Page:Fighting Back (1924).pdf/211

 ship hopes gone glimmerin', It was a wake in our corner, no foolin'!

At the bell, Knockout Ford was across the ring like a streak, catchin' Kid Roberts in his own corner with a straight left which rocked the Kid's head and brung ithe first of a cloudburst of yells from the mob. Again Ford said it with a left and the Kid missed a right cross by a foot. Ford, boxin' confidently and prettily, countered hard with his monotonous left, makin' the Kid look like a sucker for that punch. They clinched and on the break the Kid caught Ford on the ear with a right and followed that with a right and left to the wind, but the blows seemed to lack the old steam. No wonder! Ford felt the Kid's weakness and commenced walkin' in wide open with crushin' lefts and rights to the head and-body. He drove Kid Roberts against the ropes and the screamin' mob to its feet with two terrible uppercuts. The Kid fell into a clinch and the fans hissed Ford for landin' a backhander on the break-away. Ford continued rushin', but Kid Roberts saved himself by clinchin' repeatedly, showin' that the old bean was workin.' They was in a fond embrace in mid-ring at the gong. Ford's round.

Ford continued to force the fightin' in the second, pilin' up points with his long, accurate left to the face and stiff right swings to the body. For a full minute in this round he hit the groggy Kid at will and the crowd razzed him for bein' unable to stop a apparently punch-drunk man. Kid Roberts woke up toward the end of the round and staggered Ford with a right to