BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 12

BOXING.

woeld's Middle-weight championships.

, (By "Morcury.-'l

February 23.—W.8.A. Tourney (Pctone). When the last Australian mail left Sydney, a hitch had occurred in tho preliminary arrangements of tho Davo SmithBilly Papko match for tho world's middleweight supremacy. As was stated here last week,", I'apk'o had accepted Smith's challenge to meet at the "middle" limit, and had covered Smith's deposit of .£IOO. It was over tho timo of weighing that tho parties failed to agree. The New Zealander insisted that the weights should bo "ringside," whilo the American was equally determined upon a noon "weighin." Both sides were obdurato at latest advices, henco the deadlock. It must ibe confessed that Smith's attitude is rather incomprehensible. In the first place,, precedent is entirely against him in his demands. It is a.world-wide custom that tho weighing in for championship matches should tako. place ■ at noon on' tho convincing day, or at two o'clock 'at the latent. -The-reasons ; for: this are obvious. -Most;championship aspirants have a certain degree of trouble in "making" their weight limits, and it i 3 known that tho carrying of; tho "wasting" process right tip to the moment of tho battle is extromoly bad, not only for the health of tho boxer,' which may or may not matter except to himself, but .winch also has a bad effect on the actual contest, which matters pretty considerably. On the other hand, a mid-day "weigh-in" enables a boxer who may have had to get his weight off in a weakening degree to recuperate during the afternoon, and only those who have experienced it can appreciate the building-up qualities of a good meal ': and a sleep under theso: circumstances. Moreover, it is not as ;if the Maorilander could make list. 41b. more easily than tho American,' Fromwhat is known of tho weight of Smith and his antagonist, both would have considerable trouble in- making the list. 4lb. and being well. When they met previously on the occasion of Smith's victory, the-match was niado at list, ,111b., and Smith must .have then been at -his best, ■:• Certainly it : doe3 not look as though he was carrying half;, a stone of sunerlluous' flesh. Still, it is to bo presumed that he knows his business.' The boxer's axiom, "A match'well made is half won," has hitherto been writ large on the ox-Otagoan's engagements, and it 'may be'that'theroiis more than is generally known behind his actions. At the same timo it would, not ben. matter, for a .great deal of''Surprise''if' th'o"outc6mo of the deadlock was the abandonment of tho fixture as .a championship engagement'arid tho substitution in its stead of a match between the men on. the samo conditions, as regards weight, as their previous meeting.

, Apropos of the middle-weight championship title, "Boxing" publishes the following statement by Fanke concerning Sam Langford's claim to the honour. Papko says:—"Sain Langford can claim all tho titles ho wants to, but it is another question about being recognised'as champion.- Langford never was' middleweight champion, and. never will be; if I can prevchtit', : for,he will havo'ho match :with me.'"'Not that I fear him in the :lcast, but'because I- will ' not fight' a coloured man, and furthermore I. do not beliovo that Samuel could make 1581b. ringside to save his life!" However, that would make no difference, for, as I said before, I will'not meet a coloured man, and that goos for all time.' Tho only middle-weight Langford , ever met was Stanley Kotchol;'and he weighed-at least 201b. more than Ketchel. He is a goodsized heavy-weight, with not tho height of Jack Johnson, and that is whore ho belongs. Let the coloured men fight between themselves, and tho whites can do likewise. And, despite all the talk, I would make a wager that Langford, 'cannot make the middle-weight limit—lsßlb. ringside. Ketchel was the holder of tho title, and recognised.as such the, world over. •' I knocked him out' once, and he did the same to me. Then we fought a fierce 20-round battle. The title is mine, and I will defend it against all whito challengers." ; ~.: ,

"Dick" Arrist's, Now Sphere. ' Recently a cablo from Sydney, informed us that Dick Arnst was taking up boxing, leaving Ins sculling as a sido line to fall : back on whenever a match turned up. Now American files to hand state that theintelligence that Arnst is going into training with a view to ultimately meeting Jack Johnson has been received with great satisfaction in the States. The publication of this news frees "Mercury" ; from a bond •. of secrecy imposed upon him with regard to this matter by tho big sculler. Just prior to leaving for Sydney Artist told tho writer that ho had received' an offer to show in tho "halls" at a very tempting salary indeed, the amount of which ho mentioned, but which ho may not wish to be mado public, for a twenty weeks' engagement, with a possible extension to forty weeks if tho entorpriso turned out right. His turn was simply to poso as tho man who was going. to fight Johnson. Tho offer of course was an American one, and negotiations' wcra conducted through Mr. TV S. Andrews, tho American journalist, who' recently visited Now Zealand and Australia. At tho timo Arnst asked'tho writer not to mako tho matter public until it had been fixed up, in caso of tho negotiations falling through, but nowapparcntly the business is au fait accompli, and no harm can bo dono by publicity. Vfho news on the American sido must have come from Mr. Andrews, and is evidently to prepare tho way for the bursting or. tho new star into tho American music hair firmament. Match-Maklng Sllmness. To go back to the affairs of "JJavo" Smith. On Saturday night last, unless something unexpected intervened, he met "Cyclone" Johnny Thompson at tho Stadium, and a ternfio onslaught must have ensued, tho result of which, however, has not vet .reached us.' A feature of this content is worthy of remark, and that is the light it throws upon the match-mak-ing "slimness" of Hie Americans'in tho earlier stages of their visit before their artfulness' in this direction was dropped to by tho guileless Australian "pug." Hero" we have Thompson, who camo out as' a light-weight, and an American light-weight at (hat—that is to say, n 9st. "lb. Man—meeting "Dave" Smith. Contrast this witli his first match against poor littlo Rudolph Unhols, fighting at 9st. 121b., and whom Thompson met on exactly tho some terms regarding weight as ho is now meeting tho man who beat tho middle-weight champion of tho world, fighting half a stono bigger than his class —and that with a very fair chance of success Can it lie wondered at that Unholy packed his bag and went back to America? Tho wonder is that ho ever eamo out of tho ring. To-night,.by the wnv, Thompson meets "Joe Costa, tho well-known Sydney "light heavy," and a brother of tho late lamented "Barney' Kician, tho'great swimmer. "Writ" Sarcastic: A Kissing Cpmpetitlon." • At--tho. Sydusy Stadium, the South African, Arthur Douglas, beat "Sid" Sul-

livan on points recently in a contest at which the "Daily Telegraph" scribe jeers as follows:— "Douglas and Sullivan fought tho usual 20 rounds, and when Keferoo Baker gave the decision in favour of Douglas about half of perhaps 2000 spectators thought ho was n very good judge. The other half expressed the view that lie should take a rest from refcreeing, that as a referee ho was about 17 kinds (mostly unfit for publication) of a failure as an official called on to judge between the merits of men who had "fought for an hour, men who, so far as apparent damage went, might have been engaged in a kissing competition. The writer, who was sorry to have to bo there at all, was satisfied with tho decision, lie would have ten just as pleased if Sullivan had been proclaimed winner. He would hove settled the business by putting three slips in a hat, one having the name of 'Douglas' written on it, tho second with 'Sullivan' on it, and tho third with 'a draw' as an inscription. Then ho would havo selected a small child from the audience (so that there could be no decention), and command him to take his pick from the thrco folded slips. If the name of cither boxer had been drawn by the intelligent child at least. 1000 persons would have been in accordance with the decision, and this method would have this advantage, that thero could be only one chance in three that tho adjudicator would "be regarded by the entire crowd as a hopeless imbecile. Mr. Baker, doubtless, had sufficient reasons for his decision, and ho seemed just as much at his ease when one partisan said,' Good boy, Snowy,' as when another went purplo in the face in an effort to adequately describe his dissent." Tit-Bits. To-night at Greymouth, "Tim" Tracy and "Gnat". Williams settle their argument over 15 rounds. As a preliminary, "Jack" Griffin and C. Rhodes box the best of six rounds. Tho latest issuo of the London paper, "Boxing," contains the following:—A four-rounds trial between Gunner Myers (Aldgate) and "Tom" 'Winkic (New Zealand) was the real goods. Myers, bigger every way, startc las though he meant to annihilate the.Maori in a slashing hurricane, but he soon tired. Ho steadied down after, and, using his left well, gave tho brown man a drastic drubbing through every round. ■-. . . n Now, who is our brown brother "Tom .Winkle, oi" New Zealand ?•

A cablegram recently received in Sydney, from Vancouver states that "Digger" Stanley, for whom tho English sporting press claim the world's featherweight premiership, was out-fought and out-pointed in a ten-round bout .at the' National Sporting Club ,by "Frankie', Burns, the Jersey City "feather." This is Stanley's first battlo in.America.-and his first since he knocked out "Joe" Bowker* in three, rounds iu London, and won the English championshin, and, as .claimed, also tho world's title, about three; months ago. ,-'.■' >•.■"''•'• Arrangements arc well in hand for. tho Wellington Boxing Association's tourney at Petone on February 23. Mr. W. G. Talbot, the secretary, reports,that : the principals in tho big contest, "Archie". Lcckio and "Doss" Burns, are both in. biff heart, and are undergoing a searching preparation. Four rooiT preliminaries have been arranged, in each caso'n town boxer being pitted' against a. suburban one, and much interest is being taken in ,the meeting, the first of the kind to be held in Pctone, at both ends of tho harbour. . • ■ '■•..'