Goreless, Toothless

Last September 125,000 spectators paid money to sit in a Philadelphia rain storm, to see Gene Tunney (onetime marine) take the heavyweight title from Jack Dempsey (onetime shipbuilder) (TIME, Oct. 4). As usual the affair was staged under the deft auspices of Impresario Rickard.

At breakfast the following morning it was asked: "Who will fight Tunney next?" The champion went into vaudeville; the question was repeated, finally answered by Impresario Rickard. He would select a number of likely aspirants; hold a series of elimination bouts in his Madison Square Garden in Manhattan; next fall the winner of these bouts would meet Gene Tunney for the title.

Last week Mr. Rickard's elimination tourney opened with a 10-round "go" in which one Jack Delaney, French-Canadian of Bridgeport, Conn., met one Jim Maloney, Irish, from Boston. Delaney, weighing 172 lb., entered the ring a 3-to-l favorite in spite of his rival's 31 1/2-lb. advantage. Those who knew said that Delaney was a more skillful boxer, that his lightness would enable him to go around Maloney cooper-barrel style, that he would win easily.

They were wrong. Maloney proved as good a boxer as his opponent; with his extra pounds he punched harder, oftener. At the end of the tenth round the referee held up the Irishman's hand to a mildly-cheering crowd, announcing that Maloney had won, could compete further for the honor of meeting Gene Tunney.

Over $200,000 is said to have passed through Mr. Rickard's coffers as a result of this single contest, the demand for tickets far exceeding the available 20,000. Those who attended complained: 1) that speculators had charged too much for the seats; 2) that there were no loose teeth, no gore. They expressed hope that the next fight would be better.