Column Of The Week: N.y. Mirror Sports Editor Dan Parker Says Gavilan Was Jobbed

If Commissioner Frank Wiener were an ostrich instead of an eel, he would be able to save face by burying his head in quicksand after what happened in Philadelphia's Convention Hall Wednesday night to disgrace once more his home city and his administration of boxing in it.

That Philadelphia, in recent years a dumping ground for fistic garbage, was advertised wherever television carried the Gavilan-Saxton welterweight-championship stinker as a city in which it is possible for a home-town hoodlum to job a world's champion out of his title, for the benefit of one of his own fighters, is the fault of no one but Wiener, Pennsylvania's undistinguished administrator of boxing.

DISHONOR AMONG THIEVES

Without Wiener's approval, Blinky Palermo, a hoodlum with a malodorous record in and out of the prize ring, could not hold a manager's license. That Palermo was able to steal the title on this occasion was most appropriate because he also stole Johnny Saxton, the fighter for whom he perpetrated this outrage. Bill Miller, a decent old-time Negro trainer, developed Saxton as an amateur and, when he wasn't making much progress with him as a pro, tied up with Palermo because he was given to understand that without a mob connection, he wouldn't get anywhere. When the two-year contract Miller entered into with The Blink expired, poor old Bill, who taught Saxton everything he knows (the only rap against Miller), was kicked out of the partnership.

As Blinky and Saxton awaited the announcement of the decision in their corner Wednesday night, after a 15th round in which Gavilan staggered Saxton and swarmed all over him, a beatific smile spread over the kindly hoodlum's face, reminiscent of that displayed by the fabled pussycat after devouring the canary. It was as if Blink were saying: "Well, you're on your feet so everything's okay." The story, buzzed around in advance, was that Gavilan would have to knock out his man to retain his title. When the unanimous verdict for Saxton was announced, Blinky acted as if it were stale news. His expression of complete confidence, before the announcement came, was revealing.

FRANKIE WAS HERE

As to which was worse, the decision or the fight itself, it would take some pretty fine hairsplitting to decide. Blinky the Just, Frankie's pin-up boy, thought everything was just dandy. What Frankie Carbo, Gavilan's Goombar with whom The Blink dined at Dempsey's Monday night, thought of it no one was able to find out, as he copped a "5th amundment" plea. What the public thought of it, as represented by the opinion of televiewers, seems to be that for the next six months our Republic will stink like a pulp-mill town from coast to coast.

A possible explanation of the putrid affair is that Signor Carbo, who had a piece of Gavilan without the fighter's approval, saw that the Keed not only was getting balky but also was slipping rapidly and, to keep control of the title, arranged with Blinky to pass it along to Saxton. Gavilan apparently was suspicious from the start, as he pulled out of the match twice.

Jack Kearns told some friends before the fight to send in all they had on Saxton who, he said, couldn't lose. In New York, many fans who tried to put money on Saxton were told that they could bet only on Gavilan. After the fight (?), Palermo said there would be no return match for Gavilan. And before and after it, Goombar Carbo lavishly entertained fight mobsters from all over America at a hotel suite. He had good reason to celebrate.