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T THE RINGSIDE By Barney Nagler The Chicago Stadium is a beer bottles throw from Skid Row It is a cavernous sween of seats in which 19400 can be accommodated It be ¬ longs to Jim Norris and Arthur Wirtz co owners of the Inter ¬ national Boxing Club Wednesday night some 13000 persons were ex ¬ pected to sit in the place as Sugar Ray Robinson f a c e d off against Gene Fullmer in an attempt to re trieve the world middleweight champ ¬ ionship At noon Wednesday however per ¬ haps 300 early birds were in the place placeThe The ones on hand had come to see Robinson and Fullmer weigh in for their second business engagement They sat in ringside seats for the most part or talked hi knots around the ring They were con ¬ cerned with the fighters weight and the betting odds and the number of persons who would be on hand nine hours later when the real show would begin beginPresently Presently and suddenly the fighters were on the ring platform black and white fig ¬ ures encircled by assorted officials IBC officials photographers and lense hounds Robinson the first to step on the scale was dresssed in his shining pelt and a man who hadnt attended such ceremonies be ¬ fore said My gosh hes got nothing on Nothing unusual about that another visitor said saidRobinson Robinson 159 V2 the announcement came over the speaker system systemNo No wonder Robinson didnt wear trunks the novice said Now it was Fullmers turn His broad muscular body replaced the sleek lines of brown on the scale scaleFullmer Fullmer 159 14 the announcement said saidThe The weighin was over Nothing startling had been adduced iri the testimony of the scale Robinson was half a pound lighter than he had been when he lost the title to Fullmer in Madison Square Garden in January Fullmer had picked up two pounds along the way wayWhatll Whatll this do to the odds somebody asked askedDont Dont know but theyre putting a call into New York to check checkIn In a moment a Broadwayite recently arrived in town said I just called New York The prices the same after the weighin 212 212Much Much betting A lot in New York they say I under ¬ stand this is a big money fight The fighters were being photographed on the ring platform Jack Kearns the wonderful old pro dapper as a bridegroom on a wedding cake was greeting friends friendsA A man on the prowl encountered sev ¬ eral journalists seated a few rows back from the ring They were seemingly de ¬ tached from the events around them In fact however they were truly concerned concernedWhat What did they talk about on the scale one asked askedI I guess Robinson said hello to Fullmer FullmerWhat What I do know another said is that Robinson seemed terribly nervous coming in Imagine a guy being nervous in his 148th pro fight fightThey They did say soniething to each other a fellow said when they kept snapping picture after picture Robinson said to Fullmer who was dripping sweat from un ¬ der his arms This rate theyll keep us here to 7 oclock oclockFullmers Fullmers retort was not registered It ItContinued Continued on Page FortyTwo AT THE RINGSIDE RINGSIDEBf Bf BARNEY NAGLER Continued from Page Two Twomust must have been a reflection of the imag ¬ inative side of this taciturn lad from Mor ¬ mon country countryWithin Within minutes Robinson and Fullmer were liberated from the photographers Now the witnesses were leaving the build ¬ ing and a carload headed downtown back to the Loop They talked sports of course and mostly they talked about the Derby They agreed that Mr Fitz had a horse go ¬ ing for him at Churchill Downs Saturday SaturdayHes Hes a wonderful man one said Won ¬ derfully agile mind Hes not too sure I dont think about Bold Ruler RulerHe He said it as though he wished victory would reassure Mr Fitz The others said they felt the same way
