SQUARED RING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 39, 25 November 1937, Page 3

SQUARED RING

MATTER OF POINTS. HOW BOXING IS JUDGED. (By “Referee.”) It is fairly frequently that spectators at boxing shows voice' their disapproval at verdicts rendered by the referee, but that is usually because they are not conversant with the proper method of judging points, writes J. T. Hulls in an English publication. Bad verdicts by experienced officials are few and far between. The following notes have been written with the object of showing the different points considered by a referee or judge in arriving at his decision and helping spectators to judge for themselves. It is laid down in the rules that marks shall be allowed for direct clean hits with the knuckle part of the glove of either hand on any part of the front or sides of the head, or body above the belt; and for guarding, slipping, ducking, counter-hitting or getting away. On paper it looks an easy matter to judge a bout, but the average spectator appears to find it very difficult to distinguish between hits with the open glove and hits with knuckle part. The modern referee naturally does not award points for open and inside of the glove hitting, but he does not deal so severely with the offenders as the official of pre-war days. The public do not always realise that a boxer is guilty of the technical foul of faulty hitting if the referee does not caution him. Many spectators run away with the idea that because a man is forcing the fighting he is doing most of the scoring; but very often the reverse is the case. Some boxers are exceptionally cleVer at leading a man on and punishing him when he advances. At infighting it is often very difficult to tell which boxer is doing the better work. The boxer may be punching with both hands, but one may be stopping the blows on his gloves and -forearms thus nullifying the efforts of his opponent. Marks are given for defence, but it is not good defensive work if a boxer, after making his opponent miss, is not in a position to do something on his own account. The better man in a round ig given a total of five marks, and the other a proportionate number. It is in working out this proportion that so many differences of opinion occur. The rules say that in cases when competitors are otherwise equal the majority of marks shall be given to the boxer who does most of the leading off, or who displays the better style. The Farr Surprise. How far out most American critics were over Tommy. Farr is shown by a selection of their opinions by a London paper on the eve of his fight with Joe Louis, who won a close decision on points. Only one of the 15 chosen gave the Welshman the slightest hope. “No matter what Americans think,’’ he wrote, “I warn them that Farr will give Louis plenty of trouble with his left hand, which at times is magnificent.” The general opinion was reflected in these two views; “Farr’s victories over! Baer, Neusel and Foord would not get) him a preliminary bout in this country. He will be belted out quickly . . . 1 “Nothing Farr has done would stamp him as a fighter apt to cause Louis more inconvenience than another night away from the family circle.” But the crowning error —and that with the fight behind him—was that of the referee, who gave Farr one round. It i 9 reported that he will not act in future title matches. Just a Show. Joe. Louis, the new heavyweight champion of the world, says that his public training for the titular fight was “just a show,” and that his real pre- ; paration went on behind the scenes. At least that is the story he told his mother. “I was afraid when I heard those stories from your training camp,” his mother said as she awaited Joe’s story , of his puzzling and unimpressive show- j ing before his bout with Jim Braddock. | “Shouldn’t believe all those things, ■ mum,” Joe said, “cause that was just ; a show. I didn’t want to hurt my , hands, so I didn’t fight much in camp. ] I did all my work on the road in the ] morning. . < “Every moment on the road I practised going backward,” he said. “Like j Gene Tunnev did. And I shadow- , boxed, learning to keep my. hands up there/ That was the most important ( thing. What happened at camp was j just a show.” 1 Back to the Circus. , Primo Camera is “right back where | he started from,” as a popular song i of the olden days would tell us. Some- ; body saw him recently in Italy, and he is with a little, one-horse circus doing j much the same job as he was before ] Leon See picked him up and made him j a champion of the world. i Poor Primo never got that money, ] or at least not very much of it. So he i was forced' to return to his native land - and take a job which certainly pay him more than £.2 10s a week. Camera was once the strong man of a circus. He isn’t even that any more, i Ho helps roll up the canvas when a ; show is ended and he occasionally gives exhibitions of the punch with which he won the world’s championship.

Hit Where You Like. What is to be made of boxing in the United States P In the film of the Braddock-Louis fight, you hear the referee, instructing his men, say: The foul rule is" waived.” In other words, he says: “Hit where you like, boys— anything counts.” Happily, neither Braddock in the hour of his humiliation, nor Louis in his triumphant justification of the coloured races, made the slightest attempt to profit by the pernicious “no foul” rule.