BOXING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 7, 13 February 1914, Page 2

BOXING.

RECENT HAPPENINGS. MURPHY'S HARD f LUCK. , It was hard luck for Denny Murphy, that he injured his left hand in his contest with Barney Ireland at New Plymouth on Wednesday •everting; ; for the middleweight championship of the Dominion, and had to retire in the fifth round. The result was not altogether satisfactory to Ireland either, although he has now, by means of the accident, regained the championship which he lost to Murphy last year. A HURRIED DEPARTURE. An aroma that is certainly not fragrant clings to Sam Langford's name in America nowadays. It seems that Langford rang three faked fights on to the American publie, which then decided not to fall for any more. Hence the " Tar Baby's" hurried departure for France. Langford has very . little ~ getting a return match with- 1 Smith. There is not the slightest demand for it in any of America's boxing centres. In California, which is, the only State in which a decisive battle could be arranged, it is taken for granted that Langford is no longer able to put .up a really high-class exhibition. His showing against Jack Lester convinced the far Coast • critics that his best days are ancient history, and Gunboat Smith's victory is accepted at its face value. ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE. Another great fighter , of the past has crossed the Great Divide. .Twenty years or so ago Jack Burke, an American, whose right name was George Campbell, was one of the most famous men in the arena. To-day he is numbered with the dead, for he passed away a few weeks ago, in the States. On April 6, 1893, at New Orleans, Burke fought with Andy Bowen a draw that established itself as the longest [glove contest on record. The pair battled for 110 rounds, occupying seven I hours and 19 minutes.

i THE AMERICAN INVASION. f Sydney's/ s latest -boxing-promoting syndicate, ~fclre' Olympia pany, has takeiii :; -a.' ■tion of American boxerSf'f "pugs'.f. ; ifrom the United Sullivan and G&arlie Horn, ha,ye arrived ;in Sydney under contract to? the cpmspany. : Sullivan is about sft lOiin in height, '2B years of age, and can fight at 1601b. Sullivan has two over Frank ' 2£antell. v Horn is 22 yetffe of age,lis a»Qjit>X3 stojte.. 'anidrk--half years, and at the beginning of his experience gained a number of knockouts. He fought a draw with Gunboat Smith, after having previously been beaten by Smith. Horn accounted for Jack Xester last year in a 20-round bout.

It is rumoured that Harry Pelkey, the ■' white hope,' \ who was into the .limelight by Tommy Burns, but whose slumped somewhat afterwards, has also entered into a contract' with the Olyrnpia people. THE TWO SMITHS. When the last mail to hand left Sydney there was some doubt as to whether Jeff Smith, the American middle-weight, who has gone to Australia under engagement to '' Snowy'' Baker, will be able to fight Dave Smith on v February 21, the date arranged by the Sydney Stadium, management. In a contest with Bernard, the Frenchman, in Paris, three or four months ago, Jeff Smith broke a bone in his |jft, j hand, but won the fight. Subsequently the hand was hurt again, and it is quite probable that the injury will not have tended sufficiently for fighting by the 21st; * . FROM OBSCURITY TO FAME. By the way, Jeff Smith is an example of a man without honour in his own country, going abroad and gaining renown., in his chosen vocation. Commenting on this, Sam C. Austin, the. well-, known boxing authority of New York, said, just before Smith left for. ;..Aus-. tralia: —"Jeff Smith, of Bayonne, New jersey, a middle-weight boxer, was comparatively little known, and certainly was in no wise distinguished or con? spicuous. He fought a few fights here with obscure opponents, and never apparently aspired to any very great 'pugilistic distinction. He might have shone, with great brilliancy in the fistic orb T had the opportunity been afforded him,.but he was not in favour with the matchmakers, and all his efforts to prove his claims to consideration were fruitless, and so he went abroad under the direction of a manager who had ability and influence, with the ypsult that Jeff Smith of Bayonne, N.J., who couldn't get a match here, is one of the pugilistic idols of the French .capital, sharing that distinction with Carpentier, the champion. The latest from Al. Lippe, his manager, says Smith t has been crowned champion in ,and will be presented with a belt woyth S2OOO, made by a noted sculptor.

M'GOORTY FOR LONDON.;!,' It. seems that Eddie the American. middle-weight, put the ''.lndian sign" on Dave Smith twice, will not stay long in Australia. He will leave for London on March 18, tosmeet Bandsman Blake, the latest of England'®: hopes, at .-the National Sporting Club on There are also strong hopes ! of a contest between M'Goorty and Georges Garpentier being held -at Dublin in July. ! LAMB OR GOOD BEEF? A lot of people will be asking:' Who is Bandsman Blake? The bandsman is the most recent product of the army school of boxing to be shoved into I ' the limelight, but he has not been rdallly tested yet. He may be only another of the '' false alarms'' that poor old England has been producing in the heavyweight division in late years, and he may be a really good man. No one can say yet, with any sincerity, whether he

is good or bad. Let u£ Lope he is good, for the Motherland sadly needs a decent heavy-weight, now that Bombardier Wells has become but the memory of a meteor.

Englishmen are very sanguine that Bandsman Blake'wilt turn out to be a tbp-notcher. But what in the world they to go upon at present? There's the rub. A few weeks ago the bandsman was pitted against the Dixie Kid, the negro welter-weight, who has been in the game so long that not only his age, but even his real name, has been forgotten. Because the bandsman won, he was looked upon as a possible avenger of Bombardier Wells's defeats by Carpentier. But better metal than the Dixie Kid is needed to test Blake's ability.. ' - THE DIXIE KID'S DEFEAT. However, let's to the fight. Here is what seems to me to be one of the most dispassionate accounts of the contest; it is from the London correspondent of "The Australasian": —"In thW, his first contest with a really good man, Blake had a pull of 161b in the weights, scaling list 101b against lOst 81b, and a tremendous advantage in the matter of age, being 21 years of age, while the Dixie Kid has long passed his prime. The.'Kid' has fought some good-fights —perhaps the most notable in view of recent events being his knock-out victory in five rounds over Carpentier two years ago, when, however, the young Frenchman was but a shadow of his present self—and he has a well-earned reputation as a crafty and subtle boxer. The present contest was won by the Englishman in the most decisive fashion, failing a knock-out. Blake forced the pace from the start by rushing the American to the ropes, and jabbing at the ribs round after round, and in the sixth, round he gotjiis left on the. point* At the end of the seventh, round he shook up the' ' Kid' with a left-hander on the chin, and by half-time it was apparent that the latter's only chance, of victory was a knock-out. Weight, however, was beginning to tell, and the darkie had not enough left in him to force an opening. In the twelfth round Blake brought his man to his knees for the first time, and floored hhn again in the succeeding round. The 'Kid' endeavoured to rally, but it was a feeble effort, and the only question was whether the bandsman would adminis.ter *a ' kirock-(vut -blbw.' Caption' prevailed, and the contest went the full i length, Biake wifijiing handsomely on .points.v.' V I A M'FARLAND AGITATION, What is Packey M 'Farland—grand master of boxing now that Jim Driscoll is out of the ring—going to do? The question is agitating American fighffe fans considerably. Two stories about Pack6y havey ijust of 'the. States. One is that the great little Chicago boxer has decided to give up ' posing as a light-weight and to enter [the welter-weight ranks instead. The i other story is that M'Farland has announced his intention of retiring from

the ring, and that the announcement may be sincere because of some trouble that the stockyards terror got into recently. This trouble arose from- a ten rounds bout with Jack Britton at Milwaukee, in the State of Wisconsin. The bout caused a nice little hubbub. First of all, Britton's manager roared long and loudly about the weighing arrangements. He accused M'Farland of coercing the officials who controlled the match, into allowing him to take an unfair advantage over Button in the matter of weights. It is asserted that while Britton ' weighed in at 9st 91b, M 'Farlaml was allowed to fight without announcing his weight, and that he scaled something in the neighbourhood of list lib. But this fuss over weights was overshadowed by the features of the contest itself, for M'Farland was held to a draw in a bout characterised by rough tactics and poor boxing of both boys with, it is said, 'M'Farland the chief offender. In the ninth round the crowd yelled to the boys to fight, not to slap. It was a case of butting and

wrestling, M 'Farland, in the mix-up, going almost through the ropes. Britton turned Packey around with a* left to the head. Packey was groggy, 'but [Britton was too. tired to follow up his advantage. Both fighters were bleeding profusely. In the last round Britton almost knocked Packey to the mat with his first blow, and they exchanged hard punches to the face and" body. Britton again brought blood from Packey's mouth, but M'Farland was mixing it hard at the finish.

SUSPENDED FOR A YEAR. There were not only nastly whispers after that bout. The Wisconsin State Boxing Commission took action, and suspended M'Farland for a year for general miseonduct in connection with the fight; The general ropinion was that M'Farland deserved " the sentence, although it was the first time that he had ever come under the ban of any boxing body* or under the .shad.ow of suspicion of having faked a fight. But a rather curious aspect of the affair is that the New York State Athletic Commission, which has jurisdiction over boxing in the Premier State, and whose rules and actions are the recognised precedent which guides the proceedings of similar bodies governing the sport in other States, took no official cognisance of the Wisconsin ruling in. M'Farland's ease. The opinion of "the fancy" was that the Wisconsin suspension would not be. upheld in New York. But it is a regrettable affair. Whether Packey deserves his suspension in Wisconsin or not, 'twould be a great pity if he retired from the ring, for he is. one of the greatest little boxers who ever put on a glove. He has been fighting,for some ten years, but he is only 26 years old, and he lives so carefully that he must have many j years of boxing activity left in. him yet. Had it not been for his. being just, a trifle too heavy for fighting as a light-weight, without weakening himself in the reduction of poundage, the Chicago lad-wouM Have had his name on the list of world's light-weight champions long before this. Indeed, he has been an unofficial champion. "Let him come in at a weight that suits him, and he is the most dangerous man who ever put on a glove," was what Freddy Welsh said of M'Farland. Such a man is too good to lose from the ring when in his prime. Packey can .afford to rektire, for he is estimated have at : least £40,000 but no one who loves boxing wishes JumrtO' i retire yet. • V; .-V " ' I ..... u. A! L.' chappell. '