In the sports pages of U.S. newspapers few holds are barred. Sportswriters swing freely when criticizing the performance of athletes, managers and promoters, rarely worry about libel suits. Last week this free-swinging confidence was rabbit-punched in a libel suit against the Hearst Publishing Co. and its Los Angeles Examiner sports columnist, Vincent X. Flaherty. Two years ago Flaherty fell to reminiscing, in print, about the fight in 1941 when Heavyweight Lou ("Cosmic Punch") Nova lost by a six-round technical knockout to Champion Joe Louis. Wrote Flaherty: "The cowardly [appearance of] Nova was...
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