By a Nose

"Sugar" Ray Robinson is a miniature Joe Louis: nobody wants to fight him either. The big difference between Sugar Ray and Joe--besides 60 pounds--is that Joe is a champ. But last week, Sugar Ray, the hard-luck guy of boxing, was all set to get a champion's chance.

Sportswriters had been calling Sugar Ray the uncrowned world welterweight champ for so long that the phrase came out of their typewriters automatically. But through the war years, an amiable, not too able fighter named Red Cochrane had the title frozen. When it came time to defend it last February, Red passed up Sugar Ray, who was first in line, fought one Marty Servo, who had put up $50,000 for the chance. Marty took the title by a knockout. Last week Sugar Ray was 1-to-5 betting favorite to whip Marty Servo.

Three days before the fight, ominous words came from Servo's camp. Cried Servo's manager Al ("The Vest") Weill: "My boy can't breat' t'rough the right side of his nose; he ain't gonna fight no Robinson. . . ." The official explanation: Servo had been biffed by a sparring partner.

The redfaced New York Athletic Commission, as fed up as Sugar Ray was, promptly took the title away from Servo, ordered an elimination among other welterweights to see who would fight Robinson. The winner would be champion of the state of New York only: the National Boxing Association still called Servo champion. Said Sugar Ray: "I've waited so long it's not new any more."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.