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NEW YORK, June 24 (AP) - Max
Schmeling is in a hospital across
the street from Madison Square
Garden - the same one in which
Ernie Schaaf died after a clubbing
by Primo Carnera - and with the
passing of the German as an active
threat to the heavyweight title the
fight game abruptly has hit a sort
of "dead center."
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Two days ago, before Max walked
into a crushing first-round defeat
by Joe Louis at the Yankee stadium
and received the spinal injury
which probably has closed his big-
time career, the boxing business
was booming better than Wall
Street in the lush days.
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Now, suddenly, the bubble has
burst. Louis stands alone, with no
opponent in sight except Max Baer,
a man once whipped brutally by the
tall young negro.
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Promoter Mike Jacobs is nego-
tiating for another Louis-Baer fight
either in September here, or next
summer in San Francisco. But Mike
doesn't have his heart in it and
Baer is willing to face the music
again only because of the money
involved.
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Maxie made a pitiful showing the
other time he was exposed to the
Louis blasts. Since then he has
done nothing more notable than get
married, croon to his first-born and
split two decisions with Tommy
Farr. It will be extremely difficult
to drum up big interest in another
Louis-Baer scrap.
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Louis is back in Chicago today,
starting to enjoy a long loaf. He and
his wife are thinking seriously of
making a boat trip all the way to
Europe next month, though passing
up Germany as a point of interest.
Joe is not particulary anxious to
fight in September, as Uncle Sam
from now on will be taking an ab-
normally large cut of the champ's
1938 earnings. The income tax has
been explained to Joe.
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Although he and his entourage
were in the mid-town sector all
yesterday afternoon before board-
ing their train to Chicago, Louis
didn't get around to visiting
Schmeling at the Polyclinic. Neither
did he evince much interest in
Max's condition, leading observers
to the conclusion that Joe really
was no more fond of the German
than he had acted in the ring on
Wednesday night.
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Unless he shows exceptional re-
cuperative powers, Schmeling will
remain flat on his back at least un-
til July 2, when he will be taken to
the pier in an ambulance to em-
bark on the Bremen for home. Dr.
Robert Brennan, the distinguished
surgeon who attended Max from
the time he reached the hospital,
said it would be advisable for him
not to stir for three weeks.
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The terrible rights that Louis
sank into the left side of Schmel-
ing's back just before the first of
three knockdowns fractured the
transverse process of the third
lumbar vertebra. The process, it
seems, is a small bone the pro-
trudes on either side of the ver-
tebra and serves as support for
the back muscles.
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Dr. Brennan promised Brig.-Gen.
John J. Phelan of the state athletic
commission that he would prepare
a full report of the injury, so that
the general, "in fairness to Max,"
could let the public know that
Schmeling had done no shamming.
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The danger now is that there will
develop a hemhorrhage of the kid-
ney, though there is no sign of
such a complication.
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