Boxing 1955

Playboy's ring preview for the year

Boxing took a Beating by the press last year that seriously shook public confidence and produced the possibility of a congressional investigation. But a good fight is still one of the very best sporting events to watch and there are good indications that in 1955 most of boxing's best battles will be staged in the ring where they belong.

The new year finds most of 1954's champions still wearing their crowns, but some of the divisions have interesting youngsters coming up, a retired champ is staging a come-back and there is much talk about some inter-division title bouts.

Heavyweights

Rocky Marciano, the mighty Brocton Blockbuster, reigns supreme among the heavyweights and no one is going to take his title away from him in 1955. In turning back two healthy attempts by former champion Ezzard Charles in 1954, the Rock showed increasing ring savvy, power and courage.

Marciano's chief competition, by consensus, comes from outside his division. Light-heavyweight king Archie Moore has already whipped the No. 1 heavyweight challenger, Nino Valdes, and he'd like a crack at Rocky's crown. In fact, Archie has made a personal crusade out of the match. The aging slugger (he admits to 38) is taking his case to newspapers, boxing commissions and what fight politicos call "the bar of public opinion." (He recently offered a $ 100,000 guarantee for a title shot.) But Marciano's board of strategy, headed by crafty Al Weill, seems notably uninterested in Mr. Moore at this point.

Excluding Archie, our pick of the five top contenders for the heavyweight title are:

1. Nino Valdes of Cuba

2. Don Cockell of England

3. Bob Baker of Philadelphia

4. Ezzard Charles of Cincinnati

5. Charlie Norkus of Jersey City

The Rock will defend his title next against either Valdes or Cockell. He will probably take on the towering Cuban in May or June and, barring a very unlikely upset, the beefy Englishman, Cockell, in September. Although both contenders had good years in '54,. neither has a very impressive overall record. Nino has never visibly regained the prowess he showed in beating Charles several seasons back and Cockell has only been knocking off the discredited likes of Harry "Kid" Mathews. Marciano will beat them both rather handily, and Archie Moore, too, when public opinion forces this match.

Bob Baker, an unreliable challenger, has been piling up impressive wins only very recently. His punch is fast and lethal and we rate him ahead of exchamp Charles and Charlie Norkus.

Light-Heavyweights

If light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore isn't successful in talking his way into the ring with Marciano, he'll need some extra cash to continue his "crusade" and the next best bet is a match with middleweight champion Carl "Bobo" Olson. Bobo has been eying Moore's loftier perch, and since it would be a natural money match, Archie would reluctantly face up to the ordeal.

Besides Olson, Mr. Moore is being menaced by youngsters Floyd Patterson, Paul Andrews and Yolande Pompey. All three are prime prospects but need more ring experience. Patterson, fresh with a smashing triumph over ranking Willie Troy, and Andrews, flush with impressive wins over Harold Patterson and "Boardwalk" Smith, are both hoping for title matches in the fall.

Then there's old soldier and spoiler Joey Maxim, who has beaten both these youngsters and must be listed as No. 1 contender even though another Moore-Maxim bout is very unlikely. We'd rate Harold Johnson and Yolande Pompey at the end of the top five, so our list of light-heavyweight contenders looks like this:

1. Joey Maxim of Cleveland

2. Floyd Patterson of Brooklyn

3. Paul Andrews of Buffalo, N. Y.

4. Harold Johnson of Philadelphia

5. Yolande Pompey of Trinidad,

B. W. I.

Perhaps "Boardwalk" Billy Smith belongs on this list. He had a very impressive list of wins and Ring Magazine listed him as the top contender in the division until Andrews clobbered him late in December. But he's off our top five till we see how he comes back after Paul's pounding. Both Patterson and Andrews are young and may develop into ranking heavyweight contenders if they continue to grow. Ex-Olympic champ Patterson has just turned twenty and so, by professional boxing rules, was able to fight his first ten round match January 17th against Don Grant.

Middleweights

Because they're big enough to carry a knockout wallop and small enough to be fast on their feet, the middleweights are often referred to as the most exciting division. And commanding them all is balding champion Bobo Olson, who gets sharper and cleverer with every title defense.

Much new interest has been added to the division by the return of Sugar Ray Robinson. Sugar, who vacated the title when he retired in '52, has looked impressive in three straight wins, but he still has to prove himself against some real competition to be included in the list of the top five. With Robinson remaining the big question mark, we'd rate the middleweight contenders:

1. Joey Giardello of Philadelphia

2. Rocky Castellani of Cleveland

3. Holly Mims of Washington, D. C.

4. Pierre Langlois of France

5. Willie Troy of Washington, D. C.

Last year Olson mowed down all comers from Kid Gavilan to Pierre Langlois. The only ranking contender with a chance for a title shot this year is Castellani. Joey Giardello will probably be discounted for at least a year because of his rough-house, hoodlum skirmishes with the law.

Of course if Robinson is still the Sugar Ray of 1952, he can whip anybody in the division, including the champ, but that's a mighty big "if."

Welterweights

Brooklyn's Johnny Saxton, who got the Bronx cheer for his unpopular upset over Kid Gavilan for the welterweight crown, is the most uneasy, insecure fistic monarch. His clutch and clinch style makes him a very dull fighter to watch and he will probably lose his title in his first defense.

Saxton will meet Carmen Basilio for the championship on April 1st in Syracuse, New York, and ex-champion Kid Gavilan has been promised a shot at the winner within forty-five days after the Syracuse bout. We think Basilio will beat Saxton, but that Gavilan will not be able to recapture the title from Basilio. The Kid won his last bout with Carmen by a split decision whisker and this time Basilio will return the compliment. At any rate, it's going to be an interesting division to watch the next few months. We rate the challengers:

1. Carmen Basilio of Syracuse

2. Kid Gavilan of Cuba

3. Ramon Fuentes of Los Angeles

4. Del Flanagan of St. Paul

5. Vince Martinez of Paterson, N.J.

Lightweights

Three-time champion Jimmy Carter, who started fighting in a CYO gym at fifteen, is still the ring's busiest boxer. He made short work of Paddy DeMarco in regaining his lightweight crown, but Jimmy may soon be upset by some of the youngsters coming up. Two of the most precocious, Ralph Dupas and Frankie Ryff, may give him a hard time this summer.

Swift afoot, but lacking a KO punch, Dupas stopped Cisco Andrade in ten rounds, the first setback of Cisco's career. Before getting a crack at Carter, Dupas may get one more test against Paddy DeMarco. Here is our list of top lightweight challengers:

1. Paddy DeMarco of Brooklyn

2. Ralph Dupas of New Orleans

3. Frankie Ryff of New York

4. Cisco Andrade, Compton, Calif.

5. Orlando Zulueta of Cuba

Featherweights

In spite of two years in the service of Uncle Sam, champ Sandy Saddler still displays unquestionable supremacy over such fine contenders as Teddy "Red Top" Davis, Percy Basset, and Ray Famechon of France. To earn bigger purses, Sandy needs another fighter like Willie Pep and a series of matches like the Pep-Saddler bouts of old. With no such competition available, the division has lost much of its following.

Bantams and flys

The bantam and flyweight divisions are dominated almost entirely by foreign boxers. Robert Cohen of France rules the bantams with Raton Macias and America's Nate Brooks his only challengers of note.

Pascual Perez wears the flyweight crown after copping it from Japan's Yoshio Shirai in a major upset in Tokyo this winter. Since most of the bantams and flyweights work outside of the United States, very little is heard or read about them here.