The BAWLI Papers
(Boxing As We Liked It)
Edited by J Michael Kenyon

Issue Number 84
Thursday, May 13, 1999
New York City, New York, US of A
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IN THIS ISSUE: PRIMO CARNERA DOCKETED
FOR EXECUTION BY GERMANS, IT SAYS HERE
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Readers are welcome to submit interesting and
otherwise noteworthy articles concerning professional
boxing's long and storied past. The emphasis,
generally, should be on the foremost fighters,
managers, trainers and promoters, and colorful events
that otherwise were of some moment in the sport's
history. Either transmit the articles via e-mail or mail
them to the editor at the following addresses:

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4739 University Way N.E., Suite 1150
Seattle, Washington 98105 (temporary)
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'WHITE HOPE' SEARCH A PUBLICITY GAG

(United Press, Saturday, September 6, 1941)

By Harry Ferguson

NEW YORK -- Remember the good old days when
Jack Dempsey was head man of the heavyweights and
everybody who didn't have anything else to do was
running up and down the countryside looking for a white
hope? Well, those days are here again. Now comes a
Mr. Frank Barbaro of Detroit who says he is going to
conduct a big tournament in the hope of producing a
new white hope who will rise out of obscurity and knock
Joe Louis kicking.

It is difficult at this stage of the proceedings to tell
whether Mr. Barbaro really is concerned over the
boxing situation, or whether he merely is trying to grab
off a piece of publicity for a night spot he operates in
Detroit.

Why is it necessary to find a white hope? And if it is
necessary, what's the matter with a gent named Lou
Nova?

He is white, he is hopeful and he can fight, as you will
see when he and Louis get together on the 29th of this
month. Mr. Barbaro's stunt has been tried before, and it
would be a good idea for him to consult with James J.
Johnston before devoting time and money to a
tournament.

Johnston once inserted an ad in the papers announcing
that he would interview young men with strong backs,
sufficient weight and muscle, seasoned with a dash of
courage, who were interested in trying for a shot at the
heavyweight championship. The result left Mr.
Johnston speechless, which is no small feat if you
know Mr. Johnson.

They came from everywhere. They were fat, thin, bow-
legged, cross-eyed and some of them were superb
physical specimens. The only difficulty was that none of
them could fight a lick. Mr. Johnston abandoned his
idea and went back to the theory that it was better to get
one good heavyweight prospect and sink or swim with
him.

In Jack Johnson's time there may have been some
justification for conducting a search for a white hope.
Johnson had infinite talent for getting himself into
difficulties and, of course, there will always be that
picture taken in Havana. The one in which Johnson is
resting comfortably on the canvas with Jess Willard
towering over him.

Presumably, Johnson is being counted out, but while
the process is going on he is holding one glove aloft to
shade his eyes from the fierce glare of the semi-tropical
sun.

What I would like to ask and I hereby do ask is what is
the matter with the guy who is champion now?

There never was a cleaner fighter than Joe Louis and if
you don't believe it ask any man who ever refereed one
of his fights. He minds his own business, he fights
anybody and everybody who has the slightest pretense
of being a heavyweight challenger.

On nights when he looks like the great fighter that he is
and scores a quick knockout he is modest and
unassuming. When somebody makes him look bad, he
admits it.

He is generous with praise for others and stingy with
praise for himself. He can be champion, for my dough,
as long as he can keep belting out the boys.
___________________________

TURKEY FINED $10 ON GAMBLING COUNT

(United Press, September 15, 1941)

LOS ANGELES -- Albert (Turkey) Thompson, Negro
boxer, may be the California State heavyweight
champion but to Municipal Judge Louis W. Kaufman he
was just another defendant brought in on a gambling
charge.

Judge Kaufman fined Thompson $10 after finding him
guilty on a charge of indulging in a dice game with three
other Negroes last Saturday.
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COLORFUL 'SUNNY JIM' COFFROTH, 70

(United Press, February 7, 1943)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- James W. (Sunny Jim) Coffroth,
70, dean of American boxing and racing promoters,
died at his home today. Coffroth had been under an
oxygen tent for more than a week since he suffered a
severe heart attack. He developed a serious kidney
ailment that brought his death, Dr. E. Hodge Crabtree,
his physician, said. His sister, Mrs. Flora C. Hughes,
who had been his constant companion for years, was at
the bedside.

Private funeral services will be held at 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday. Cremation will follow.

Coffroth was probably the most successful promoter
boxing and horse racing ever knew. He originated the
$100,000 handicaps in racing and arranged boxing
matches involving such figures as Jim Corbett, Jim
Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons and Jack Monroe.

Death came at 3:28 p.m. Also at the beside were his
secretary of 20 years' service, Tommy Silence; Col.
William Nelson, an old friend; Bobby Summerfield, a
Negro friend of his racing days, and Miss Frances
Doan, a friend of the family.

Coffroth suffered a severe relapse last Wednesday and
had lapsed into a coma punctuated by a few brief spells
in which he was able to recognize his doctor and
friends. Death was quiet, almost as if he had gone into
a deep sleep.

The pioneer sports figure began his colorful career in
San Francisco before the turn of the century.
Fascinated from boyhood by the bruising bare-knuckle
boxing matches held in clandestine spots, Coffroth
easily drifted into the role of a promoter. He teamed in
early ventures with "Big Jim" Kennedy. To lure such
names as Corbett, Jeffries, Fitzsimmons and Monroe to
the bay city, he offered cash guarantees generous for
the times.

In 1904 he toured the West staging exhibitions between
Fitzsimmons and Jeffries. He was the first to see
championship possibilities in Stanley Ketchell, probably
the greatest middleweight of them all.

Wealthy by the time war was declared, he went to
Washington as a dollar-a-year man and staged bouts all
over the country for service relief. More than
$8,000,000 was raised under his promotion, using as
his headliners lightweight champion Benny Leonard
and several others, including Jack Dempsey, then a
coming youth heavyweight.

The year before war came he opened his race track in
Tijuana, which was immediately successful. In 1917 he
inaugurated the Coffroth Handicap with a purse of
$5,000 and the next year increased it to $20,000.

It was in his Tijuana days that he won the "Sunny Jim"
nickname. His luck with the weather held so
consistently that many stories circulated about a
supposed "electric weather gauge" by which Coffroth
controlled rain.

His "Handicap Day" attracted turnaway throngs, and
each year he added $10,000 to the purse. In 1929, it
reached $108,900, the largest amount ever won on a
single race to that time. Golden Prince was the winner.
Many of his acquaintances credited his phenomenal
luck with the timing of his retirement, the spring of
1929, six months before the stock market crash that
swept so many fortunes before it.

Coffroth retired to his estate on Loma Portal,
overlooking San Diego and the bay, with his sister, Mrs.
Hughes. A brilliant conversationalist, Coffroth spent the
years since his retirement entertaining scores of
notables and traveling throughout the world as the
mood suited him.

He was born in Sacramento, the son of one of
California's first legislators, on Sept. 12, 1872. A few
years later his family moved to San Francisco, where
Coffroth was reared. He held odd jobs, including that of
a court bailiff, until his love of sports promotion
overcame all else.

His generosity was noted. He once offered a winning
jockey a palatial California home. When the jockey said
he preferred to live in the East, "Sunny Jim" gave him
$10,000 cash.

Innovations and improvements that Coffroth introduced
in his border racing plant brought not only the most
famous Eastern stables to his meetings but the cream
of society as well.
____________________________

DA PREEM SAID WOUNDED BY NAZIS

(United Press, November 22, 1943)

BERN, Switzerland -- Primo Carnera, only Italian who
ever held the world's heavyweight championship, was
reported today to have been wounded and taken
prisoner by the Axis in Northern Italy and to be facing
summary execution by German authorities for his anti-
Fascist activity.

Reports from the Italian frontier said the big Italian, who
gained the heavyweight title by virtue of a sixth-round
knockout of Jack Sharkey in 1933, was wounded in the
left leg and hospitalized after a skirmish with a German
patrol near Cremona. His leg injury, it was understood,
was not serious, but he is subject to immediate trial as a
traitor and liable to execution -- a punishment that
already may have been inflicted.

Carnera joined the Italian anti-Fascist partisans
immediately after Italy quit the Axis. He was not in the
Italian army because his feet, which carried him through
65 bouts in the United States, were too flat to pass the
army physical.
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CERDAN TAKES MIDDLEWEIGHT CROWN

(Associated Press, September 22, 1948)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Marcel Cerdan, a laughing Latin
from Casablanca, is the new middleweight champion of
the world, because he took Tony Zale's body bombs
and kept punching.

In the fourth round of last night's title fight at Roosevelt
Stadium, it looked as though Zale was about to tear
apart the 32-year-old Tiger of France. Cerdan winced
and blinked his eyes as Tony landed a blockbuster
under the heart. But he didn't go down.

That was where Zale lost his title and Cerdan, a product
of wartime France, saw the way clear to realizing his
lifetime ambition.

Once Zale had shot his heaviest artillery he had nothing
left. Cerdan hooked to the head, led with his right,
feinted the fading champ into schoolboy errors and
trussed him up for the kill.

Zale was a tired old man of 34 -- dead on his feet and
with no zip left in his punches -- from the fifth round on.
Only the fierce pride of a champion kept him off the
floor until he collapsed -- as the New Jersey official
physician said "from exhaustion" -- just after the bell
ended the 11th round.

The Frenchman seemed a bit surprised to see him
tumble, for the last few blows to the head had been no
harder than a hundred others he had thrown during the
chilly evening. Co-manager Art Winch and trainer Ray
Arcel dragged Zale to his corner like a sack of potatoes.
Then Winch and his partner, Sam Pian, signalled
referee Paul Cavalier he could not continue.

Under New Jersey rules they went through with the
formality of ringing the bell for the 12th round and
announcing that he had been knocked out in 12, but it
didn't matter. Tony could do no more fighting that
evening -- and maybe never again.
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TONY IS THROUGH, SAYS HIS WIFE

(International News Service, Sept. 22, 1948)

GARY, Ind. -- Mrs. Adeline Zale is looking forward
today to talking her husband out of fighting to regain the
world's middleweight title which he lost last night to
Marcel Cerdan.

"Neither money nor glory is worth it to me," she said.
Mrs. Zale said she would rather have the dethroned
champ;ion "set an example for young people by getting
into some youth activity, teaching boxing and trying to
inspire them."

Tony's brother, Walter, had other ideas, however. He
asserted:

"Why, this figtht was just a warm-up. Tony'll beat him
the next time."
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NBA ORDERS ARCHIE TO DEFEND TITLE

(United Press, March 5, 1957)

DETROIT, Mich. -- Floyd Stevens, president of the
National Boxing Association, yesterday ordered Archie
Moore to formally sign for a June title defense in two
weeks "to get something in writing without any further
talks or postponements."

Stevens, acting on discussions with members of the
NBA executive board, sent this telegram to Moore, the
43-year-old holder of the lightheavyweight
championship:

"It is requested that you personally sign, along with your
manager, your contract to fight the winner of the
Spieser-Anthony fight at Detroit in June. The contract
must be signed before March 18, as previously agreed
to."

Stevens said it is now up to Moore and his manager,
Charley Johnson, to work out the details of the contract
with the International Boxing Club and Olympia Stadium
at Detroit, which have already announced co-promotion
of the June 7 title fight.

"I understood that Johnson had agreed to fight Chuck
Spieser on the April 5 date and would sign a contract,"
Stevens said. "Then Moore announced he needed
more time to train, the Spieser-Anthony April 5 bout was
announced and Moore said he would meet the winner
in June.

"It's time something was signed and if it's not, Moore
faces possible vacating of his title," Stevens said.

Nick Londes, Olympia promoter, said he now expects
Johnson to "get in touch with me or Jim Norris and we'll
have a telephone conference on the contract. We won't
have any trouble. We have a verbal agreement with
Johnson."

Londes said the terms for the June 7 fight have not
been agreed on and may even be left out of the
contract that is signed this month.

"You forget we have an important fight coming up here
April 5 between Chuck Spieser and Tony Anthony.
There's no sense talking terms until that fight is over,"
he said.

Spieser, Detroit, the top-ranked contender, had been
promised the April match with Moore. But Archie, who
weigh3ed 187 1/2 for Patterson and last made the light
heavyweight limit in June, 1956 against Yolande
Pompey in London, got the title defense moved back,
presumably to pare off poundage. He's reported to be
over 200 pounds.

Spieser then agreed to a 12-round fight with Anthony,
New York, third-ranked challenger, for the right to meet
Moore in June. Anthony poses a big threat to Spieser,
havinga record of 28 wins and four losses, with 22
knockouts.
_________________________________

SANDY SADDLER SET FOR BOXING RETURN

(United Press, March 13, 1957)

By Oscar Fraley

NEW YORK -- Sandy Saddler ignored the sightless
spectre of Sam Langford today and declared firmly from
a hospital bed that "one of these days I'll regain the
featherweight championship of the world."

One year ago, the 30-year-old Saddler was the
unquestioned ruler of the featherweight division. Then,
on his way to the gym, he was involved in a taxicab
accident. He claims injuries he suffered were the cause
of double vision and doctors told him that he would go
blind if he fought anymore.

But now, after an operation, Saddler ignores the dark
glasses which hide his eyes and enthuses, "They tell
me I've got a helluva chance to fight again.

"Sure, I know all about the guys who went blind from
taking too much of a beating around the eyes," he says
as he frets through his recuperative period. "But this is
different. This was front a blow on the side of the head,
not from beatings around the eyes."

He does, apparently, have that much on his side.
Because, in a career of 160 bouts -- of which he won
142 against 16 losses and two draws while knocking
out 103 rivals -- it usually was Sandy who handed out
the beatings.

"Look," he explains, "it's like this. If I had lost my timing
or my reflexes, or if my legs were gone, then it would be
different. But it's none of those things. I was riding in a
cab and when there was an accident I struck my head
against the side of the taxi."

Saddler claims the shock of the collision turned his right
eye outward.

"I thought my head had been busted wide open," he
recalls. "But I wasn't even cut. Then I had terrific
headaches and I told the doctor that I was seeing
double. He said that the eyes would clear up when the
headaches did. But the headaches went away and the
bad vision stayed with me."

Finally a neurosurgeon, who had feared the icicle of the
prize ring was too unstable to accept the bad news, told
Saddler that he might go blind if he ever fought any
more.

"I cried like a baby," Sandy admits. "Fighting is all I've
known since I was 17 years old. The whole bottom
dropped out of my world."

So Sandy retired Jan. 22 after he had been stripped of
his long-held featherweight title for not making a
defense. Two weeks ago he underwent an operation
and now he is counting the minutes and the hours of
his recuperative period.

"I've never been in one place so long," he said, looking
around his hospital room. "I've fought in France, Hawaii,
the Philippines, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, the Dutch
West Indies, Panama, Cuba, Mexico and Canada.
When I get out of here I'm going to recuperate in the
Merchant Marine, just so I can be on the move."

He raised the dark glasses and peered squintingly
around the little room. "Then," he said, "I'm going to
come back and get my featherweight championship. I
don't know who will have it, but it's still mine and I'm
gonna get it."

From the way he spoke, you could go broke betting
against him, too.
_____________________________

BABE McCOY TAX STATUS EXAMINED

(United Press, March 13, 1957)

LOS ANGELES -- U.S. Atty. Laughlin E. Waters said
today that "much progress was made" in the Federal
Grand Jury's local investigation into the income tax
status of ex-fight matchmaker Babe McCoy and other
boxing figures.

The grand jury concluded its probe yesterday with the
questioning of Joe Stanley, boxing manager of high-
ranked bantamweight Billy (Sweetpea) Peacock and
lightweight Del Jackson.

Stanley first refused to answer questions put by Max
Goldschein, special attorney to the Department of
Justice, but later cooperated when informed by Federal
Judge Ernest A. Tolin that he must answer the
questions propounded.