BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 972, 12 November 1910, Page 12

BOXING.

(By "Mctcury.") A CHARACTERISTIC BIT OF JOHNSON. He Talks Battle With Langford. A cablegram received during the week brought the' news that champion Jack Johnson was to bo matched shortly in Paris, either with Joe Jeanctte or Sain Langford, for a. purse of .£4OOO aside. The American letter in the "Referee" contains news of a meeting at Boston between Johnson and Langford, in which mat ?rs in connection with a match wero discussed with some aspdrity, but the parties appear to have parted without doing any business. As might have been expected, tho end of the conference was hurried by the personal element being introduced in a discussion of the deposit. Johnson wanted each to hang up 1000 dollars, to be forfeited if either withdrew while Langford wanted a side bet of 20,000 dollars put up by each man at once. Specimen of the Dialogue. Johnson declined to "see" this hhiff, and, in the ensuing argument, talked this way: . "I fought vou onco iind beat you, didn t I?" "I was a baby then," said Sam, m sepulchral tones. "Well, I'll make you look like a baby again," sneered Johnson, and then Sam's eyes snapped. Jumping across the Toom until lie was in front of Johnson, he shook his finger right under the' champion's nose, and yelled: ' "You've been handing out this kind of stuff long enough. You said last nigh', you'd be here to make a match with me, and now you're crawling. You don't want to fight-me, and you •know it. "Aw, listen to me, child," said Jack, assuming a fatherly tone. "I'm willing to give you a match, but I'm the champion, and don't have to put up till.you do. I'd fight you without a side-bet, Sam Langford, but you know as'.well as I do that black* men never draw anything. You don't see any club offering 20,000 dollars, 30,000 dollars, or 40,000 , dollars for a match, do you? Now, my time is worth money. I'm getting two thousand dollars a week in the show-business, and that's why I want a side-bet. If anyone comes along with an offer of 50,000 dollars for the match' I'll take you on without a • side-bet. That's my proposition. When I was looking for fights before I was champion they made mo put up my own money. Now, you've got to do the same. I don't think you mean business. Time is money with me, and if you're not going to do anything, I'll bid you good-day.' True to his word, Jack took his departure, but before going said he would be reacly to cover Langford's money at any time w.lien notified it was up.

Will They Meet? Johnson has summed the position up exactly. One certainly does not see the promoters putting up the purses of 40,000, 30,000, or even 20,000 dollars in the States—for one reason, as he says, black men arc not a draw,'and, again, things have not yet simmered down after the late unpleasantness at Reno. Now, in Paris, there is a boom in boxing,. and again black men are a draw, as"" witness the Sam il'Vea-Joc Jeanette vogue. Therefore, if Johnson's theatrical engagement is at an end (which is likely' by now) it is quite probable that the purse (20,000 dollars) offered in Paris would tempt him. If Langford is_ as. keen as he has i pretended to be, this looks like his chance. He is the man the public want to see meet 'the champion, in preference tc Jeanette, who has never failed to prove himself a second-rater when given an . opportunity, and who has been whipped already by Johnson on more than one occasion. .

Papke in Australia. Preparatory to his contest with world's champion "Billy" Papke, at the Stadium, "Dave" Smith, the New' Zealand t exmiddleweight amateur .champion, is to meet "Ted" ''Whiting in ; Brisbane tonight. Whiting is the Victorian "middle" who recently pleased' the critics by the business-like, manner in which he disposed of Albert Scanlan, the red-headed Queenslander, once seen in action here. This should prove a good "pipe-opener" for Smith, who is apparently the only boxer iu the "middle' division in -Australia capable of keeping Papke busy— and it is to be feared that the American will not-be overworked, even with Smith. On Wednesday night (if all went as scheduled), Eudolf tlnholz and the American "Cyclone Johnny" Thompson settled their littlo differences in Sydney. From what, we have heard of Unholz, and what We saw ourselves when he met Tracy, he is a bit of a whirlwind himself. Therefore the meeting with the imported "Cyclone" should have , been fraught with rather startling results. Details of the phenomena should be availablo next week.

Local Man "Making Good." The Palmerston tourney seems to have been a great success, and it has had the effect of adding another scalp to the belt of Ellis, the local "bantam" chimpion, hut a "bantam" no longer. Ellis, has had a surprisingly successful career so far. Ho opened tnis season as a novice. As a pupil of Eichards's Pastime Club, he appeared for the first time in the Provincial Championships, and won. His next big essay was the Now Zealand title, which he.also annexed. He _ was then chosen to represent tho Dominion in the "bantam" class in the Australian championships, but failed to make the weight, and could not box. Since then .he has turned his attention to the "feathers," and has "cleared up" all that he has met so far, finishing to date, on Tuesday last, with W. Shields, the Palmerston lad, who was runner-up for the Australasian title. In a match in London between Petty Officer Curran, and Smith, two English "heavies" of repute, the referee delivered a verdict of "No' contest" in the twelfth round, owing to tho continual clinching indulged in by the boxers. This is establishing an excellent precedent.