Herkimer Hurricane

From his new restaurant, in which the current pastime for reckless Manhattan drunks is urging the waiter to ask the proprietor to throw them out, Jack Dempsey last week crossed Eighth Avenue, entered Madison Square Garden, clambered into the ring and nodded morosely to the crowd. Into the ring immediately behind him climbed the two muscular lightweights whose fight the crowd had paid to see: scarred Sammy Fuller of Boston, perennial stumbling block for lightweight contenders, and chipper young Lou Ambers who had nothing but a purse to gain by winning, stood to lose a chance at Barney Ross's title in a bout this summer.

In the first round, Fuller landed short vicious lefts to Ambers' head. The second round was even. For the next twelve, Ambers drove his opponent around the ring, punching him as often as stamina would permit. In the 15th, with the decision safely won, the same bravado that caused him to sign for the fight in the first place made Ambers open up in an effort to effect a knockout. It nearly cost him the fight when Fuller's right landed on the point of his jaw and a hard left opened a cut on his eye. When the bell rang, Fuller was backing away again. Referee Dempsey and two judges gave Ambers the decision.

Lou Ambers is billed as the "Herkimer Hurricane" because he comes from Herkimer, N. Y. and because his style of boxing is a cross between that of the late Harry Greb and an indignant Chinese laundry man. Son of a day laborer named Tony D'Ambrosio, he is a product of the curious "bootleg" boxing circuit that flourished a few years ago in upstate New York, where promoters were too poor or too dishonest to pay taxes.

He learned boxing in a church basement, encouraged by his parish priest, Rev. Gustave Purificato, who still comes to all his fights. Lou Ambers has lost only one of his 46 professional bouts. Merciless in the ring, he dislikes watching fights because their brutality gives him insomnia, makes him sick. His ambition is to organize his nine brothers and sisters, all musically inclined, into a jazz band in which he can play banjo and clarinet. Before his fight with Champion Ross, he plans a "warmup bout" with ex-Champion Tony Canzoneri.

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