BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 253, 18 July 1908, Page 9

BOXING.

(Br Mebctjet.) ' ' COMING EVENTS. August 6,-t-Manawatu B!C. Tourney. August 19 and 20'.—New Zealand Champion* sliips' (Christchurch). September 2 and 3.—Otago B.C. Tourney, (Dunedin). ,' September.—Godfrey-Ireland'- Contest (Opera House). - "Short but sweot." ; This is the expression that best fits the Gosling-Gault bout at the Opera Houso on Mondaynight. It was never, thought, even by the most sanguine of the knowing ones, that the battle would last for. tho fifteen rounds scheduled, but that the end would come so soon was outside the cal- . culations of even tho winner's most ardentadmirers. Personally, knowing how well Gosling was, and what excellent form he had' been showing during his preparation, I expected to see him land the stake, and this ia spite of the glowing reports I had been.! treated to regarding Gault's prowess, and especially of the "dirty" right that he kept handy in case of need. The result has proved' that, those reports were right for there was' nothing of the-lucky swing or fluke about tho blow" that put the Wellingtonian out of business. " It was tho result of a calculated, well laid plan of attack, and the actual blow, .was a clean, hard jolt, well-timed and wellplaced, that would have put any mail out.; When the men appeared, both showed signs of an excellent preparation. The local man took the eyo first, his hack and shoulders' being a picture of good condition, though hisface appeared to me to be rather drawn,, which might, however,' have been the result ' of nervousness. Gault looked rather more than his pound heavier than his opponent,' and lacked his muscularity and wiriuess in: tho legs and body, while his arms appearedto be on the thin side. .His "shape" was ofthe crouching order, squaro on to' his man,;, with the left: rather low and the right welii up', covering his jaw and open, and altogether] he looked -- stiffor and more cramped than' Gosling. Cautiousness marked the opening" stages, with Gosling doing tho small amount' of. forcing there .was,, and the Aucklander. breaking ground. It was in this round that; Dr. M'Lean found it necessary to administer-, a- severe rebuke to. the visitor for hitting in; holts, tho offence being a quick jab for thai sido of the head in a clinch, and he may consider ; himself . fortunate that the penalty stopped where it. did, as the referee would have been quito in-order iii ruling him out' for tho'offence. No doubt the facts that it occurred, so early in tho game,' and that tho questionable: blow did. no damage saved him , for better things, and the general opinion is' that tho caution was all that'-was necessary.' • The second round opened with Gosling' still the aggressor, and Gault slowly, yielding ground until the-former slightly overbalanced, in trying to land a-more or less straight-, left at long range. ,Gault closed in, but was; forced away after a rally , at, close quarters by a- hard , body blow that evidently set him thinking. The: gong' sent them .to' corners with .Gosling .slightly to,the good. - : Tho third and last round was short indeed,,, -but was packed full of incident, and the hopes' of the Wellington, contingent "soared .high ,for: ! the' first, minute. ■'• In'that minute. Gosling; had his man down no fewer .than three times;; ! twice; on. tho'ropes, and the last, time"in, a' . corner; , as-the result of a forceful blow on> the neck. It was whilo he was down on thisi . occasion' that Gault gave, an indication that', ho teas, not'as- bustled as appeared. Tho, to*. - fored had reached "three" m.the count, and, ..the AucHander was "on his knees, when'he', looked up and actually winked at his wait-' ing .adversary. Whether his . insouciancepuzzled Gosling or not, is_ hard to say,; but lie appeared to balk, , as it . were, and in a. flaslr Gault was on his' foot; and, while- the count "four" was in the.air,'he was at Gos- : ling liko a wild cat. Gosling gav.e way, and was driven into the opposite corner and- then' came the. end. . Some sharpexchanges-saw ; Gault's long, left fly out. Gosling . shifted- .hisr; head and raised'his right tp ;block, wlieni'-inj a twinkling, Gault's riglit shot; out • and- upin a wicked half hook, half swing, that landed on the mouth and nose. Tho dropped in his tracks, .and it seemed all over, but tho "smite" was a trifle high for the vital spot, and on the word "eight" he managed to find.his feet again. It was apparent,' however, that he was in a i bad way. Blooa ' was coming freely, from; his nose, he was palpably groggy on,, his legs and dazed, 1 . Mechanically ho tried to smother, but his. 1 opponent. was methodically measuring him for. a finisher, and it . came in'tho same way. Again the long: loft shot out, and, almost: simultaneously, out and up came that wicked' right; and, this time there'was no mistake J The jolt-connected with the jaw,'and, so cer-I tain of its effects was-its dispatcher, that hei . turned away and walked to liis.corner. Gos-j ' ling lay where lie fell, and the curtain went-', down on as sharp and eventful a bout,as has] been seen here since the revival of the'grand] old sport. -I~ saw'the loser'in his dressing-] room -about five minutes'after: the finish, and' ho was then.'quito'recovered' from the effoctal of his gruelling, and I left the two adversaries .shaking hands -on. the best of-, terms.with' ■ one another. . v .. . , , Of the curtain raisers, the welter engage-j ment ; . was decidedly the best. , Parry seems to improve at every appearance, 1 wKle O'Donoghue can evidently be relied on for a clean, 1 open spar, and though fighting a los-j ing battle, he thoroughly earned tho small (, fend of the special prize allotted by the As-'| sociation. The. lire brigade ■ man owed his' victory, to; his left, .having cultivated a'usefulj ' straight stab, that got home on his lengthy ojx, ponent's proboscis, with monotonous regular-': • ity.-It did no-particular damage, but kopfc , O'Donoghue out. of close quarters, tho one department in. which., ho showed an aptitude. to score heavily, chiefly,through. Parry's bad habit of leaving himself , very open after ducking, aud whilst devoting bis'attention to . half arm work on his adversary's body.- On many an occasion a. quick upper " cut-, or ■ smart jab, would have caught him nappjmg, ' but; fortunately for - him,' o'Donogliue failed, to take advantage of the oft-recurring opportunity. ■ ' ' ... Tlio Kerr-Selway bout was a good -deal ofa .disappointment. It will.be remembered; that when the two mot at the, recent provin- ' cial championships Kerr .was disqualified on a- foul during _a -spawthat' promised to be a' 1 bright exhibition, and accordingly a good spectacular - spar .was looked for. It wassought in vain,; however. Tho- remembrance!' of the former engagement evidently weighedqn Selwa'y, and engendered in him a. respectthat had a most cramping effect on his box-'. ing. He clinched, wrestled, and hung on to ; Kerr's arms in a most exasperating manner, aud thoroughly deserved, the admonitions' handed out to him by Dr. M'Lpan. Ouo redeeming' feature wa3 prominent in his", display—a verj' clever duck that nullified.Kerr's left lead,'a long rango blow that comes in very niccly with tho foot, and .which would bo very, telling' if it connected. Kerr did liis best to mako tho "go" open and attract tive. and his recent disqualihcation had its good effect ill'ridding his tactics of anything' questionable. Ho still, however, cuts things .' rather fine.after flooring-his man, and would' bo well'advised to follow out tlio strict rulo on this head, and rctiro straight to his corner. Tho two M'Bandel hoys gave a good turn . in their preliminary, tho eider and smaller boy shoeing great-promise, but I must confess I fail to see'the-good achieved. Theso exhibitions do tho sport no good, and do- • cidedly do tho boys no good Any precocious child is hard to bear with, but the precocious fighting child is awful, aiid he is tho product of constant public appearances. Lot tlio Association encourage tlio boys to box ,by all means—in no way could it foster tho sport better —but not at a big public contest. This is apt to mako tho boys take themselves and their boxing seriously, which is bad for the boxing and worse for- tho boys. -

'A few 1 well-meaning persons are still advocating the adoption" of _ a Canadian- flag. For Canada to insist upon a separate flag : would be tantamount to asking for separation from the British Empire, and that is an unthinkablo contingency.—"Canada." Thero is no house in the, world mora* beautiful - than ,the French chateau •as ono sees it in its perfection, but for the general ■ requirements of life thero is nothing. like • t.ho comfortable English house.—"Town and Country," Now York-.