Baer-Braddock Contest for Title Set for June 13 in Garden BowlBy Fred Van Ness The fog that has enveloped tile local boxing situation for several weeks lifted yesterday at a meeting of the State Athletic Commission when signed contracts were filed and dates allotted for four lights involving three world titles, including the match in which Max Baer will defend his heavyweight championship against James J. Braddock. The schedule as arranged by the commission and which promises New York boxing fans some of the best attractions they have had in several years is topped by the Baer-Braddock title contest, which will be held in the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City on June 18. First on the list, however, will be a battle for the lightweight championship between Lou Ambers and Tony Canzoneri in Madison Square Garden on May 10. The first out-door show will bring Jimmy McLarnin and Barney Ross to their third meeting for the welterweight championship and will be staged by the Twentieth Century Sporting Club at the Polo Grounds on May 28. Following the heavyweight title contest on June 13 Joe Louis and Primo Carnera will box for the Twentieth Century Club at the Yankee Stadium on June 25. Compromise Made on Dates The dates were a compromise effected by the commission after the rival promoters had made their requests. Mike Jacobs of the Twentieth Century Club sought June 5 for the McLarnin-Ross battle and June 19 for the contest between Louis and Carnera. The commission considered the dates too close together and coming too near the Baer-Braddock bout, which had been given preference. The commission flatly turned down numerous requests for a lightweight elimination tournament to decide a new champion for the title just vacated by Barney Ross. Telegrams from half a dozen candidates were filed away, but the commission stood pat on a decision to award the title to the winner of the Ambers-Canzoneri bout. Al Weill, manager of Ambers, announced to the commission that if his fighter won the title he would be ready to defend it against anyone named by the commission within ninety days. Both Baer and Braddock will begin training by May 1. Ancil Hoffman, manager of the champion, said Baer would complete his series of exhibition bouts at Cleveland April 23, and would then come to New York. To Decide on Training Camp Hoffman expects to decide on a training camp within the next day or two. Joe Gould, manager of Braddock, also is busy with the selection of a site for his training camp. Hoffman revealed that the delay in signing articles was caused by a deal for the radio rights to the fight which was completed only yesterday morning. Hoffman has bought the rights from the Garden and has secured a sponsor. It was revealed that Baer will receive 42½ percent of the fight receipts and Braddock, as challenger, would get 15 per cent. While Hoffman has not entirely abandoned the thought of a fight with Baer abroad this summer he is looking with more eager eyes upon a match between Baer and Louis if the latter triumphs over Camera. It is the conviction of Hoffman and others that the bout would mark the return of the million-dollar gate for the first time since the Tunney-Dempsey fight at Chicago. Reproduced
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Challenger Plans Tactics to Wear Down Baer by forcing Action in Bout Thursday. By JOSEPH C. NICHOLS. Special to the New York Times. LOCH SHELDRAKE, N. Y., June 8 --"The man in the better shape will win the fight, and I never was in better shape in my life." Thus spoke James J. Braddock in reference to the outcome of his bout with Max Baer. whom he will meet for the heavyweight title at the Madison Square Garden Bowl on Thursday night. The New Jersey longshoreman, whose fistic career has had more ups and downs than a storm-tossed ship, has unbounded, sincere confidence in himself and, while not believing that he is a man of destiny, still thinks that it is in the cards for him to wear the mantle of heavyweight champion of the world. Will Curb Baer's Tactics. "I would like to say to the boxing fans and to the public at large that I will be in the best shape any athlete can possibly get into for the fight,'' declared the challenger. "And it will be some fight. Baer won't be able to take it easy with me; I won't let him. He will have to box fifteen rounds in two, not two in fifteen as he has been doing in his last few bouts. "There will be no chance for him to clown, pull up his trunks or wave to the audience. I know what this fight means to me, and I will give the public all that it is humanly possible to give." If the challenger's
statement seems boastful, let it be said that that is actually
not the case. He made the above declarations only after the most
persistent questioning, and it is a safe bet that he never used
the first person singular as often in his life as he did in the Recalls Braddock's Trials. Joe Gould, Braddock's manager, is as confident as his fighter regarding the big bout. "Jimmy does not fear Baer, and that is a point in his favor, especially when you consider that the last few men to face the champion seemed to have too much respect for him," the pilot explained. "To Jimmy it's just another fight," Gould went on. "In my experience," and here he grew philosophic, "I have found that the toughest game is the game of life, and when a man can do in that game what Jim has done, what does a fight mean, or a punch on the chin?'' No matter how
the fight turns out, Braddock is sure of getting some lucrative
bouts. He already has received offers to appear in England and
Ireland, but whether he will take them or not depends on what he
does on Thursday night. |
Sports of the Times 5/6/1935 Thanks to a fan Excerpted
-- Sports of the Times: By John
Kiernan - May 6, 1935 The world's heavyweight title should carry with it a fortune for the possessor. Yet even there a few odd points might be brought up. To hear Max Baer tell it, he is always broke. He doesn't deny that he made money in the ring, and plenty of it. But he takes delight in telling how he tossed it away. When Prime Camera was champion he spent several sessions with a referee in bankruptcy, explaining that he had no money and, in fact, never had any Interest in money. But boxing put Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney in the millionaire class. Even after the depression, the opportunity is still there for a heavyweight champion. On Hungry Men They say that the hungry men are the dangerous men in the ring, and the hungry men in the big bouts up ahead are Braddock, Louis and Ambere. The hunger specified is a hunger for money and not a fierce yearning for food. Even James J. Braddock, who was on the relief line, is eating regularly now in his training camp. But for boxing purposes and speaking financially, he is right in the front rank of the hungry men. ... Picking and Choosing Herr Jacobs Is entitled to make his own choice. So are those who pick Ambers to beat Canzoneri, Ross to beat McLarnin in their play-off meeting and Max of the Bounding Bears to wallop Jersey James Braddock underneath a June moon. There are a hardy few who give Jersey James a fair chance with the Hollywood Harlequin. They say that Max the Merry is no boxer whatever and Braddock always did pretty well by himself unless they put him in there with a fast and fancy boxer. Poor James was a pitiful spectacle the night he tried to find Tommy Loughran in the Yankee Stadium. He was suffering greatly from the hand-to-mouth disease, the mouth being his own but the hand being the hand of Thomas Loughran, Esq. Of course, Jersey James has a good right-hand punch which he can deliver on those who will stand still to be hit, or are so big that occasionally he can't miss. Possibly this last includes Max Baer. But against that is the point that Herr Schmeling hit Max the Merry squarely on the chin with a right-hand punch and Bear kept coming in. And Schmeling hits at least as hard as Braddock, according to all accounts. There are some loyal Jerseymen who are telling James J. to remember that Max Baer gets tired if a fight goes along and that Max was pretty tired after knocking Carnera down eleven times. That's pretty cold comfort to hand to a fellow going in there against the Bounding Baer unless they can arrange for Jersey James to come in and start punching just after Max has knocked somebody else down for the eleventh time.
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