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Show i i The Declining Ago K ROUND ten years ago possibly more than ten I was introduced intro-duced to a slender young fellow at a fight camp in the hills. I had never seen him before, nor heard his name Ray Robinson. Now the same Ray Robinson is facing the crucial test of a famous championship career. This means the test of survival or being washed under by the surf of time. Robinson, ex-middleweight champion, cham-pion, is meeting the man who beat him so decisively in England a few weeks ago. Randy Turpin, the English fighter, was practically unknown in this country be- fore the Robinson fight. He was just another British a punk facing the best I living fighter, pound a for pound. This was 1 Sugar Ray Robinson's Robin-son's rating the Grantland Rice best the business. But Turpin, the unknown, whipped him decisively. But who whipped Robinson? Was it Turpin? Was it the six weeks in Paris and Germany? Was it the holiday jaunt? Or was it the inroad in-road of ten years, so terrifically important in competitive sport? Important in the matter of reflexes, re-flexes, speed, timing and even power. Also stamina. There are many, many things that make up competitive qualities needed to win. At a fight gathering a night or two back, there was a big division of opinion as to whether Robinson was below par or Turpin was the better fighter. Ray Arcel, one of the best conditioners con-ditioners in the trade, had another slant. Ray figures that Robinson was below his best and also that Turpin was a much better fighter than he had been rated. "When a fighter is a little off," Ray says, "and then meets a much better man than he was expecting to meet, the result is pretty sure to be a shock. Robinson will be a better bet-ter fighter when he meets Turpin Tur-pin the second time. But that doesn't mean that Robinson is sure to win as the pictures show that the Englishman can both box and punch. Also that he can take a punch." The Age Margin Ray Robinson is no old, worn-out fighter. But, after all, he has been around some ten years. He won the welterweight championship in 1946 and picked up the middleweight middle-weight title Feb. 14, 1951. In his training he doesn't show you that he has slipped, but It could be different against a first-class opponent.- Turpin is only 23. You may not have too much experience at 23, but you should be equipped with speed, reflexes and stamina. When you watch Turpin at work you get the immediate idea that he could be an extremely rough young man on any occasion. The average fight fan doesn't quite understand how much wear and tear a popular fighter suffers in the course of years. Joe Louis took good care of himself, but he was suddenly old. He could see an opening as quickly as he used to see one, but the split second punch was gone. Robinson at least has the advantage ad-vantage this time of knowing the size of the job he faces. He wasn't expecting too much in England. Today To-day he knows it will take one of his best performances to win. There can be no alibi of any sort in a second defeat. Not that Robinson Rob-inson has offered one for Turpin's victory. But he knows this time it must be an all-out effort. Wide-Open Tennis Scramble When you take the ranking tennis players from ten nations you are bound to have something of an omelet. In addition to the powerful Australian Aus-tralian unit, featuring Frank Sedg-man, Sedg-man, Kenneth McGregor and Mer-vin Mer-vin Rose, the U.S. has more high-grade high-grade challengers than the country coun-try has known in a long time. The U. S. list includes Arthur Larsen, defending champion, Herb Flam, Dick Savitt, Tony Trabert, Budge Patty, Hamilton Richardson, Victor Scixas and Gardnar Mulloy, to mention only a few. And for a change the bulk of power doesn't belong entirely to California. Hogan's Place in Golf There is a rolling chorus of queries you hear wherever golfers meet. It is along these lines: "What is Ben Hogan's place or ranking in connection with such golfers as Bobby Jones, Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen?" There are others, of course, but these four are enough. In the first place, the major record rec-ord performances belong to Jones and Hogan. Jones scored 13 national nation-al and international victories. |
