Man in No Hurry

The amateurs didn't know everything about boxing, but they had plenty of fight. And that's what draws the crowds. Last week 19,216 noisy fans crammed into Manhattan's Madison Square Garden to boo and applaud the Golden Gloves's national finals. The fans saw plenty of the wild haymakers and weird grimaces which made good action shots for the photographers at the ringside (see cut). A few connoisseurs went for a special reason: to take a look at Negro Bob Foxworth, 22, touted as the coming Joe Louis.

They found it was a little too early to tell. But Foxworth, fresh out of the Navy, and fighting in the 175-lb. light heavyweight class that ex-Golden Glover Joe Louis once dominated, looked good. For two rounds, against Eastern Champ Robert Isler, Foxworth studied his rival's tricky southpaw stance, saved his ammunition. Then, in Round 3, he fired two hard rights. The first one rocked his opponent; the second knocked him out. It was Sailor Bob's 76th consecutive win.

Thirty hungry fight managers (including ex-featherweight, lightweight, welterweight champion Henry Armstrong) have been twisting Foxworth's arm to get him to sign up. But Sailor Bob, who earns a piddling $30 a week as a janitor in an East St. Louis nightclub, wasn't buying any just yet. He intends to go back to studying physical education at the University of Wisconsin, put more weight on his rawboned frame, and turn pro when he is good & ready. Says Foxworth, who never seems to be in much of a hurry: "My family matures rather late in life. . . ."

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