Sport: Berg v. Chocolate

At the Polo Grounds, Manhattan, Eligio (“Kid Chocolate”) Sardinias, jaunty 128-lb. Cuban Negro who has won 167 fights, turned around as the whistle blew and led a flashy jab at the chin of Jack (“Kid”) Berg, 135-lb. cockney.

Holder of no title but conceded by some critics to be the best boxer in the modern prizering, Chocolate’s idea was to begin a new campaign by beating Berg, a junior welterweight, then Al Singer, lightweight champion, and so work down to his own featherweight class. Looking thoughtful and serious, he jabbed Berg with sewing-machine lefts and crossed him with hard right-hand punches to the jaw. The cockney came in milling and tied him up, battered at his ribs in the clinches without getting past his countering elbows. Whenever Chocolate was free to box he scored points but Berg kept on top of him aggressively. Liking Chocolate for his buoyancy, his nerve, and the crafty speed of his wedge-shaped brown body, spare as an impressionist charcoal drawing, the crowd delighted in his onslaughts, scored six of the ten rounds to him, booed when the referee and judges called Berg the winner.