In a South African prison camp, Italy's leading welterweights, Gino Verdinelli and Giovanni Manca, steamed up training for a return match. The knockout of Mussolini had given the bout a red-hot political significance: Manca, winner of the first match (TIME, May 3), had become champion of the Royalists, Verdinelli, a gladiator of the Fascists. Faced with this explosive mixture, British officers, who had turned out in numbers to see the first fight, decided something had to be done. They ordered Manca and Verdinelli to put up their jump ropes, retire their sparring partners, the match had been canceled.
...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
