(l. to r. Captain George Nichols, Mr. D. Mackettrick, Mr. Tom Webster, Mr. Hayes, Lord Decies, Walker, Sir Harry Preston, Doc Kearns, Lord Castleross, Honorable T. Edgeren, Captain P. Thomson and C.B. Cochran.)

Mickey Walker

as

Guest

of

Sir Harry Preston

London

June 29 , 1927

The night before the fight we were sitting in the grill of the Savoy. Besides Doc, myself and Hayes, my trainer, there was half-dozen others: Charlie Cochran, the promoter; Tom Webster, fight writer with the London Daily Mail; Bugs Baer and Floyd Gibbons; Lord Westmoreland, and Sir Harry Preston, the big betting commissioner.

Preston turned to Doc and said "...how much do you like your boy's chances in the fight?" Preston said " I fancy Milligan. Are you willing to bet a few ponies on your boy?"

"Ponies?" Doc repeated. " Why not the make it the whole horse-and-wagon?"

"Bet your limit." Preston snapped. "I'll cover any amount you put up. The odds are two to one, but I'll give you a point over because your boy's eye was so badly cut."

Kearns turned to me "Want to shoot the works, Mickey?"

"You mean the entire purse? The whole hundred-twenty-thousand dollars?"

Doc nodded-a bit shyly, I thought.

"All right go ahead, " I said. I said knowing he would do it anyway. "Just make sure there's enough money left so we don't have to swim home."

The bet was made, $360.000 to $120,000. ..

(Walker knocked out Tommy Milligan in the tenth round.)

Preston paid off right after the fight, handing Doc $360,000 in cash...

By the time Walker and Keans boarded the Homeric for home they split all the money that was left after a monumental bender in Paris (the hotel bill was $60,000.) each took $60,000. They had spent $240,000 on a party.(1)

Vintage Original British Illustrations Photograph

Ex Mickey Walker Estate

Price: $ 45.00

Size: 6 1/2 X 8 inches

Condition: Fair. Diagonal crease lower right, some surface marring. diagonal corner chip lower right.

2000-5193

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

(1) Mickey Walker. The Toy Bulldog & His Times by Mickey Walker with Joe Reischler

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