King Levinsky, the Windy City Walloper, otherwise known as the Chicago Assassin, the Personality Kid, and as plain Harry Krakow, is reported to be suffering from a nervous breakdown. At least that’s the story that “Leaping Lena” Levy, his manageress is handing out to the scribes in the ###ke city and she seems to be stuck with it.
We’re wondering if the decision that was handed down at the Garden in the recent Levinsky-Neusel scrap affected this Jewish fish peddlar so much that he lost weight as a result. There may be some truth in it at that inasmuch as the decisions that emanate from this Eighth avenue sports emporium are enough to give anyone a headache. To wit-the last Loughran-Neusel tussle.
RAN OUT ON FIGHT?
However, the question is-did the King run out on his scheduled fight with Art Lasky, a heavy-weight from Minneapolis. The answer says “Leaping Lena” is “Pooh Pooh and Pheh.”
The King has been the object of a national search since he disappeared from Los Angeles and the scene of the fight until he was found in a bed in a Chicago hospital according to the Associated Press. But Lena should find some consolation in this. The King has earned a new title for himself. To date he is the only man in boxing known as the
VANISHING VIOLET
Of course the fact that the King was supposed to have met Art Lasky in a ten round tussle may not have anything to do with “the feeling of tiredness and overstrain” that the doctors say the poor peddlar is suffering from.
“Why, we’re not afraid of Lasky,” said Lena, “the King fears no man. We’ll fight Lasky out there as soon as the King is fit and himself. Why he left his boxing togs in Los Angeles and fully intends to go back there for the fight when the doctor says he is in condition to box.”
The alarm was sent out when the “keed” failed to show up for his fight. The authorities were concerned not so much with the welfare of the fishman or that he didn’t meet Lasky but rather that he had been advanced three hundred smackers as part of his purse.
‘LEAPING LENA’ ALL HEPPED UP
The way Mrs. Levy denied reports that she had left Los Angeles in a huff (or maybe it was a flivver) after a row over training policies with Pete Reilly, another the Kingfish’s managerial triumvirate, would put Aimee McPherson to shame. “Pete and I are okay. But the King is sick. Has a nervous breakdown.” Well, at any rate she’s consistent.
“His weight fell to 200 pounds (his normal fighting weight is 206 pounds) and I couldn’t stand to see him go into the ring in such weakened condition.”
As a result of his disappearance he was suspended by the California boxing commission. This means that he is automatically suspended in Illinois and New York because of an agreement between these states. Unless this ban is lifted the Krakow kid will not be able to fight in any of these states for one year. Maybe the reason they returned to Chicago was to ### up a new fish stand for the ### brudder.”
### A FLASH ### PAN
### King began fighting in 1928 ### had a fairly successful career since then. Most of his fights in the Windy City have been won by knock-outs. However, once the King stepped outside of his home town he was just another fighter. “Leaping Lena” still maintains, despite the vagaries of the Chicago Assassin’s hectic career that her “keed brudder” will one day be champ of the heavy-weights. Apparently, we agree that she is quite prejudiced in his favor.
We recall at the Neusel-Levinsky fight in this city on March 9 that Mrs. Levy was a riot in her brother’s corner during the evening. Once again she revealed why she merits the title of “leaping Lena” with her jack-in-the-box antics. All through the fight she was bellowing, “hit him in de zeiten, King.”
SPEAKING OF LEFTS
Another thing that we recall in the Windy City Walloper’s last fight in New York was the demonstration of an effective left that he had developed and used against Neusel for the first time in his ring career. And, speaking of lefts, we remember what trouble the Chicago assassin has had as a southpaw. In his fight against Jack Sharkey in the Windy City last September 22 he complained to his seconds that his feet were bothering him. His handlers tried every conceivable remedy in the one minute rest periods but they were unable to help him. His feet annoyed him more than Sharkey’s punches all through the fight. In the dressing room later, Levinsky discovered that he had worn two “left” shoes all night.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
