Sport: I Wasn't Very Good

It was billed as one of the big fights of the summer, but nobody was taken in. Heavyweight Challenger Freddie Beshore, less skillful than stubborn, was never a dashing performer. And pencil-mustached Ezzard Charles, though heavyweight champion of the world (National Boxing Association version, not good in New

York or London), has neither heavy punch nor box-office drawing power. Last week, as they faced each other in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium, the fans stayed away in droves; paid attendance (6,298) and receipts ($28,666) were the lowest ever for a heavyweight championship bout.

For most of the fight, Beshore hugged and tugged while broad-shouldered Ezzard Charles clouted him clumsily. At 2:53 of the 14th round, the battered and bloodied Beshore was still on his feet, but thoroughly cut up, and the referee stopped the fight. Not even Charles felt like crowing over his no-knockdown victory. Said he, reflectively: "I should have moved more. I wasn't very good."

Until the fight, 29-year-old Charles had been hoping to claim a big share of the purse in his bout next month with aging (36) Joe Louis, who will come out of retirement to pay off his income-tax debts. But the unimpressive win over Beshore quashed Charles's hopes. In the Sept. 27 match. Louis will get 35% of the purse, Charles a mere 20%, thus making him the first champion to take the short end of the money in a title fight.