"I could have continued, I suppose, now that I look back on the whole thing. But at the time all I knew was I could not get around on my legs and that even if I could I would not be able to use my right hand."
Sports writers, who have been bickering pro and con ever since the night of the battle, immediately pounced upon the Russian's statements, some of them pointing out that there was indeed excuse for Shelaeff's strange behaviour and others stating that it would have been better for the Russian, as a true champion, to have walked into one of Vicente's punches and ended the fight that way.
In principle, the latter method of ending the fight would have been lauded by the. boxing public, but there can be no denying that in policy, Shelaeff did the wisest thing in refusing to continue, although it is difficult to condone his action in merely quitting without any word of explanation to his manager or the referee,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.