MONTGOMERY WINS AFTER HOT MIX (Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1945) By Paul Lowry In one of the wildest and roughest fights staged at the Olympic in months, Bob (Bobcat) Montgomery, world's lightweight champion (New York version) slashed his way to a unanimous 10-round decision over Cecil Hudson last night. Thanks to two legitimate knockdowns -- one for a brief count in the eighth and another for a four-count in the ninth -- Montgomery gained the votes of Referee Abe roth and two judges, but in victory he walked off with more boos than he did cheers. A crowd of 10,000 that packed the Olympic to the rafters gave the Bobcat, now Soldier Bob of Luke Field, the Bronx cheer for flooring Hudson after the fourth-round bell. The punch possibly took a lot of steam out of Hudson. The incident climaxed a display of bad blood that started with a punching orgy after the bell ending the second inning, and was repeated at the end of the third. This time Roth had to pull Montgomery off Hudson while one of the latter's seconds pried his man away. When the bell rang the finish of the fourth the fighters were near the ropes. Before Roth could jump between them Montgomery lashed out with a whistling right, the same type of blow that later floored his rival twice, and Hudson fell to the floor. The boos broke loose in a great volume, but Roth said the punch came so soon after the belol that it would have been a hairline decision to rule it foul. This ended the after-bell punching soirees, but both boys were guilty of rough work in the clinches with head, elbows and gloves. In back-alley parlance, it was a wicked brawl. In making his western debut, Montgomery, a wiry-legged, tireless punching fighter who has been out of action for six months, proved he can take it as well as dish it out. He absorbed a lot of tantalizing left jabs and hard rights from Hudson early in the battle, and still came on with a pace that wore Hudson down to a frazzle. Bobcat was a bit rusty in his timing, but when he got the range he hit effectively. Hudson put up one of his best local fights, and as far as points were concerned was ahead of the lightweight king at the end of the seventh round. He outweighed Montgomery, 146 1/2 to 139 3/4. Roth called the fight 60 to 50 in Montgomery's favor; Judge George Goodman, 59 to 51; Judge Mushy Callahan, 56 1/2 to 53 1/2; The Times, 57 to 53. Roth gave Montgomery seven rounds to three. Rudy Campa, 146, defeated Wilford Scott, 140, in the six-round semi-windup, while in the preliminaries Johnny Brisco, 201, proved too rugged for balding Steve Ludman, 192, in six rounds; Willie Collins, 160 1/2, won from Al Morey, 158, and Russ Long, 147, captured the curtain raiser from Benny Black, 147. _______________________