Is to knock out each one in a single le round for which the price of admission will be I 1 2 As usual being a joe louis quick thinker it remained for louis to call the turn on a september fight in these words 1 I dont believe anybody would pay 15 cents to see me against either baksi or the price for ezzard charles or violent ray might be lifted to BO 50 cents all of 0 this Is tun fun for everyone except joe louis here Is one of the gr great eat heavyweight champions ot of all time a 10 year holder bolder ol of the rings big crown a fighter who cant defy the challenging years much longer with no one to fight no one knows this better than joe louis with a purse ranging from to waiting if only one fair challenger had emerged from the morass while he was in the army for four years it if you picked out the live five leading challengers today I 1 C believe louis given 20 rounds could stop them all in a single september evening provided no motorcycles were allowed in the ring boxing s oddest turn the second louis conn fight looked to be a natural it turned out to be the greatest of all heavyweight flops the tha mauriello Maur lello affair even a workout work out and yet today Maur mauriello lello Is a better fighter than most of those suggested for a september massacre it Is only natural that joe louis would like one more fight before bowing out but it so happens that in the last five years no heavyweight has come along who could even tie his shoes there were earlier carlier predictions that with thousands perhaps millions of sold soldiers lers taking boxing lessons in the army and navy at least one or two could be developed the first shock I 1 got came from jack dempsey who worked 10 hours a day with men for many months the best fellow ive seen he told me cant even chin himself twice heres a target or a goal the heavyweight championship worth one million dollars the defending champion has been knocking around for over 10 years and yet with sports richest prize at stake there been even a good see sec ond rater developed in the last five years bakst mauriello Maur Alaur lello fello walcott ray woodcock two middleweights of the past mickey walker or harry greb could take them all apart without any extra effort just why this happens to be we know golf has hogan nelson and a flock bock of others tennis has kramer and riggs racing has assault armed and stymie baseball Is packed with high class talent dimaggio feller blackwell ackwell BI shea mize cooper williams on and on the middleweights are packed with good fighters ray robinson Is certainly an able welterweight but outside of louis the best you can n say for the other heavyweights heavy weights is that they can breathe and eat especially eat attendance surprises the number of human feet that find their way through various turn stiles is always the main tip on public interest it Is also one of the main arguments among camp followers each rabid fanatic is a hot rooter tor for his own game there was an early report that baseball racing and boxing three of the major sports would take a d dip lp this season the pessimists were only partly right in the checkup check up to date the answer Is that baseball is still the national game with lengths to spare racing has taken its only important dip in new york it Is setting new records in california it Is OK in new jersey where monmouth has more than made good in public comfort boxing is well down for the simple reason there are not enough good fighters left to fill out a card or hall half a card louis the heavyweight champion has no opponent in sight only the middleweights havo have any combined class with zale graziano Graz lano cerdan and L la a motta mott the lightweights are a dr drab b lot as far as any public appeal Is concerned the major surprise has hit baseball few figured that 1947 would approach the more than 18 million who visited big league parks in 1946 but despite the worst spring in history plus a wet cold june there Is a good chance this 18 million mark will be broken |