Sport: No Holds Barred

Battered, canny little Willie Pep, one of the shiftiest boxers in ring history and featherweight champion (except for three months) through the past eight years, figured that at the advanced fighting age of 28 he had learned all the tricks of his trade. A fast man on his feet and a fairly sharp puncher, he could also wrestle, gouge and butt with the best of them. Last week, nonetheless, Harlem’s 24-year-old Sandy Saddler taught Willie a few new holds.

It was their third fight and the honors were even. In their first, attacking with hand-grenade punches, Saddler had won by a fourth-round knockout. Willie had won the second, a 15-round decision, by his own superb combination of light, windmill jabs, dodging footwork and his uncanny ability to shove, nudge and push his opponent off balance. For the third go last week, the fans thought they knew pretty much what to expect; the smart money was on youth and Sandy Saddler’s hand grenades.

But right from the bell, Willie showed that he was going to be a hard man to beat. For the first two rounds he just jabbed and retreated while Saddler, usually misfiring with his punches, kept up a relentless pursuit. Late in the third round, Saddler caught Willie squarely with a looping left, dumped him to the canvas for a nine count. The champion was jarred, but he got up and danced out of harm’s way.

Then for the next three rounds, Willie gave Saddler an annoying boxing lesson. He poked, jabbed, twisted Sandy around, stepped on his toes, wove in under his misdirected blows. Late in the seventh round, after Willie had won four of the first six, Saddler caught him again, wrestled him to the ringside ropes. Referee Ruby Goldstein stepped in, tugged and hauled at the two fighters, trying to pry them apart. That, it became clear a few moments later, was where Willie lost his title.

As the bell ended the round, Pep sagged into his corner, grimacing with pain in his left shoulder. A boxing-commission doctor made a quick inspection, found the shoulder dislocated. By a technical knockout, Sandy Saddler was featherweight champion of the world.

Said bitter Willie Pep: “He beat me with a double arm-lock.” Said Saddler: “I thought a punch to the kidney did it. If they say I twisted his arm, O.K., I twisted it.”

Whatever did it, Willie had considerable consolation. His 45% share ($93,000) of the record-breaking (for featherweights) gate of $262,150 would more than take care of his doctor bills. And Willie would be back for a crack at Saddler again this winter.