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- • : - ; 1 Charles Meet Walcott _ _ Might Again i Jersey Joe to Get Fifth Shot at Title Thircl Meeting With Champ Slated for Pittsburgh; May Conflict With Gotham Bout By BARNEY NAGLER Staff Correspondent The merry-go-round matchmaking involving heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles reached for another brass ring today. Charles, who disassembled light-heavyweight boss Joey "Maxim Wednesday night, was confronted with the job of proving that another erstwhile victim, Jersey Joe Walcott, would fare no better in another turn on the carousel. If all bumps can be smoothed out, and this seems likely, the Cincinnati fist fighter will work in Pittsburgh July 18, two days before his thirtieth birthday, against twice-thwarted Jersey Joe in a benefit for the Dapper Dan Club, a charity organization, and the Smokey City Variety Club. Only deterrent to this date, but not to the match, was the International Boxing Clubs schedule, which includes a heavyweight struggle between Rex Layne and Rocky Marciano in New Yorks Yankee Stadium. July 18. Jim Norris, IBC president, and Tom Tannas and Jake Mintz, Charles co-managers, met today in an effort to settle the champions next start. At the conference was Felix Bocchicchio, Walcotts proprietor. Terms for the match already had been set: 40 per cent for the champ, 20 for the chaUenger, who pressed Charles in their last 15-rounder in Detroit last March. Right Eye Closed Tight While the business conference was going on at the Stadium, Maxim was trying to assuage the pain endured the night before in the same building. The 175-pound champ, who was pitifully inadequate against Charles, couldnt see out of his right eye, which was closed as tight as a bank vault at midnight. But he was not discouraged, being an old pro. "I just didnt have it," he said through bruised lips. Maxim had been signed to defend bis title against Bob Satterfield here June 27, but this match was never really on the books. It had been put down to keep the National Boxing Association from stripping Maxim of the title he hasnt defended in-18 months. Now that he will require at least three months to recuperate from the whacking imposed by Charles, who slashed Maxims face for a 15-0 victory, fourth in a row for the champ over the Clevelander, the light-heavyweight champion doubtless wijl be called upon to fight the winner of the Jake LaMotta-Bob Murphy bout at the Yankee Stadium June 27. No Alibi From Kearns Jack Kearns, the old doc who operates Maxim, couldnt come up with an alibi for his workers performance. "There was nothing there," said Maxim, who had his bestround in the ninth, when he appeared to shake up Charles with five solid rights to the head. At the end of the ninth, Kearns reported, Maxim came back to the corner and moaned, "I wish I had something in there. I could have got the guy out of there if I had." Charles was in need of no rationalization after his triumph. He was a coldly competent operative, banging Maxims body with abandon and chopping with lefts of all varieties, hooks, jabs, double-jabs and even uppercuts. The heavyweight boss seemed to fight this one out of anger. He was pitiless in the abuse heaped on Maxim. One local paper referred to him today as the "new* Charles" and said he was a "savage" performer. This could be, a bit of hyperbole, but not by much. Charles 40 per cent-of the disappointing net of 5,369, paid by 7,226, plus the same percentage of the 100-grand television kitty, brought him 2,147.60, his biggest pay night. Maxim, working on a 20 per cent deal, came out of it with 1,073.08. There was some feeling among IBC officials that Charles would never do better as a lure at the gate, being at best a completely competent but lack-lustre attacker. He has had eight defenses since he first became a somewhat heavyweight champion by beating Walcott for the first time in June, 1949, here. Yet he doesnt seem to build in stature. He tried for the knockout against Maxim, a come-uppance expected of heavyweight champions, but it eluded him only because the light-heavyweight boss is a rubbery guy of considerable courage. Any other opponent seemingly would have happily crumpled into a tired heap on the canvas. » : JERSEY JOE WALCOTT— Is expected to meet Ezzard Charles for the heavyweight championship in Pittsburgh on the night of July 18.
