BOXING.

(By "Mercury."!

THAT; WIN BY WILLIAM WIJNAND. The Battle Described. i J!^f r .J ,t &J? 16 ' nOTrs °f Wenand's win from 'led Grc-en at Napier on Monrtay night occasioned surprise amongst the knowing ones in_ town is putting the case very .mildly indeed. The Australian! is the present bantam champion of Australia, and has years of experience, and the. moral . uplifting of a hundred'or so .vie-, tones. at lns back, while . Wenand was making his debut us a professional. True, he has won the 'Australasian amateur qhamxnonship, but' even' his best friends gavei■ him only -. the' smallest chance against the redoubtable little New South ..Welshman. . .

; Green is 30 years' of age, started his ring career in 1902, and is looked upon in Australia as practically. invincible in his class—in fact he has to go into the feather division now to get matches. He t has met "Sid" Sullivan, "Dealer" Wells, Duffy, and though beaten by all these,'; an idea of his standing' can be gathered from the fact that he was .matched with .them at all, as they : are, .all at the top. of . the "feather-weight" class. Maybe, of course, he did not take the present contest very-, seriously, and so , fell in' through ,underrating his opponent, as many a good man has done—and will, do again. In fact it rather looks this, way, asone of the ■ reports before the writer states that, in: the fifth round, • in which he', was inore than holding l his .own, .it appeared that he; was not doing all he knew—so much so that the referee ■ (Dr..W.-W. Moore) said as much. Green, .however,, protested .that he' was all out." ■ . - I

, According to the detailed account in ;the i "Hawke's Bay Herald" Wenand getaway with a lead : in 'by forcing the fighting in the first round, which, is describetf as -tame. 'The second . was - even, and-, the; third Wenand's. - Green, however,, evened, by, taking , the .fourth and fifth, and fcho sixth waa adraw. At-the. tenth Green, WBS leading,', .but thenceforth, Wenand .drew away, steadily. '~; T he closing stages are described. thus:— ; "The eleventh round was Wenand's, though.Green got in,sotrie effective uppercuts and 'a'straight right.. "The twerifth round--, was even,; Wenand's short hooks' being well repaid by .Green's straight drives, though Wenand,.parried, well, and the round finishedwith his getting < an upper-cut '-, and . a conplo; of . short DO(ly: blows in.. Tho. thirteenth, round . saw Green on- : the. defensive for jthe start, but the- two wore on' equal terms',very 1 soon. Wenand led with . body blows," short rights and down cuts!' He sent a straight'. jab. to his opponent's jaw 1 ,1 which, was returned willingly ;'arid \well;..::Green' put in some swift blows to. the short.ribs and \ Wenand did the same, the: round ending equally;. I The fourteenth round saw Greeri;6n tho,attack; 'but.Wenand's de-. fence was' gobdj and lie smartly, returned, his opponent 0. straight ;right to the face' arid; rapid body blows.' .Grkn' returned with '.fa '■ straight';blow. on Wenand's. jaw; •' arid -Wcnand : put in.-two' swinging -hitsto 'his opponent's ribs.; . Another, straight, blow to Wenand's face, went to Green's credit, but the .round'was Wenand's, and 'he,-finished it by getting'in ; an ,upper-cut. and straight jabs. Green, made the opening in the last, round; - Both, men:,were soon in-fighting;; and' neither could'. 7 bo said to have the'best of it, blow for- blow being given! Wenand. sent in a left hook and Green sent several jabs into the back, but Wenand';-side-stepped most ; of - the blows arid, finished by- getting in several* shorts ,to\Green..;before the.; gong sounded time. The ' match was awarded to Wenarid', on. points." \.. :■ To sum rip,, Wenand won: the first, third,, seventh, 'eleventh, fourteenth,;'arid fifteenth rounds,,six in all.' . Green; the fourth; fifth','eighth, and tenth, ivhile.ithe other,,fiveWere drawn.'. 'From ' this- it; is ■apparent .that;there; was -very-little' mar--gin either way, .' and it appears :as ..though Wenand won on condition. : ' A Return Match. • . i When in r Wellington, en, route for Na- ' pier, {;Green , informed the officiate of • the Board- that, if sufficient,, inducement. offered,'..'hp, .was agreeable - .to prolong'his New Zealand, visit..''"This' :being so, and' in view of fhp; evident closeness, of Monday's . contest, it would appear to -be' worth "the'local- association's while .ta ; consider.,, the : -.pgssibility..;'pf:.bringing' .Weriand- and '..the '-Australian 'pgetlier again. .That such a match would i"draW" •is certain,, the; 'oriljr difficulty would seem, to .be tho'procuring of a''suitable arena.; trrifortunately,: ' the;\Towji. iHall. is not available,' and the Opera House is booked up,, but would, it riot bo possible to make arrarigerrients)-with 'iMessr. Fuller, arid Co. ■ "for ono night - only" ?. The idea is.; comiriended .to the executive for its earnest consideration. . ; - y.. ■ •' How Elliott Wont Down. ■ I,ast week it '.was rioted in; this .column .thati "Billy"-Elliott.'had, lost his. Australian feather-weight' title to, "Joe" Russell, of Brisbane, 1 the.;.riews having'been ;receiv-, red at'se'a-by the s.s.'Uliiriaroa j:less." r This week's "Australian' mail , confirms these, sad-tidings, 1 , and i. particulars of the clash . are now - available. -, The "Referee's" report runs-.-"The. third meeting between Elliott; and Russell, 1 at ■ the Brisbane Stadium, drew a big crowd on. Saturday. night. : The' American .boiThpiripson; Clabby. 'and Bron6on—were present, also Mr. W. F. Corbett '("Thei,,Amateur").. ■ Thowere "weighed .iri' the ring, prior to the of; .the' contest, 'arid tho weights' were:, Russell, who- was- seconded by "Jim" Ducker, "Snowy" l Sturgeon; and "Jack" Murphy, 8.13J, and Elliott' 8-.101. The latter .was- attended' by "Patsy"

"Burke, "fljark" Higgiris, and ."Charlie" 'Frost:.-: The contest • again , went twenty rounds, but it was by no. means as interesting, as when . the twain met early, in August last, for. on .that: occasion both, boxed at a' lfast ' clip ' throughout. Saturday's match saw; both, hanging on a great deal, with'plenty it close-range .fighting, mostly by Elliott.' Tho. latter.: was doing effective work at closa quarters with-the left,. but his swings -at full length were generally short, or Russell had not much, difficulty in. evading. The,;-first ' few' rounds were even, but by'the end: of the first term Elliott-established a lead. BusSell .' was showing good defence,-: blocking right' upperouts and . ducking from left swings. .' From the twelfth to tho six-teenth-best work. was i shown by Russell, for lie. did-most, of the'forcing, and scored frequently -with/the,-left.' . Elliott .-weakened perceptibly in the .closing stages,'.and at tho end of tho twentieth term, referee Flariajuh . declared in favour . of, Russell,, the croiv.d'loudly cheering the decision. : Recent Summers Disturbance. :■ On October 6 at the Stadium, Sydney, "Johnny" Summers,- England, 'and: Arthur. Douglas, South ' Africa, each . erstwhile .light-weight champion in-his.'own country, met for 'tho second time. On the previous: occasion,..last April, a 20rounu draw resulted—a decision that pleased'. neither; press nor public, as Douglas was considered to have tfon. The contest was originally sot .down, for O.otobor 5, .but rain intervened, and, though the postponement slightly affected: tne attendance a huge crowd turned, out to see the disturbance. Full particulars are not available' at time of writing, but the bout appears to havebeen a bitter ono, going the full 20 rounds, and eventually resulting in a win for, Summers. Opponent for Johnson—Perhaps. , Under the .heading, "A Prospective Heavy-weight Champion," a recent : New York file, hivs the following:—"At-; the' Public Arena 'Con' O'Kelly, of Syracuse, , a. protege: of 'Tommy' Ryan, and who has been spoken of as one of ,'Jim' Corbett's finds,..who, will .try to, develop him into, a fit opponent for 'Jack' Johnson, and 'Billy' Edwards, the coloured boxor of Pittsburg, were to have fought ten rounds, but. at the finish of the eighth round Referee 'Tom'- Sonley,. of Syracuse, declared O'Kelly the ffinnor. O'Kelly is a native of Dunmanway, Co. Cork, But in late years resided in Yorkshire, where ho became an adept wrestler. He came to this, country to wrestle/ for' the championship of Ireland against 'Con' Connolly, of ' Galway, but tho match was ludicrous. O'Kelly then took up boxing." Jottings. On Monday night "Len" Porter, tho local: light-weight, boxed a draw : with W. Rogers, of Auckland, tho bout being a preliminary to tho Wenand-Green con-, teat. / " ' The Northern (Auckland) Board is putting -on a big tourney at the Theatre' Royal on October 19, when two imported boxers from Australia, with whom negotiations'aro now in progress, are to be .•matched.