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ON THE BROADWAY SCENE By Burt Boyar NEW YORK May 6 It is a singularly meditative oddity that once in a great while a fighter comes along who seems to ageless Willie Pep is one Thoughts of some such meditative mood occurred to us on learning that Willie knocked at the New York State Commis ¬ sions door seeking re ¬ instatement but was denied a license You will possibly recall that after a questionable knockout in two rounds by Lulu Perez in 1954 Pep was officially washedup in New Yprk Whether the Commission be ¬ I lieved he had been a collaborator in a questionable fight or on the strength of so poor a showing just an old man who had to be forcibly pruned loose from the game is your guess We have our own opinion which we will not express Pep was champion as long ago as 1944 Here it is 14 years later arid hes still boxing and still doing more than well at a trade that uses up and discards lesser men in the midtwenties In fact Wily Willie had ripped off a winning string of 19 until he recently was outboxed by Tom mie Tibbs Of course the likes of Tibbs couldnt have laced Peps shoes in the old days but Willie is still sufficiently the old I pro to handle the rank and file stuff he is called upon to meet while touring such places as Texas Florida and Massachusetts MassachusettsThe The chances are that Willie stays at the game because no one hurts him enough to scare him into something else Boxing isnt tremendously lucrative when you reach a position such as that Pep enjoys today He makes a living at it but if the game was only a business to him in his heyday what do you think it can mean now It must be the sheerest kind of drudgery and pain His lightning quick mind is no longer able to ask and get almost instant reaction from legs arms and fists He must get many a solid punch these days which once he slipped or blocked Youth makes up for skill strength for generalship Willie must fight even or with only a slight edge in his fights these days But he continues to ply his trade well enough to stay with a game in which his contemporaries have long since gone goneAnother Another whose durability and longevity can only be regarded as some sort of miracle is Archie Moore Archie is it should not be forgotten still the worlds light heavyweight champion Like so many outstanding Negro fighters of recent years he combines great artistry with lasting qualities as did Jersey Joe Walcott and Ray Robinson to name two Moore is also a fellow who tramps the hinterlands always has In the past this was true because no one important would fight him Now It is true because becauses s Moor e has to fight anyone just to keep fighting and it has reached the point where he has to fight everyone two and three times merely to keep busy It hardly makes any Moore goes back over his work again be cause hes run out of opposition oppositionNow Now its Harold Johnson who wants an other shot at Aged Archie Make the price right and Moore would meet Milo of Cro tona and Hercules in the same ring John son he pulverized in 14 heats seweralj years ago but it makes no difference to Archie Hell fight him again and probably beat him easier this time I No wonder the division is inactive There s no one in it that can come near beating the boss and theres no one who can come near guessing his age There is also Tony Anthony in the wings Tony looks awfully impressive when he fights yet Old Arch needed but seven roundsr to bring down the boom on An j thony last September Thats the rub He hasnt defended since and so guys like Johnson get lulled into thinking the Old Master is rusting away You should rust like he does If he doesnt make the mis ¬ take of luring Rocky Marciano out of the moth balls to fight him again Moore is likely to be champion even after Willie Pep calls it a day And when that will be not even Pep knows I
