On Second Thought: Hard Left Hook KOs Pipe Dream, Daily Racing Form, 1955-06-17

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. On Second Thought Hard Left Hook KOs Pipe Dream By BARNEY NAGLER NEW YORK, N. Y., June 16. Wednesday evening, along about 5 oclock, Harry Markson received a call from Los Angeles. It was Truman Gibson, the International Boxing Clubs man Wednesday, calling the International Boxing Clubs man Friday. "This is a complete sellout," Gibson told Markson. Gibson was speaking exultantly of the gate for the meeting of Paul "Raton" Macias, the Mexican bantam, who is recognized as cham pion by the National Boxing Association, and "Sweetpea" Billy Peacock, the transplanted Los Angeleono from Philadelphia. "The way "it looks," Gibson said, "we cant miss doing 00,000 but here for Macias and Cohen, when we get that one." Cohen, the late-comers might want to know, is the world bantam-weight champion in all areas not claimed by the NBA, including his own native Algiers, the Left Bank and West 47th Street, where Julius Helfand reigns. Markson received the news from L. A. in stride. He is concerned these days with pulling a gate for Archie Moores light-heavyweight defense against "Bo-bo" Olson Wednesday night. Sure, it was nice to hear of the sellout, but whats it going to do for the thing up at the Polo Grounds. In time, Markson left the EBCs offices in the Garden, drove home to Brooklyn, had his supper, pulled on his slippers and loaded his smoking pipe. Now, Markson has as complete a collection of tobacco burners .as. any smokehead in the country. He has large ones and small ones, three-round pipes and ten-round pipes. He filled a large one this time, anticipating a distance bout, and set himself before his TV set, bought for cash on the polished table. It was going to be a nice evening. It was, depending on the point of view. Peacock knocked out Macias in the third round, as Markson could plainly see, putting over the crusher, a left hook, with-enough force to smash the Mexicans tender mandibles. Out the window went the 200-grand gate for Macias and Cohen. "It was a terrible blow," Markson said when he liad recovered. The first thought was that Markson was talking of the choice of a large pipe when a smaller one would have done the trick. However, he was talking about the untoward turn of events for Macias. "Yet, its a good thing for boxing," Markson went on. Markson didnt say so, but it is known that Macias is one of the darlings of the IBC, surely an ace-in-the-hole for Gibson, who somehow has adopted the little Latin as his own contribution to the enrichment of Jim Norris coffers. If ever there was a fighter who had earned the protection of the IBC, this was it, and yet he was put in there even-up, so much so that he wound up knocked out, a beaten little fellow who will have to come back all the way to put smiles back on the lean faces of his Latin supporters. And yet this was just the spot for such a reversal. Macias American representative, George Parnassus, is not on speaking terms with Babe Mc-coy, the Mr. Big of boxing in Southern California. For days, out in L. A., there had been talk that Macias would have to score a knockout to win. Perhaps this explains Parnassus insistence to referee Mushy Callahan that the fight be fought cleanly, a demand uttered loudy enough at mid-ring to be picked up by the TV microphones. And it was fought cleanly, on the record, according to the best in each boy, and when it was over, Peacock was the winner. Peacock not only was a thorough winner, but he also proved to be the most voluble survivor in an age of bouts. When he was asked to say a few words into the radio microphone oh, yet, they still broadcast fights he went into a long and splendiferous spiel. "My lifetime dream coming true," the little fellow said. "Seems good living pays off." Could it be he was speaking of boxing as a whole? Lets believe that he was. It makes it more interesting and most surprising.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1955061701/drf1955061701_2_3
Local Identifier: drf1955061701_2_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800