| Charles confident he'll
upset Rockey June I7

Ezzard Charles is supremely
On June 17.

for left jabs.
He'll need to,

In good shape for the most im-|
ae fight of his career, CharJes
ee S he can outbox Marciano, and |

N stand and slug with him,» too. |

That last

Opinion may be an er- |
Tor on the
wh

Ree e euellenger’s part. Others
ried to i

Rocky swap punches with
listenin

Wound up on the deck,
€ to the referee say “ten.”

set Charles, a cautious fighter
naan che held the heavyweight
ieee Tan, has turned into a
ed Ae Mm recent bouts. He knock-
and st Coley Wallace in 10 rounds
stan opped Bob Satterfield in two
“as with a terrific left hook.

“

is the way Ezzard
it. I was always worried
I dia losing the title, and because
n't want to lose it, I lost it.”
inh Paper, Marciano looks a sure
. arg He’s had 45 fights, won 40
Ponts wots and the other five or
rae. record reads: 96 fights; |
Eng ck 5; lost 10; drew one; 53
Outs; knocked out twice.

an ene Odds are 3 to 1 on Marci-
ate ont’ ting experts feel the odds
: of line. Charles, they say,

°0 dangerous to be anything

Worse than é
the betis oe 8 to 5 underdog in

ing
F neo

Sos look at it differently. They

fighte at Charles is a disappointing

equi tT. He appeared to have the
tom went to win back the title

eau Soclent Jersey Joe Walcott—

“T know I can beat Rocky,” he says.
Sure, he is rough and tough, but in the first six rounds
be a lot better than he was that night to beat me.

confident that he'll regain the heavyweight title from Rocky Marciano
“T watched him fight LaStarza and saw he was a sucker

he missed oftener than he landed.

EZZARD CHARLES

yet showed no fighting spirit and |
dropped a close decision.

Marciano hasn’t had a fight in

some time and may be a bit rusty,
but he trains like a demon and
will be in perfect condition when
he crawls between the ropes. The
Rock misses plenty, sure, but he
keeps steam up at all times and
sooner or later manages to connect
with the crusher.

If boxer Charles plans to carry

the fight to Marciano, he’d better
consider what happened to Jim
Corbett in his second try for Jef-

fries’ title.

Corbett dropped the champion-
ship to Fitzsimmons in 1897, and
Jeffries put Fitz away in 1899.

Big Jeff was as clumsy and awk-
ward as Marciano, and Corbett

did, for 23 rounds of a 25-rounder.
Then Gentleman Jim got careless,
and Jeffries knocked him out with
one bear-like swipe.

In his second meeting with Jef-
fries the ex-champ decided to step
in and fight instead of depending
on skill and science. It wasn’t a
smart decision. Big Jeff sent him
to the floor four times before Cor-
bett’s seconds tossed in the towel
in the tenth.

“You can’t knock me out,” Cor-
bett told Jeffries in the seventh
round. “Go ahead and see if you
can!” ;

The tough boilermaker answered
Gentleman Jim with his fists. In
the tenth a left to the stomach sent
Corbett down for nine, then an-
other wicked left to the body and
a right to the jaw finished him for
the night.

Ezzard .Charles feels he can
break the jinx that has prevented
any ex-heavyweight champ from
regaining the title. He points out
that the feat has been accomplish-
ed by two welterweights—Jimmy
McLarnin and Barney Ross—and
predicts that on Juné 17 he'll make
ring history by beating Marciano.

Time will tell.

Botvinnik retains title
in Moscow chess match |

By L. ABRAMOV

MOSCOW

the world chess title in Moscow lasted two

figured he could outpoint him. He | °

The match between M. Botvinnik and V. Smyslov for

aanths. All this time chess players the world over followed ae undiminished attention the storm
* ’ ayers. ‘
Stress in the struggle between the world’s strongest ee eer of the two is almost 43 years old.

Botvinnik, a Leningrad schoolboy,

His athe Creative path of both grandmasters is typical.
€ss career began about 30 years ago.

e.
simultse Capablanca himself at a
neous exhibition. Now he
® Als credit dozens of bril-

1g asili S

reas:
Only th Srandmaster, Vasya was
stration G8 the men on demon-
Ut Ver boards at tournaments.
talent ro Soon the young. man’s
“s ceived general recognition.
blanca” Compare him with Capa-
i here is the same ease and

Myslov is his junior by

gic
tion j, JS Play, the same perfec-
ing Solving problems pertain-

. € position and increasing
Minim Be
UWeriority advantage to decisive

Botvinnit SS match started off with
attacks Pressing hard. Clever
brought Sac tenacious . defense

four ener 3 Points in the first
lose ea unters. Smyslov did not
ed i and two games which

4 draw were sufficient to

Smashi,,, S¢lfconfidence. Then
84, bri NE counter-attack follow-
Worlq re the contender for the
‘f 5. oS crown 4% points out
Botvinnin he first time in his life
Tow, 2 lost three games in a

Thus. ¢
by a gntte 12th game was played
. hd y Yslov inspired by success
though; ;° demoralized, as many
these, Botvinnik. But despite all
Was + 3 fessory circumstances, this
Sntirg _ MOst brilliant game of the

atch and was won by the

c am i P
€ battle. on after a keen and

Otvinn:
but he wk merely tied the score,
We
Next f

a8ain captured the initi-
© Won three games in the
T encounters and before

the last lap 0
a two-point lead.
not once did he in
his enemy.

the 24th inclusively
by Smyslov on a very
level.
chance to wrest.
hands of Botvinnik.

nd of the score table.
that this grand battle di
any edge to
rivals, that
tained his champ
Vasili Smyslov ac

At that time Misha

When Botvinnik was al-|:

Spectators at the chess match.

ight games he had
re pat after that
flict a defeat on

om the 17th to
were played
high creative

took advantage of every
es ¢ vietory from the

All the games fr

ds at the
It means
id not give
one or the other of the
Mikhail Botvinnik re-
ionship title, and
hieved an honor-

The figure 12:12 stan

ary result, confirming his reputa-
tion as the world’s No. 2 player.

And now let us delve into the 24
games of the match, those remark-
able creations of two leading chess
artists. Something to admire, some-
thing to learn can be found in each
of them. ‘

The point is not that every en-
counter between Botvinnik and
Smyslov contributed. something
new to the theory of chess. It is
not only individual original moves
and. variations that lend import-
ance to their innovation.

This match caused a revolution
in the strategy and tactics of chess
struggle.

Here is an example. If you, read-
er, play chess then you have prob-
ably learned the “hard and fast”
rule that one of the most import-
ant factors is a dependable cover
for the king.

Botvinnik and Smyslov showed
that this dogmatic claim of chess
manuals’ may be and should be
violated in certain positions. Time
and again they would leave their
kings in the initial position, in the
very thick of battle. And some-
times the pawns covering up the
king after castling, would refuse
to play the modest role of body-
guard and would throw themselves
into the attack against the enemy
strongpoints.

That such new strategic possi-
bilities have been discoyered is
due to the approach and evaluation
of the chess -vosition, to the bold-
ness and audacity of the king and
prince of the chess world, as F.
Rogard, president of the Interna-
tional Chess Federation, has called
Botvinnik and Smyslov.

Gert Whyte's

(Who you Kidding?) Matthews,
can be persuaded to come to Can-
ada and meet Earl Walls, but this
department doubts it.

Right now Cockell is cock of
the walk in the Old Country, and
he’d like to lure Rocky Marciano
over ’ome for a title fight, which
would draw a terrific gate.

It is a foregone conclusion that
the Rock would find Cockell about
as much of a threat as an over-
stuffed punching bag, but that’s
all the more reason why Al (The
Vest) Weill might be willing to
take a sea voyage with his meal
ticket. Weill aims to have Marci-
ano ‘remain champion for 10
years, and Cockell is a made-to-
order victim. —

The Britisher probably knows
he’s not ready for Rocky, but the
prospect of picking up a thick
sheaf of crisp pound notes isn’t
to be overlooked. And what would
he gain by meeting Walls? If he
won, he’d still be seeking: a title
shot. If he lost, he’d be one of
the crowd again.

Mind you, I'd like to see a
Walls-Cockell match in Canada,
for the pair are evenly matched.
Walls would be after a quick
kayo but Cockell is tough and if
he survived the first few rounds
might go on to win. My money,
however, would be riding on the
Canadian.

* * *

Seems that every time you pick
up a paper Emil Zatopek has
broken another running record.
Nurmi at his best was never in
the Czech’s class.

Last week Zatopek shattered
his own record for six miles and
10,000 metres, just two days after
he broke the world 5,000 metre
record.

The Olympic triple-champ is
training between races in a man-
ner that has many Czech coaches
tearing at their hair, reports
sports writer Armour Milne in the
London Daily Worker.

“Zatopek appears to have un-
dertaken the painful task of prov-
ing that the human body can
stand up to almost any kind of
punishment,” says Milne.

“Emil is running 22 miles every
morning and another 18 miles in
the afternoon. And, as we slump
back in our seats at the very
thought of it, the man who mows

down the miles and minutes

Heavyweight champion of the world Rocky Marciano gives a
few pointers in boxing to channel swimmer Florence Chadwick, whe
plans to swim across Straits of Juan de Fuca this summer.
is training at Grossinger, New York, to defend his title against ex-
champ Ezzard Charles in Yankee Stadium June 17. :

Rocky

SPORTLIGHT

AYBE Don Cockell, the blub-
* bery Briton who whipped Kid

seems to be thriving on the
torture!

“Coaches have been pleading
with Zatopek to have regard for
the loss of speed that comes with
advancing years — Emil is 31 —
and to concentrate on building up
pace rather than stamina.

“The Olympic champion has
gone completely in’ the other
direction and stepped up his dis-
tances instead of his speed.

“It is not a case of disregard-
ing expert advice. Rather it is a
case of Zatopek feeling that he
knows best what is best for him.”

5 * ”

A reader in Woodfibre drops
me a note “correcting” the fig-
ures printed in this column deal-
ing with the records of runners

_in search of that elusive four-

minute mile.

“W. G. George ran the mile in
4:1234 in 1896 and this record
stood until 1923, when Nurmi
broke it,” he writes,

I presume my, friend means
4:12.7, which is the way a stop-
watch would record “three-quar-
ters.” In any case, he’s dead
wrong by the only official world
records — those okayed by the
International Amateur Athletic
Federation. Prior to. establish-

~ ment of the IAAF amateur track .

and field organizations of each
nation approved their own marks,
but now only those accepted by
the world body are recognized.

IAAF officially credits Walter
George of Great Britain with a
4:23.2 mile in 1880; a 4:21.4 mile
in 1882; a 4:19.4 mile in the same
year; and a 4:18.4 mile (his best
effort) in 1884.

George’s record stood for 10
years, and was broken by Fred
Bacon of Scotland in 1894. His
time was 4:18.2, and he cut this to
4:17 in 1895.

Thomas Conneff, John Paul
Jones and Norman Taber all
smashed George’s record before
Nurmi came along. Taber - ran
the mile in 4:12.6 in 1915, which
is a tenth of a second better than
the time my correspondent
credits George with having made.

x * *

lf the weather is clear and the
track is fast we may well see the
magic four-minute mark broken
at the British Empire Games here
when Roger Bannister, John Lan-
dy and Murray Halberg’ match
strides in the Mile of the Century.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 11, 1954 — PAGE 11