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Show WHATEVER happens, one way or another, the ring party of the year will take place in Chicago, with Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano at the head of the receiving line. These two gave the big party oi 1946, last summer in New York. Thev turned in one of the greatest ring shows of all time, and you can turn the clock back to Abel and Cain or David and Goliath. Few appreciate the number of great fighters who have figured in past middleweight championships. The x f, ,,;,.. bst is one of the R. Graziano most brilliant in boxing history. It includes Jack Dempsey, the nonpareil, from 1883 to 1895. After that we find such names as Bob Fitzsimmons, Tommy Tom-my Ryan, Kid McCoy, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Stanley KetcheL, Billy Papke, Frank Klaus, Harry Greb, Tiger Flowers and Mickey Walker. Here you find many of the three-starred three-starred names of ring history. These men have written chapters that never will be forgotten by those who follow the leather throwers. throw-ers. Dempsey Fitzsimmons McCoy Ketchel Greb Walker; Walk-er; slip us six greater names from the roped-in sector of sport. No one can yet class Zale or Graziano with the six leaders we have named. We doubt that either belongs with these six masters, although al-though Dempsey is well beyond our day and time. But the old-timers ol other years have told us he belongs around the top. Certainly no one can argue the worth of Fitzsimmons, Fitzsim-mons, McCoy, Ketchel, Greb and Walker. They also could handle heavyweights, especially Ruby Robert, one of the great fighters oi all time, a boxer and terrific puncher with middleweight lega and a heavyweight body, still a great fighter at the age of 45. Best Since Walker We doubt very much that Zale oi Graziano would have any grea amount of luck against those mentioned men-tioned above. But the two, Zale and Graziano, are a big improvemen over those who have come along since the Toy Bulldog, meaning Mickey Walker, traded his boxing gloves for an artist's brush. Zale and Graziano proved this part of the argument In a meeting that had even more action than the stars of the past ever turned In. Melodrama may not mean skill ot class. But it happens to be something some-thing the public likes to see, when it is ably handled. In 1939, the middleweight stew Included a weird mixture undei the names of Solly Kreiger, Al Hos-tak Hos-tak and Ceferino Garcia. They were merely flllers-in. In 1940, Zale arrived as th NBA crown holder. Tony has been wearing the middleweight crown ever since, including a long wai lapse from 1941 up through 1945. While Zale was In war service i young, hard punching roughneck bj the name of Graziano came along like a Midwestern tornado. Graziano Grazi-ano was blessed with one great ring asset. He could punch. He wai pever any too smart and he wai never much of a boxer. He wai never particular about observlnj any rules, as he proved In his meeting meet-ing with Marty Servo, whom hi fouled and almost wrecked. In a way Graziano was somethinj a softened-up ring needed. He wai rough, tough, a braggart, but aftei all a fighter and a puncher. He wai also a crowd pleaser, and a valuable valu-able entry at the gate. Rocky had built up a bigger pari of his reputation at wrecking opponents oppo-nents who were badly outweighed He wasn't so hot when It came ti a matter of pound for pound. Tony Can Take It In his meeting with Zale the chal lenger did about everything, excepi remove Zale's headpiece. When ' saw Rocky nail Zale with a ful right to the jaw, saw Tony g through the bottom rope, appar ently bleeding at every open pon around the head In one of the earlj rounds, the fight seemed to be over, But Zale got up and kept coming on. The defending champion con tinued to take a terrific beating. His eyes seemed glazed and hii knees were wobbling. Here wai about as game an exhibition as anyone any-one ever had seen In the ring. Zale was dazed and dizzy. He had taken the heaviest artillery Graziano Grazi-ano could throw. And then suddenly, sud-denly, after a body attack. It wai Graziano who crumpled to the flooi and took the count. This closed out one of the most dramatic meetings the ring evei has seen, looking back to the dayi of Jem Mace or John Lawrence Sullivan. Zale, a first-class boxer, ur ! prised one by inability to keep hii chin and features away frorr. Rocky's right hand. But Zale surprised sur-prised one even more by his un believable ability to soak up all thii punishment and still have enough left for a body knockout j |