—even for half a million?

James D. Norris, president of the International Boxing Club, is willing to
pay Rocky Marciano in the neighborhood of half a million dollars and that’s not a
bad neighborhood) if the Brockton Block Buster will ‘‘unretire’’ himself and meet
newly-crowned heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson this spring. Rocky is said to
be interested, not so much because of the cash involved, but because he hates to think
‘there’s anyone around who can beat him.

Although he only quit the
ring a few months ago, Mar-
Ciano would face a tough come-
back grind. A fanatical phy-
Sical culturist while champ, the
pride and joy of Brockton has
indulged his appetite since
hanging up his gloves, and is
now 40 pounds over his fight-
ing weight. To put it bluntly,
he is in the fatty class, and as
any fatty knows, it’s easier to
put it on than to take it off.
_ It just so happened that dur-
ing Marciano’s career there
Were few good young fighters
4round,.and he had to be-con-
tent with belting out a long
list of distinguished veterans,
Including such famous oldsters
as Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Wal-

ott and Archie Moore. Un-
ess Rocky tangles with Pat-
térson there will always be
those who will claim the
' youngster could have beaten

him and the senseless argu-
» Ment will rival the one about
Whether Joe Louis could have
Whipped Jack Dempsey in his
rime,

So. although Rocky was quite
_ @efinite when he announced
that he had quit the ring for
800d, there is perhaps better
than an even chance that he
Will reconsider, and make a

18 Comeback try in the near
future,
| Before making up his mind,
J0wever, Rocky might pause
to Consider that no heavy-
Weight champion in _ history
was ever won the title again
afer losing it, although many

ave tried.

Corbett, after losing to Fitz-
tomons, tried to win back
S © belt from Ruby Bob's suc-
“;SSsor, Jim Jeffries, but was
ee out twice. Fitz him-
; met Jeff again, only to

Se decisively,

om Was picked up by
Sst my Burns, who eventually
¥ to Jack Johnson. Fat old
‘guid Was persuaded by ‘mis-
a People like Corbett and
London to return to the
and regain the crown
Johnson “for the honor
‘ White race.” When they
ch ed July 4, 1910, the Negro
th, UP. Made Jeff eat crow for
“ €ntire fight, before knock-
: him out.
‘Igy MBSon lost to Willard in
» 2nd Dempsey slaughter-
1998 Jess four years later.
Bar Nbr tried a come-
Sas St Luis Angel Firpo,
= Nd Bull of the Pampas,

.

ortunately for Willard
pet to Firpo, :
corey dropped a decision

‘ : Tunney in 1926, and
met of anyone to re-

ng the crown when he

4 Rer to get a crack at Demp-

met Tunney at Soldiers Field
in Chicago the following year.
He had the champ down for
the famous “long count” but
couldn’t finish the younger
man when he got up.

More recent comeback at-
tempts are well known, in-
cluding the game “try of Joe
Louis to climb back on top,
which was foiled by Marciano.

* * *

Not only boxing fans, but
any reader who appreciates a
good book, will get enjoyment
out of A. J. Liebling’s The
Sweet Science (obtainable
here. at the People’s Co-op
Bookstore, 337 West Pender,
price $450).

Liebling, perhaps the great-
est modern ‘chronicler of fisti-
cuffs, admittedly patterned his
book after the immortal works
of Pierce Egan, the famed his-
torian of the London prize
ring.

Liebling, a lover of good
boxing, does not make the
mistake of underestimating
Marciano’s strength and un-
orthodox style, and rates him
among the great champions. In
the Marciano-Moore fight the
Rock spent the first round
missing lefts and then missing
rights, while Moore appeared
unbeatable. Then, in the sec-
ond, the champ, “tried a varia-
tion — throwing a right and
then pulling a shoulder back
to throw the left. It appeared
for a moment. to have Moore
confused, as a matador might
be confused by’a bull who

walked on his hind legs. Mar-
ciano landed a couple of those
hooks, but not
squarely. He backed Moore
toward the side of the
farthest from me, and
Moore knocked him

awkward

over
ring
then
down.”

It was a classic punch, and
should have knocked Marci-
out. But he got up at
came boring in again,
never let Moore relax for a
minute, swinging at elbows,
shoulders, the top of the head
— everything wrong.

In the third, continues Lieb-
ling, “there was Moore, riding
punches, picking them off,
slipping them, rolling with
them, ducking them, coming
gracefully out of his defensive
efforts with sharp, patterned
blows — and just about hold-
ing this parody even on points.
His face, emerging at instants
from under the storm of arms
— his own and Rocky’s —
looked like that of a swim-
ming walrus.

So it went, round after
round, with Moore getting tired
just avoiding punches. In-
evitable some got through,
and in the sixth Rocky floor-
ed him twice. Moore took the
seventh but Marciano simply
overflowed old Archie in the
eighth, and knocked him down
with a right six seconds be-
fore the bell. In the ninth the
Rock slugged him down for
the count.

ano

two,

Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano is visited at his
training camp by a former titleholder, Joe Louis.

HAT season is here again,

and as my old grandpappy
used to say, “When I feel
thirsty give me a glass of cold
water every time.” Best wishes
to all readers of the Pacific
Tribune, and to those with
cars, may I say, don’t try to
drive home just because you
feel too drunk to walk.

* * *

Some Christmas present the
Bums handed Jackie Robinson,
trading him off to the Giants
in the twilight of his career,
instead of giving him his re-
lease and letting him try for
a managerial job — say with
our Vancouver Mounties.

Just a decade ago Robin-
son came up to Brooklyn from
Montreal, helped his team win
the National League pennant,
and was chosen by the Sport-
ing News, national baseball
weekly, as the “Rookie-of the
Year,”

Robinson won the award
solely for his ability as hitter,
runner, fielder and team man
and no other factors were con-
sidered, .News editor J. G
Taylor Spink said at the time.

“The sociological experiment
that Robinson represented, trail
blazing that he did, the bar-
riers he broke down did not
enter into the decision,” said
Spink, referring to the fact
that Jackie was the first Negro
to crack the Major Leagues’
unofficial color bar.

Spink brought out Robin-
son’s record of 42 successful
bunts, 14 of which went for
hits, 25 stolen bases, 29 doubles,
five triples and nine homers,
along with a .295 batting av-
erage.

“Jackie Robinson has done
it ali, in his first year as a
major leaguer,’ Spink said.
“What more could anyone
ask?”

For 10 straight years he gave
Brooklyn the best he had to
offer, and it was plenty. Now
he’s slowing up and would
like a minor league managerial
berth. Vancouver had a spot
open and Jackie was interest-
ed, but the cash nexus oper-
ates in baseball, and so the
Giants are going to keep him
this year to wring more box
office dollars out of his ef-
forts.

* * *

Baseball stars come and go,
hockey players shine and fade,
and boxers rise and sink, but
wrestlers, bless their pointed
heads, go on forever.

I picked up a 1947 paper the
other night and noted that the
main bout at Maple Leaf Gar-
dens in Toronto was between

© two “veteran” grapplers, Whip-

per Billy Watson and Primo
Carnera. Nine years later,
Whippah is still the pride_of
Toronto and Carnera_ still
swings around the circuit.

In the 1947 bout Da Preem
punched Watson and lost on
a foul. It happened this way.
Primo had Whipper pinned to
the canvas and was using his
270 pounds to try and force
Billy’s shoulders to the mat.
Then Watson reached into his
bag of tricks and pulled out
one with moths on it. He slyly

PRIMO CARNERA

sneaked one arm around
Primo’s back and gave him
three smart taps on the back
with his hand. Thinking the
referee had given him the
bout, Carnera jumped to his
feet and began dancing 2 vic-
tory jig. “Watson sprang up
and charged him, and only
then -did it dawn on the big
fellow that he had been “had.”
He promptly went slug-happy
and bowled over “Watson, the

referee, his manager and a
couple of boys in blue before

they could subdue him.

“It was a home town deal,”

yelled Da Preem atterwards.
“Sure, I punch him one. But
look at the dirty trick he play-
ed on me.”

The boys played a return
engagement, but don’t ask me
who won that one.

Carnera is still one of the
most popular grunt and groan
thespians, and makes more
money annually than he ever
did when he was the world’s
heavyweight boxing champion.
At that time a score of

owned a “piece” of the big —

fellow. Together, it’s said they
had cornered 110 percent. That
left Primo 10° percent in the
red every time he fought.

After losing the title, Da
Preem retired to his village in
Italy to live the rest of his life
in peace and poverty.
came the war, and soon, the
Germans. -They put pressure
on the ex-champ to fight ex-
hibition bouts for the Nazi
soldiers, but he steadfastly re-
fused to become a collaborator.

Following the war Primo
took a few wrestling lessons
and grabbed a ship for Ameri-
ca. Since then he’s done right
well for himself.

DECEMBER 21, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — Page 15

Then

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