WORLD'S LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

Chronicle (Levin), 1 May 1946, Page 6

WORLD'S LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

First light-heavyweig(it boxing bput_ for the %vorld'-s title to take. place in England for rnany years is to be fought in London on May 14 between Freddie Mills, British and Enipire cruiserweight champion, and "Gus Lesnevich, generally accepted in Annerica as world champion in this weight. This was ap-' nouneed recently by ambitious British boxing promoter Jack Solomons. Arrangements had previously been made for Lesnevich to be matehed with Britisl^ heavyweight champion Bmce Woodcoek, but Thes"e fell throngh. Thongh Solomons^, annoimced that this bout was to be-'for tihe title, it is interesting to note that in the autlioritative American Ring magazine it was recently stated that matches planned for Lesnevich in Europe "woul'd, of course, be non-title. ' ' Bearing out the belief that American world champions are not over-keen on fighting for their titles outside America is the further statement in tlie Eing that, after Lesnevich has done a bitof travelling round in Europe, "sometime iu the. early summer he plans to

put his crown at ^take in a major promotion to be stated by Mike Jacobs." It would seem, rthat, if Mr. Solomons has mianaged to talk Lesnevich into setting his title in the balan.ee in one of his pro&iotions iu London he has done soflve miglity powerful talking. Unlikc^ as this may sound at first,-, it nmst; 'be borne in mind that Solomons has, big ideas eonceruing the future of bqcting in Britain, and the will and pfower to carry out .these ideas. Though they vary slightly in regard to detail, both the' National Boxing Association and the New York Boxing Commission agree that Gus Lesnevich has held the world light-heavywcight title since 1941. Shortly before he won the title, Lesnevich passed througli New Zealand on his way to.Australia where- he got away to a bad start by being beaten in no uncertain fashion by Australian champion Eon Richards. However, he did better in his next fights, beating Ambrose Palmer and knocking out the. tough- Alabama lvid. When Gus returiied . to the States after this tour, Billy Conn .was reigning liglit-heavy champion. Lesnevich had two attempts to relieve Gonn of the title but Qh each occasion Conn was too. fast Jor him. . Conn gave up the title to go after "the heavyweight championsMpy aud iii thc bonts to

establish a successor. in 1941, Lesnevich eame out on top. Empire champion Freddie Mills is a typical example of a man who has risen from the boxing booths. As tough as leather, he is always as aggrcssive as a bulldog iii tlie ring and thcre are few of the tr\cks o'f the trade that he does not know. He was in the Eoyal, -4-ir Force during the war, but found time for several bouts. He'was beatdii by-'15-stone Jack London for the British heavyweight championship tWo Years 'ago, but on a previous occasion scored a win over theJ big f eilow. included iii' an impressjk 1 .string of knock-out yietims are JbMacAvoy," former "middle'weight char J pion, an'd Len Har vey, ' oue of the--1 cleverist British pugilists of rcccnt years. ~ •• • • Wliether the title is to be contested or not, Mills can be depended upou to give a good account of himself. On past results odds seem to favour Lesnevich, but both have been out of the game for some time — Lesnevich was in the U.S. Coastguards during Ihe war.