Sport: Champ With the Crown

Welterweight Billy Graham had fought Champion Kid Gavilan three times before. Irish Billy took a split decision in one of two nontitle bouts. Cuba’s “Kid Hawk” won the other, plus a title defense against Billy—also on split decisions. But the last time Slugger Graham tangled with Boxer Gavilan, Billy’s admirers were bitter as they left Madison Square Garden. They muttered darkly that Billy had been robbed; they began calling him “the champ without the crown.”

One sweltering evening this week, some 40,000 fans flocked to Havana’s Gran Stadium to watch Billy make his second try at deposing the champ with the crown. From the first bell, Gavilan had Graham fighting just the way he wanted him to. When bullish Billy charged in, cat-quick Gavilan feinted him into leading, then countered with jabs as swift as the beat of a hawk’s wing; by Round 2, Billy’s nose was bloodied.

Sparingly using his famed bolo punch the Kid kept battering Graham’s head, shut one eye, half-shut the other. After 15 rounds, Graham was hanging on; this time Kid Hawk’s decision was unanimous.