Joey Maxim

&

Jack "Doc" Kearns

April 13, 1955

Working All the Angles

At this time, Al Weill, the ever-cautious manager of Marciano, was carefully hand-picking Rocky's opposition, and he had dedged up Britian's blubbery Don Cockell for a title defense on the coast.

Now was the moment, I figured, to make my own move.

So I sat down with Moore and Charley Johnston, and laid it on the line for them.

"It's about time," I said, " to count me in for a full cut. If you do, I'll get us a title shot with Marciano. But the way I see it , you guys really need me. "

They knew it, too. Without any argument they took me in as a managerial partner.

I went to work on the writer's right off the bat, beating the drums on how an untrained Archie Moore had knocked off the highly regarded Nino Valdes while Marciano was picking on the miserably overmatched Cockell. However, Weill was an extremely devious and elusive man, and I could see that, unless something drastic was done, he just might sidestep us by signing to take on middleweight champion, "Bobo" Olson.

Olson at this time had hammered himself out quite a reputation. He was a rough, brawling type with a good punch, and there were those who had started comparing him to the by-now legendary Mickey Walker.

Figuring in advance that those were Weill's plans, I already had started carrying out a scheme to circumvent them.

First of all I put Joey Maxim in against Olson. Olson boosted his reputation immeasurably by defeating my former light heavyweight champion, actually dumping Joey to the canvas on one ocassion.

After this I went to see Sid Flaherty, Olson's manager, and you can knock it if you will but I represented myself-which I actually was under my agreement with Truman Gibson-as a representative of the International Boxing Club. After all, there was no sense in making him too suspicous.

Flaherty, a smart cookie in the business of managing fighters, was known to be casting eyes at a Marciano bout as a means of hitting a king-sized jackpot. So I found him in a receptive mood.

"I'd like to you up a big payday against Archie Moore before you in with Marciano, " I suggested.

"The payday would be okay, " Flaherty shied off, " but what happens to us if we blow it?"

This was a spot for the old con. I did a Barrymore, and, as they say in those high-classed novels, I looked aghast.

"Blow it?" I snapped. " How in hell could you blow it against an old geezer like Moore?" You know damned well that Olson is another Mickey Walker after the way he took care of Maxim."

If I've ever been guilty of sacrilege , this was it.

"You've got every single angle going for you," I rattled on. " Moore ws 200 pounds the last time he fought, and when he has to pare down to 175 pounds in less than six weeks he'll be so weak that you and I could probably lick him. Believe me, Sid, you take Moore and you'll beat him sure. Then it's clear sailing for the big one with Marciano, and remember I always thought Mickey Walker could have won the heavyweight title if things had broken right."

Flaherty silently digested all the angles I had thrown at him.

"Okay," he finally decided, "we'll take it."

So it was that the match was made for the New York Polo Grounds for June 22 and, as I had promised Archie, our $100,000 guarantee gave him the biggest payday of his life for one of his easiest bouts. As a fight it was nothing. Olson walked in like a corpse and after 1;19 of the third round was doing a fair imitation of one as he lay prone on the canvas.

But the match had served it's purpose.

Now Al Weill wasn't able to dodge the issue anymore. Two weeks later we signed to fight Marciano in Yankee Stadium that September of 1955. This time I was in there again pushing the bout as a representative of the International Boxing Club.

The outcome of the fight is part of boxing history, how Archie dumped Marciano for a two count in the second round and finally was knocked out himself in the ninth.

And our end of the purse, for a man who had never made more than $80,000, was a neat $270,000.(1)

-Jack Kearns

Vintage Original Russ Reed Photograph

The night of the Maxim v. Olson fight

Size: 9 1/4 X 10 1/4inches

Condition: Excellent. Vertical crease at right margin edge with closed tears. Only visible upon close examination.

Price: $ 95.00

2000-2935

Shipping and Handling $10.00 in the United States. $15.00 to foreign destinations.

(1) The Millon Dollar Gate by Jack (Doc) Kearns as told to Oscar Farley pp. 305=308

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