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— ■ — — i Rowlings, Saxton to Headline Stadium Ring Card Wednesday * Former Has Chance to Move Up Among Welters With Win Over Undefeated Easterner Luther Rawlihgs, the No. 2 lightweight contender, has a chance to move into the welterweight rankings when he takes on undefeated Johnny Saxton in a 10-rounder at the Chicago Stadium next Wednesday. The Chicago lightweightjwas given the run-around by Jimmy Carter and now must wait out a rematch between Carter and the new champion, Lauro Salas. , Meanwhile the South Sjde puncher hopes to enhance his drawing power and his prestige by beating one of the top welterweight contenders in the 22-year-old Saxton. Johnny, who hails from Brooklyn, will be making his first Chicago start, although he had had 28 straight professional victories. Saxton was discharged from the service around the first of the year after spending 18 months in Camp Edwards, Mass. He was an inter-city Golden Gloves Champion in 1948 but was defeated by Chuck Davey in the Olympic try outs. j Rowlings Stands Six Feet Tall Johnny is five feet, eight and one-half inches, fairly tall for a welterweight, but he I is fighting a boy even taller in Rawlings, I who stands six feet. However, Saxtons whirlwind style figured to bother the usually slow starting Rawlings. Johnny imitates Kid Gavilan a great deal with his flurries of punches. He keeps moving in and in two cases caused his opponents to back up so fast the referee thought they werent trying. Actually, it was a case of life or death with the foes, who were being bombarded so fast they werent sure just what to do. Rawlings has been training with fast moving youngsters like Bobby Boyd, Norman Webb, and Johnny Werbeck in the hope that he can start faster himself. It usually takes him about three rounds to get warmed up. One of the methods his handlers have used to get him started has been to make him shadow box from six to 10 rounds in the dressing room before the fights. Against Carter, it worked fairly well and Luther .made one of his best showings. Most of the fans and writers thought Rawlings won the fight and the composite score of the judges was 150-150 although Carter got the split decision. Meanwhile, Kid Riviera has arrived back in Chicago to finish his drills for Omelio Agramonte in the 10-round semi-windup. Riviera has a large following on the South Side where boosters clubs have been organized. A free bus trip is planned for all Riviera boosters who are coming to the fight.
