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Rocky s Camp Knocks Its Very Own Cockell Build-Up Likely Box Office7 Dispatches Hail Challenger From Britain as King Kong; Champions Trainer Wails By OSCAR FRALEY United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y., May 2.— Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano is a 5-to-l favorite today to put the lights out for Britains Don Cockell and his camp apparently is so confident its an underlay that theyre putting the knock on the Brockton Block Buster. Not that Rockys entourage is comparing him to a six-round preliminary boy. You could hardly do that to an undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. But a slight knock, withal, and one apparently designed to hypo the business of selling pasteboards of admission. The latest dispatches from the sock-sharpening sites on the West Coast are building up Cockell as a cross between JKing Kong and Man o War. And, to bring the two gladiators a bit closer in the public mind, Marcianos trainer, Charley Goldman, assertedly has opined that the Rock still has "some important things to learn." The need of such study is baffling, unless they want him to learn the art of destroying more than one opponent per evening. So Goldmans alleged remarks are downright mysterious. Must Solve Opponents Style "To begin with," little Charley purportedly quoth, "it takes Rocky four or five rounds to fathom the style of an opponent. Mos ttopnotch fightesr get a good idea of an opponents style after a round of two. Marcino therefore looks crude in the early moments of a fight." Goldman neglected to add that he wasnt questioning Marcianos brightness. Somehow, it seems, he should have. 1 "Then again," Goldmans prose continues, "Rocky is wild. He has a tendency to get excited and throw a lot of punches that never land. This explains why Rocky gets hit so often." Rocky does get hit often. But this usually is accepted as an occupational hazard in the business of box fighting. The most important item centers around which warrior does the most damage or is in an upright position when the gong sounds. Obviously the odds-makers do not believe that said battler will be Cockell. Of course, it is almost traditional for the defending champion to be the favorite, as Rocky will be in this May 16 embroglio at San Francisco. But the Rock, himself, was an exception to this rule, as were such as Joe Louis and Max Baer. Marciano was the 5-to-9 choice when he belted out old Jersey Joe Walcott. Louis was 2-to-5 over Jimmy Braddock and Baer was 5-to-7 over Camera. Many favored champions have been dethroned, however. These included John L. Sullivan, l-to-4 over Jim Corbett! Corbett, who was l-to-3 over Bob Fitzsimmons; Johnson l-to-3 over Jess Willard; Willard 5-to-7 over Jack Dempsey; Dempsey l-to-4 oyer Gene Tunney and Max Baer l-to-10 over the upsetting Braddock. But the feverish efforts to bring down the odds and make this bout a "draw" c ont seem to figure in the current case. The "Rock" is not one of those "old men" over the hill who is depending on a reputation to carry him home. He is an eager, still-ambitious and hard-working man proud of the title and intent on retaining it. He has looked better in every fight and hits murderously. The odds arent long enough yet.
