| Show I Q Wonder i in What Off Far Rings Rigs By GRANTLAND N DF RICE EOff I I WONDER IN what hal far off rings Jim Corbel Corbetts spectre s waits on view f ew Where Jefferies erics eries hooks books and old Fitz swings Or Louis spins s ins his follow through Where is s Jack lack Dempsey's Dem se s crashing flit fist islAs As Tunney holds hoUs the foe at al bay Still looking through the fogs logs and mists Where are the ghosts of yesterday yesler ay The Ezzard Charles Rating Since the melancholy spectacle in Chicago known as the heavyweight championship various experts and noncombatants have been busy attempting to rate Ez Ez- Ezzard Ezzard Ez- Ez Ezzard zard Charles the winner The best rating would seem to place Charles somewhere between the Tun post-Tun- ney and the pre-Louis pre 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 Carnera and Jim Jun Braddock He Heis Heis Heis is no better a box box- boxer boxer boxer er than t h a n Jack J a c k n Sharkey or Max M a x S c h m e 1 i n g hap hap- happened happened happened to be He cant can't punch with wit h Baer Braddock or That T hat 4 p po o s Tunney t-Tunney pre pre- Louis period was a Grantland Rice sad one for the fight game especially the heavy heavy- heavyweight heavyweight heavyweight weight game This new era now rolling in will be just as sad or possibly even sadder The winner of the Charles Wood Charles Wood Woodcock cock vs contest wont won't re require re- re require require 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 dont don't need There is no complaint about the BA N calling the Charles- Charles Walcott fiasco a championship fight It was a terrible fight to watch from start to finish Jersey Jer Jer- Jersey Jersey sey Joe Joe Walcott started at a 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 ne had been around 19 years He had squeezed about all he could out of mediocrity You cant can't keep on making lemon lemon- lemonades lemonades lemonades ades out of one lemon Certainly the heavyweight situa situ a- a tion doesn't want any more of Jer Jer- Jersey Jer-I Jer Jersey sey Joe Walcott This recent show I was one place where the promoters had to work without any working material The fight mob for years had been accustomed to fellows like Dempsey Tunney and Louis who could box bog and also punch Tunney was no stick of dyna dyna- dynamite dynamite dynamite mite but he could cut you up and hurt you The fight mob had become too accustomed to Joe Louis to start cheering for foran foran foran an Ezzard Charles or a Joe Wal Wal- Walcott Walcott Walcott cott minus any part of per per- personal personal personal appeal Or even imper imper- impersonal impersonal impersonal appeal Charles was at least willing to fight while to Walcott the thought of hitting someone or being hit lit was 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 punch punch- punching punching ing was too feathery to make him dangerous Charles is not much of a puncher even with a fair shot at some an an- Here was Walcott in front of him for 15 rounds and yet Wal Wal- Walcott Walcott Wal- Wal Walcott 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 Ez Ez- Ezzard Ezzard Ez- Ez Ezzard zard Charles is very likely the best heavyweight fighter left in the world today He lie should have no great trouble handling either Wood Wood- Woodcock Woodcock Woodcock cock or Woodcock never was very much and is well over the hill Charles lacks any touch of fire or flame He Heis Heis Heis is merely a pretty good work work- workman workman workman man who is involved with in in- inferior inferior inferior material Louis has been through for sev sev- several several eral years His title was worth at al least a million dollars to some am am- ambitious ambitious fellow who could learn how to box and punch The inducement has been the richest prize in hi sport The ring game has had at least six years in which to develop just one fighter one good fighter The Thenet Thenet Thenet net result has been Ezzard Charles who in baseball parlance would be rater a hitter Gene Tunney stopped Tom Heen Heen- Heeney ey and retired in July 1928 Max won from Jack Sharkey on a foul in July 1930 |
