HEENEY DIDN’T SEE THE JOKE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 55, 27 May 1927, Page 6

HEENEY DIDN’T SEE THE JOKE

NEW ZEALANDER ROBBED AGAINST PAOLINO MORE ABOUT THE FIGHT pROM Albert Deane, of ParaA mount Pictures, Times Square, New York, comes further enlightening information on the recent April Fools’ Day joke perpetrated at the expense of New Zealander Tom Heeney, in his bout with Paolino Uzcudun, the walloping woodchopper from Spain. The pair met at Madison Square Garden in Tex Rickard’s elimination tourney to discover an opponent for world’s heavy-weight champion Gene Tunney, and Paolino got the decision. Some time back when “Tiger” Flowers well and truly licked Mickey Walker in defence of his middle-weight crown and Walker got the decision, the papers in between classing it as the greatest “steal” of the age, featured stories to the effect that the presence of many of Walker’s admirers at the ringside with revolvers, clinched the verdict for the challengers. We may yet learn that Paolino’s crowd came armed with cannons. Here’s what Mr. Deane sent to the Sydney “Daily Guardian”—and he backs up his opinion with newspaper cuttings, all in agreement: “Fifteen thousand people wrestled their way into the great arena to see the fight, and of that number it is believed that at least 10,000 were Basques (the coves with the cannons). “A pre-determination on the part of Tex Rickard had already matched Paolino with the next in line in the elimination series, upon the assumption that Heeney would be battered by the Basque. So Uzcudun just had to win. Had already won in fact, before the bout started. “But even if he got the decision, Paolino did not win. He is as hard as the conscience of a big fight promoter and he cheerfully took enough of Heeney’s punches to sink a battleship. “Paolino has no technique, hardly any speed, and only a seemingly end-

less faculty for absorbing punishment. On the other hand, Heenev created a very favoruable impression. He went straight ahead in a methodical manner and is a determined if not a brilliant tighter.

“Properly sponsored he will achieve a lot of good will for the land he represents. For after all, the greatest channel through which publicity concerning Australia and New Zealand can flow into the United States is the channel of sport. Our boxers, Davis Cup teams, and cyclists are always good for 10 or 20 times the amount of space that other items secure.”

The “New York Herald-Tribune” refers to it as a “Heeneyous decision,* 1 and states that the only person who didn’t see the point of the joke, was Heeney.

“But then Heeney is British, and the British are slow to see the point of a jest.” The “New York Times’ says that Paolino took a terrible lacing, while the “New York Evening Post.’* besides giving its opinion that Heeney won easily, states that he is a ring attraction of the highest order and finishes up by suggesting a return go and offering to wager all of the dozen or so of Paolino’s managers to a copy of any official boxing record that Paolino will be studying astronomy inside eight rounds.