THE McVEA-LANGFORD BATTLE.

AND "SNOWY" BAKER'S

DECISION,

(By "The Amateur," r-n the i • "Referee.") j

With Jack Johnson out of the business for good and aye, Sam Langford and Sain McVea fought for the heavy-weight championship of the world at the Stadium yesterday morning., McVea, whether Johnson withdrew from the arena or not,'was entitled to claim the distinction by reason of the default of the holder of th^/crown, who signed an agreement with McVea and Mr. H. D. Mclntosh --the latter as promoter—to come to "ydney and meet McVea, bat weakening on his contract —probably 1 hrbugh having, become so burly and ':.n owing that his more than twelve onths life of leisure had placed him ;cyond the possibility o f. ever striking anything like good condition again—the previous holder of the title let his covenant go by the board, not deigning to even beg to be excused of to apologise. ,

Sam Langford had achieved, greater fame than Sam MeVea. because while the former was always In the forefront of the pugilistic swim where it is strongest, the latter buried himself athletically for four years In Paris, where little or no boxing was done until 'comparatively recently. McVga certainly mqre than held his 6Wti l?here,: but the opportunities for making money and enhancing reputa-, tion were, in the French capital, not, be-, compared with those offered in America, and on this account the impression sot abroad .that McVea had, though still a young man., reached the end of his athletic tether, and wanted to get his money and successes a bit easier than was possible where competition was keen. Nevertheless, McVea fought several great contests before French crowds, among them one, five or six months ago, With Sam Langford, arid it was the knowledge, that the pair had then gone to a draw, according :d the ye-_ feree. which' provided yesterday's battle with much of its glamor.

Possibly the Stadium lias not held a greater crowd, since Jack .Johnson and Tommy Burns met hi Use same ring three years ago. From as early asj 4 o'clock in the. mbrning people were gathering on the outside of the enclosure, and at 6 o'clock, when the sates were thrown open, there was a great rush to reach the inside. ,

"However, the fight's the thing. I will say right now that a more manly contested or cleaner battle has not been seen in Sydney for many a day. There was little clinching. That is absolutely unavoidable, but never a moment did either hit while holding, arid only once did the referee feel called upon to administer a caution, and then it was the mildest of reproofs, and in connection with a happening that was plainly an accident.

The pity is that so great and generously waged a contest should have been marred by such a glaringly wrong decision' as the verdict in Sam McVea's. favour. I cannot recall more than a few cases when a ring ruling bad so little justification.

Sam Langford finished with a hatful of points to the good. Only in two or three rounds did McVea hold an advantage, and then the margin was by no means wide, and as he tired palpably during the latter half of the journey, and his right was jianging,- or nursed, like a "wounded Wing—evidently maimed In some way—his ability to score was considerably lessened.

From end to end Langford followed his man, and forced the fighting In season and out of reason, and used both hands freely, while MoVea rarely brought the right Into action, and the clever government of that left which has placed him where he is to-ddc. and won admiration from all of us, was not anything like so much a feature of yesterday's contest as it was. of those wfcerpin.-McVts.i and "Lang and McVea and Lester figured, for Langford skilfully blocked the majority of the blows, and what he did not stop altogether had much of their force broken. ' * .

I cannot uriderstapd what Snowy Baker was thinking about. I have always looked upon him ns one of the most capable refereps we havn had for many a day, and that fact has been published in this journal over p.nrl over again, but he certainly-did make what, in the iac«? of happenings, was a most unaccountable blunder, the blam*»- for which may perhaps be cost at thf> door of the admitted fact that the bost of <us get away from ourselves nov/ and v asain. I'll be bound that there was no other group of people ri.?W through" the whole enclosure more surprised thrvn. McVpa and his "corner." For the moment it appeared to take their breath away, they had. no doubt, given ur> all hope several rounds before, as evidence Billy L'.frClain's outburst when he lifted "Knowv" Baker off his feet, and Sam .'vFcVea going over specially and 1 hanking Ino referee for the ruling: Boxers and their seconds never do those thines unless tlmy get something in the nature of a-windfall. - '■'■-~

I havo-heard Snows* leaker render many decision 3 which, only a thorough good judge'of the game could give, ned of tea a larsre percentage of the r^octatorg. liave been against him in. hir, sizing-mi when the ruling: was the dnly possible one commensurate with fairness; .--• ■ -■.:'"> ; ?

As , readers of the "■Rerereo" should know by now, none gives the third man in the ring more osslslau.ee and applause than I do. bacaus'j his position is anything but an enviable one,' especially when he acts before such mixed gatherings as all cities provide, and nearly every man of which has his own ideas as to how points should be reckoned up, consequently it grieves me very much to have to v/rite as I do now, and concerning one who is/and has been for -many years--past, a persounl friend. Possibly only a few hundreds of that immense'throng of people refrained from demonstrating against the referee's pronouncement.

It was 10 minutes past ten when the fight began; the,gloves had been inspected and tossed for, and air concerned had shaken Tiand3 previously. Langford was in his s^eat about a quarter of an hour before Sam McYea appeared, and he sat there the coolest looking person of nil that vast assemblage, possibly, in one sense, because he was more scantily clad, and in another because he was too well seasoned in ■'such things to become, heated or excited. With Langford wenr his trainer. "D.ukf" Mullins. rubb'ors McQueen and "T.iver" Davis, and sparring partner Colin Bell.

Sam McVea's approach v,-as like that of some Indian potentate. Giant statured Peter Felix appeared first, along the track from the dressingrooms, bearing high above his bond a huge umbrella of Eastern design. then followed his principal, robed in a garment rich with fantastic devices. Next came- Billy McClain, picturesquely rigged up as usual, with long-pince-fdrgotten Tom Mitchell, Mark Higgins, and Alf Goodwin.

sf McVea gave his weight as 14st 31b and Langford stated that ne scaled I2st 21b. - Langford certainly looked small alongside his two^ stone heavier, and, at legist, five inches taller adversary. Langford is only sft jSiri high. Sir. W. T. Kerr, as is usual on special occasions, held the watch. As already stated the battle was a good, clever one indeed—interesting always, and exciting frequently. Sam McVea and his opponent, Sam Langford, proved as manly fellows in the ring as Sydney has found them everywhere else. Despite the disparity apparent in height and weight it did not look at all an uneven match owing to the fine spread of shoulder so strongly knob-topped and the deep chest Langford possesses. Never have I seen two men who exhibited better condition, except for the fact that Lahgford stuck out just a little more bulge about the front of the waistband than seemed good for him. For the most part Sam McVea was content to use that long lance-like left of his, and he often brought it to bear as a hook, but rarely was the right unshipped, even when the openings appeared easy. Langford batr tied along with both hands, and certainly served out a good deal of punishment. Often when trapped into trouble, or upon receiving a little extra dose of thump through his.opponent's wiliness or wariness, a big smile spread over McVea's face, not the golden grin of Jack Johnson, but just that sort of thing which a goodtempered person exhibits when he or she has been caught in a game, or any other way. Langford slipped down to all fours in the third round after a little bit 6f scrambling," but he stood up immediately,* and fought the time through. I thought such an experienced fellow as he might have taken full advantage of the count. In the 10th round, during some lively play, McVea's head collided severely against Langford's right eyebrow, and a lump as big as an ordinary egg soon showed out, but the sight was not affected till several rounds afterwards. As the iaflammation spread so the vision was obscured, until Langford came out for the 19th round it could be plainly seen that it was shutters up for him. Peculiarly enough the same thing occurred in Paris when the same two met there. Then Langford's right eye closed immediately in the 19th round owing to the many visitations of McVea's left to that quarter, but the cause was, for the most part, different this time, as has already been explained. The speed of the bout slackened off some in the 11th round, though they afterwards fought v/ith the same quickness in spurts. Sam McVea plainly tired, at this stage, and was worse two or three rounds later; and Langford's stamina petered out noticeably in the last few rounds, albeit he still kept going and leading, too.