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T » See Record 00,000 Gate For Marciano, Walcott Scrap Champion Remains Staunch Favorite to Turn Back Foe In Stadium Tomorrow Night By BARNEY NAGLER Staff Correspondent With both Rocky Marciano, the champion, and Jersey Joe Walcott, the challenger, physically set for the 15-round heavyweight title bout in the Chicago Stadium Friday night, facts and figures took over the spotlight, even while the world boss arrived in town from Holland, Mich., and the pretender went through his last exercises be-for the bout. | Promoter Jim Norris, of the International i Boxing Club, announced an advance of some 60,000 and said he expected that the gate would hit 00,000, which would be an indoor record, topping the 22,000 paid at the Stadium for the Graziano-Zale bout, July 16, 1947. This estimate was at variance with an earlier one of 00,000 in the till, but IBC I hirelings tried to explain this away by I pointing out that there had been some refunds after the postponement of the bout from April 10 to Friday night because of Marciano s bloody nose. Largely, this town was resisting the 0 ringside ducats. Some 10,000 of these were | printed, but only about half of these have been sold and a rumor has been making the rounds that the price would be chopped in half. If this is done, there may be a rush for the bargain ducats, although it is unlikely. The fight just hasnt caught on. Even the betting marts are feeling the pinch. While Marciano is a staunch favorite, it is merely academic. Most Feel Fight Will End in KO There is so little interest in the event as a betting proposition, it is difficult to get a price on a knockout either way. Most books and sportsmen alike feel the fight must end in a knockout and are insisting that the price on the outcome is the same as the price on a kayo. Both Marciano and Walcott were in i seclusion yesterday. Marciano was driven I to Chicago, 150 miles the other side of Lake Michigan from Holland, in a trailer valued I at 2,000 by its owner, Ted Cheff, the major factotum of the Holland Furnace ! Company, which sponsored Marcianos tiptoeing • through the tulips of Holland. Nobody but his best friends were permitted • to see the champion. He was rushed I into hiding by manager Al Weill and isnt ! expected to do any work until he limbers i up through three rounds in the dressing I room at the Stadium before the bout. It may be that hell do a little shadow boxing in his hideaway today, but this is a fact known only to Marciano, Weill and trainer Charlie Goldman. Marciano was re- ■ ported in good shape and confident, although ■ he has been reluctant to make a forthright prediction beyond saying he would win. Walcott, who is even more confident of triumph, limbered up in private at the • Midwest Gym here. No fight writers were ! permitted to see the drill. It was reported I Walcott would indulge in some cabalistic rite, during which his omniscient manager, Felix Bocchicchio, would show him just » how to beat Marciano. Bocchicchio never • pulled a glove on in his life. Walcott has been fighting for 22 years. ♦ ♦ j 1 i ] 1 I 1 j , j ] ] ] ] i j ; ] ] ! i i ! j ] | [ ; 1 ; [ 1 L
