PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 13Max Schmeling went the way of all "come back" flesh here tonight, when the champion of other days was buffeted around by young Steve Hamas for the better part of 12 rounds. At no time was the German anything like a vivid reminder of the days when his agile ring mind and the lightning in his punch felled such gladiators as Johnny Risko and Willie Stribling and Mickey Walker. The years bringing defeat and idlenessand matrimony -have done their grim job. They have stolen the fire from his fighting brain and the vigor from his limb. Today Max is just another saddened "has been" with the memory of cheerful yesterdays. * As he explained it in his dressing room after the turnup, "I knew what to do all the time, but I just couldn't do it." Oddly enough Schmeling himself doesn't yet seem to think he is a pugilistic antique. "Oh, no, I'm not going to quit," he.declared. "I think I need a fight or two.to get back my old form. Why didn't I shoot my right more? I couldn't see him so good after I got that cut eye."
Most people wrote Schmeling off after the first Hamas fight. He seems to have somehow lost his form, then got it back again.
