Speary Decisively Defeats Archibald and Wants Crack at Scalzo-Tough Break for O'Leary
Showing the same flashy form that won him 13 amateur titles and the 126-pound Golden Glove championship, Billy Speary of Nanticoke last night won national acclaim in the professional division by winning decisively over Joey Archibald, former world's featherweight crown holder before 5,000 fans at the Kingston Armory.
Speary gave his high-ranking opponent an artistic boxing lesson, Outboxing him from start to finish, out-fighting him on the inside and out-gaming him in toe-to-toe slugging.
Referee Leo Houck, of Penn State college, to Speary 9 rounds, and called the ninth even. "Mike" Bernstein, a judge, gave Speary all 10 rounds, and the other official, Howard Davis, gave Billy 8 rounds, calling the third and sixth even. The Times-Leader, Evening News sporting editor called the first even in gave Speary all the others.
Edward Speary, 57-year-old Nanticoke miner, father of Billy, saw his first boxing show and he showed more nervousness than his offspring. Only once during the fight did he become calm that was in the eighth around when he looked over in Billy's corner and shouted "nice going, Sonny."
Billy Gets Belt
Speary was awarded a gold championship belt by George Stegmaier, local brewer and dyed-in-the-wool fan. He was given this trophy in recognition for his 21 victories as a professional to win the Northeastern Pennsylvania featherweight championship. The presentation speech was made by the District Attorney Leon Schwartz of Nanticoke, who was a warm admirer of the young
scrapper.
The boxing card, promoted by Al Dooley, was one of the best staged here in years, and the large crowd remained orderly and voiced its approval of the fighters as they fought hard for fistic glory. The total receipts of the shell
was more then $3,600.
Archibald puzzled
Archibald was puzzled by Speary style. He started the first round slow, following directions from his manager, Al Weill, and most of the sparring was at long-range with neither doing any damage. In the second round, Speary started carrying the fight to Archibald, and threw caution to the winds in a spirit of "everything to gain and nothing to lose" attitude and before the round ended his hard body punching had the ex-champ back pedaling.
In all the rounds Speary forced the fight. Most of his effective work was done in the clinches, but on numerous occasions he connected with Archibald at long-range and had him wobbling all over the ring. Archibald however was not in bad shape at any time until the final round. He seemed content to let Billy force the fight, but he always kept his right hand cocked for a "killer" punch. When he did lunge at Speary, the local boy was clever enough to avoid his blows, and when he did land, Billy's head was rolling with the punches. Archibald said in his dressing room after the fight -"He's one of the best, and perhaps the best featherweight I ever fought. He is ready to fight for the title."
Speary was happy when the bout was over. He waved at his dad, and clowned with his manager, Art Thomas. In his dressing room, surrounded by fans, he said to his manager-"Now you can bring on Petey Scalzo."
Weill Praises Speary
"Speary's a great boy and can hold his own with the best in the featherweight division," Al Weill, pilot of Archibald, told scribes immediately after the bout. "His only shortcoming is lack of a hard punch. Slapping and cuffing won't get him far. But if he develops a wallop he'll certainly give any 126-pounder in the world plenty of trouble. And in the event he gets to punching harder, I'm not going to be surprised if he becomes the world champion."
Weill is one of the top-rank fight managers, guiding the destinies of more than two-score outstanding fighters in the country, including Arturo Godoy. Such comments from him definitely bears out the contention of the Times-Leader Evening News sports editor that Speary is one of the classiest in the country and is ready for the top-notchers. We've seen the best in the division and more than ever believed the Nanticoke boy is ready for
world's title bout.
