Sport: Fiasco in Detroit

"If you stop the fight I will kill myself," breathed hairy-chested Marcel Cerdan to his manager. Then the middle-aged (32) middleweight champion slumped back on his squat stool in Detroit's Briggs Stadium, close to exhaustion. "My title . . . my title," he mumbled in French.

For nine rounds last week, Marcel Cerdan of Casablanca, onetime marine in France's navy, had done the best he could, but he was fighting with one hand. In the opening round, the first time he threw a left hook, he had torn the elevator muscle in his left shoulder. From Challenger Jake La Motta's corner, he heard the entreaties of La Motta's handlers above the buzz of 22,183 spectators: " 'At's it, Jackson. 'Atta go, Jackson . . . put the bomb in." Jake (alias Jackson) never put the bomb in. Just before the bell for the tenth round, Cerdan's manager decided to disregard the protests of his fighter: he threw in the towel. "What's the use?" snapped one of his seconds to ringsiders, "He can't lift his left arm."

As the referee raised the new champion's glove, someone yelled, "Where's Joe?" They found Joe Louis, figurehead director of boxing for boxing's new monopoly, the International Boxing Club.* Joe climbed into the ring to hand La Motta a gold championship belt (with a diamond, two sapphires and two rubies). "Nice going, Jake," said Joe. La Motta shed a few proud tears. When the receipts were counted, I.B.C. discovered it had lost $4,000 on its first major fight promotion.

Most hard-boiled boxing fans thought I.B.C. deserved to lose a lot more than that for allowing the likes of La Motta to have a shot at the title. As recently as February, roundheeled Jake had been soundly thrashed in Montreal by a Frenchman named Laurent Dauthuille. A cloud of suspicion still hung over La Motta's fight with Philadelphia's Billy Fox two years ago, which the referee stopped in the fourth because of Jake's feeble performance. About all last week's fight proved was that Cerdan could not whip La Motta with one hand.

This week in Chicago, I.B.C. puts on its second big show (Jersey Joe Walcott v. Ezzard Charles). Tongue-in-cheek sport-writers have been touting it as the "slightly" heavyweight championship. Said Boxing Director Louis, squelching a rumor that he might give up promoting and make a ring comeback: "Promoting don't pay as well as fightin', but it lasts longer."

*Brain-trusted by Chicago's Jim Noprris and Arthur Wirtz, and Madison Square Garden's Harry Markson.