12 Sports Aces, May 1943 — page 62: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘The Crowd Roars By Edwin Laird In a pinch the best coaching an athlete can get doesn’t come from his 2 manager—it comes from you fans yourselves. faced Jimmy Cartelli at the Broadway Arena. Both boys could sock, and at one hundred- fifty pounds apiece they had weight enough behind their punches to do dam- age. Lew went into a slugger’s pose, his left - hand held low for a hook to the midsec- tion, his right cocked chin high for a cross to the jaw. When a man stands that way, it means he intends to take three to give one and everybedy from Cartelli to the farthest bleach- er fan knew it. Leach Cross fought that way and a great many other famous sluggers. Cartelli did the expected thing. He stabbed Lew with a left over that high cocked right, dropped both elbows across his midsection to block either a left hook or a right hook to the heart, swayed to his right to take the steam from any right cross to his jaw, uppercut with both hands, and went into a clinch. . | Lew swung his left futilely into those clamped elbows, tried a right cross which wasted its force on the air where Cortelli’s head had been, and found himself being cut up by murderous uppercuts during the in-fighting. Then came the voice of a leather-lunged Brooklyn fan, “Punch foist, Lew,” he yelled. “Don’t wait fer him to lead. Punch toist.” Now if the fight had been in Madison EW PEREZ Square Garden, Lew never would have- heard. For there the first fifty rows of seats are occupied by Broadway boys whe had their hearts burned out with the ex- citement of the Big Stem years ago, They never would think of yelling at a fighter. The real fans are yards and yards away from the ring and their voices do not get through the tobacco smoke; the boys fight as if in a glass case. But this was the Broadway Arena, a place where your red hot fan can rest his nose on the edge of the ring canvas if he gets too tired to hold up his head and where the boys fight prac- tically in the laps of the cus- tomers. Lew heard that fan. He heard the chorus who second- ed the motion. And he began to “swing foist.” Cartelli came in for another left jab. But the instant he was within range, Lew let go with a terrific left hook for the jaw. It missed, but Lew was following up with a right cross for the same spot. If it had landed an inch lower the fight would have ended right there. As it was, a cool and confident Cartelli who thought he was up against a punching hag, suddenly changed into a careful and crafty boy who knew that only his best would avoid a knockout. In the second round, Lew started let- ting punches go to the back of the neck when Cartelli ducked. Again the fans took up their veice. “Cut dat out,” they yelled. The punches were perfectly legal. But the fans did not like them for such tac- tics leave a fighter helpiess to defend him- self against the uppercuts and piston punches in the in-fighting. And the fans com ooyo)|/< (E©)