BOXING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 15, 17 January 1914, Page 16

BOXING.

Writing under date December 5, our London correspondent says: G. M. Chapman, the old Cambridge Rugby Blue and London Hospital footballer, who last week "donned the mittens" to assist the Hospital to uphold its boxing prestige against Oxford University, was in boxing harness again last Monday night The New Zealander represented the Hospital in the middles and light-heavyweight competitions in the annual struggle between Cambridge University B.C. • and the London Hospital B.C. In the middleweight event Chapman was put up against Ward-Price, of St. Catherine's College, and the pair treated the spectators to a rare slogging match. The New Zealander opened the ball in very aggressive style, and Ward-Price joined in the fun with gusto. It was heavy I hitting on both sides, but Ward-Price, though often countered heavily, kept a long left very usefully employed, and certainly had the best of the points by a small margin at the end of the first, round. In the second Chapman made a • ! better showing. He exhibited much bet- ', ter generalship and ringcraft than his i rival, and, whilst not having matters all his own way, certainly wiped ofit all . arrears on points, and wound up with a k balance in hand. Ward-Price fought:. with grim determination, but Chapman's j cleverness frustrated many of the Cantab's efforts to land damaging punches. I When either man did land it hurt the | i recipient, for the exchanges were of the hardest. In the final both seemed a bit tired, but Chapman was the fresher of the two, and, crowding in a lot of work, undoubtedly justified the referee's verdict in his favour.

In the "light-heavy" event the New Zealander was labouring under a stiffish handicap. He was giving away inches in height and reach, and pounds in weight, to Rawson, of Trinity College, and, moreover, a good deal of the steel bad been taken out of him in his gruelling bout with Ward-Price.

The moment Chapman faced Rawson the latter began prodding the New Zealander with his long left, but Chapman weaved in, and in the rallies quite held his own. It was punishing work all the way through the round, and at the finish neither man could claim any material advantage. In the next, essay Rawson relief chiefly on his left, and Chapman, who was evidently tiring fast, seemed quite unable to evade his rival's swift straight leads, which had plenty of power behind them. The Hospital man fought with any amount of grit and determination, but 'Uhe round was Rawson's by a biggish margin. In the final it was, with Chapman, a case of "the spirit willing and tbe flesh weak." In sporting parlance, he could "hardly raise a gallop," and became a target for Rawson's long left. Twice the Trinity man fetched Chapman down with heavy blows, but, though he rose quickly, he could make no show against his opponent, and in the last minute received 6uch punishment that the wonder was he did not collapse under it. At the call of "Time" he was helpless and all but "out." Of course, the verdict went against him, but the splendid pluck he had shown received its reward in the shape of an ovation from the spectators.

Chapman's victory in the Middle class was, by the way, the only chalk scored by the Hospital team, the Cantabs. winning the remaining events,, most >qt thenj easily by the "knock-out route."

Lively scenes were witnessed at the Nouveau Cercle when Jack Johnson, tho coloured boxer, made his reappearance in the ring as a catch-as-catch-can wrestler. An international tournameut had been going on for some weeks at the Nouveau Cercle, and Johnson, when the International Boxing Union deprived him of his title of champion of the world, issued a challenge to any boxer or wrestler. The challenge was accepted by Urbach, the German champion wrestler who was taking part in the Paris contest. The circus was packed and the audience included a great many fashionably dressed ladies. Johnson was greeted with a thunder of applause, and flowers were thrown towards him by ladies when he came to the carpet, while the German, who is regarded by Parisians as a very rough wrestler, was received with hootings, and at the same time was pelted with onions, chocolates, potatoes, etc. At the signal for the start the German "Tiger" made a rush for Johnson, and the black champion at first seemed at a loss, and took up a position as if he was going to box, his fist ready for the German. Urbach, not at all dismayed, went for Johnson with both fists, and struck him hard in the chest. Johnson jumped out, but did not answer. This created a scene in the circus, people hooting Ur : bach, and shouting to Johnson. "Knock him out. Jack! Kill him!" But within a few minutes Johnson had recovered himself, and catching the German by one leg, to the intense delight of the audience, kept him jumping about on one foot for some time till the two men fell. During the fifteen minutes that the first round lasted the German kept on hitting the black man with his fists and elbows, thus causing a terrific uproar. Finally Johnson got Urbach by the neck, and made his two shoulders touch the mat, and was declared the winner. The secontl round lasted only eight minutes," Johnson Catching Urbach by the neck once more, and flooring him. The defeated German refused to shake hands with Johnson.

Yes, I guess f dtar drop Dave Smith with a left hook, says Eddie MeGoorty in a recent interview. Pretty well all my contests have been won by this famous punch of mine. I suppose it is not hot air when I say it is a wonderful punch. I very seldom fail in bringing it off, and when I do bring it off I am as confident as I possibly can be of dropping my man. If it lands correctly on the spot I mean it to, this always happens. There are left hooks and left hooks, but mine is the left hook. When I met Jimmy Clabby I had him down twice in the first round. I snapped him twice with the left hook. He took it, and fell. I don't know how many other men I have put it over on —there are so many, T just can't remember at present. But still what you want to know is exactly how I do it, I suppose. Well, it's like this:

First of all, let mc say that to bring any punch off successfully you must get your man into position to land it. I mean to say baulk him if you can, and place him just where you want him, and then hand it to him. The rest is easy. .Now, with this left hook of mine, I fiddle around my man for a while, and baulk him into a left lead to my head. I might even ! go so far as to let Mm land on my face a couple of times. This I would do with the sole object of making him lead this same blow at mc again. Now you 1 can bet your life on it that if a man hits mc with a straight left once he is bound to try again. As he does I throw his left lead aside with my right hand, as you will notice in the picture. In doing so, my man naturally carries his bead across with his arm. This is a .natural consequence. Now this is -wh*t

I have been playing for. As sure as I get him in that position, he is mine, and £ guess I can hand him a, sleeping ! draught pretty well right away. As 11 have said, I have thrown his left across . and his bead goes across with it. As he does this I left hook to the jaw, at the same time carrying my body slightly forward and down to the right My fist, of course, is clinched hard, my thumb is up, and my knuckles are to. the back or left side, when I land on my objective. I do this punch much more as a counter than as a lead. Sometimes, of course, I do lead, but if I can get my man to lead his left at mc, glance it aside, and then left hook him to the chin, he is going to help mc a lot by tossing his head across to the right," and meeting my fist squarely.

I suppose it is a fine thing to have one good punch like this- even if you haven't got another one, but it is not good to have to rely solely on a blow of this description. I mean to say, that you should not sacrifice your right hand for your left, or your left' lor the right, but I guess you had better play solidly with both of them, right through. Of course, you can bet some Hollars on it that when I meet Dave Smith on New Year's Night for the middleweight boxing championship of the -.vorld I arm going to play pretty hard to repeat my left • hook stunt that I brought off so successfully in America. I might get him, and I might not, but I will be after him all the while. Say! You'll all be there to see it won't you?

MeGoorty was successful with his stunt for the second time, and it is evidently no fluke punch.