BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 12

BOXING.

(Bj "Mercury .-"J

SMITH BEATS "CYCLONE " THOMPSON. February 23—W.8.A. Tourney (Petone). Tho Smith-Thompson contest appears to havo been quite tho nomcric set-to that was expected and it 1 ended in-a well-deserved. victory for New Zealand and skill over Amcrica arid bruto force. The Sydney papers-all devoto much space to tho affair and all agreo that the verdict : was tho right one, 'although . they diffor as to tho margin of differcnco at tlio finish, The "Sydney Morning; Herald" -says it was,, slight, ' most |of tho others that -itcwasi ''comfortable.!' Of all accounts that 1 of 'tho "Bulletin" 'appears to bo tho >best.' There' is ono ■ correction; however, one would like to make:. Smith is a New Zealander, not an Australian. However, thus tho "Bulletin":—"David Smith, Australian pug., continued -his career of conquest on Monday night/liiin.hisi,.postponed' louttli!, with "CycloncV,! Johniiy- fl'liobipson, "iho 1 12st. "light-woight," ,of Chicago, Yankeeland. One morning paper said Smith was heavier than :Thompson; but in .'this writer's opinion, it is tho other way about. And, "anyhow, in hArdness and' strength there was a vast gup between them, and tho margin was nil in favour 1 of the "Cyclone." ~ "Cyclono" is evidently a joke. Johnny is not cyclonic i ho's glacial, It was said that,'bei'oro the-fight,-■ the American had romarked that ho expoctcd to get chopped up for six rounds, and then He'd start to land a- few. on his own account. , And, sure enough, for six rounds he got chopped up.-The opening was always tho: same. ,Thomp£6n .woUldMvhirl ;un .lliis' arm's and .walk into; battle deliberately. Smith would \amblo 'lightly across and hit Thompson, right on what point Johnny's nose had; Ho did it regularly, and never misfed n'round. 110 pounded Thompson's face with right and left, and blinded, but could not disconcert him. That fearful Yankee bored in resolutely, looking for tho- chanco to swing his sledgehammer bright. , That chance never camo; although ho swung it often enough, it always failed to land. He.d it dono otherwise, Smith would have vanished. In tho fourth ho just grazed Smith's nose and chin, and got soundly slapped for his effort. Smith's • footwork was beautiful, and tho way ho'lauded Thompson in tho faco was beginning to interforo with tho fight. By tho end of tho sixth round Thompson couldn't broatho through his nose, and as ho lumbered round tho ring trying to get Smith into position to bo killed his wind could bo heard whistling through hi 9 teeth. In tho fifth Thompson started to wrestle; it was nuito evident he had realised that his only chanco of

winning was to boro in, worry his man, and knock him out. Also, ho nearly lost the fight on a foul. In tho tenth ho almost got,his chance,'but missed; and as he was being smacked ho brought a right smash that dropped Smith. Smith took tho nino seconds, and then got up and showed some of tlio prettiest of blocking. In the eleventh Thompson made a despernto oitort to knock out, but only got pasted. As tho end drew hear ho increased his efforts.' In tlio' twentieth round tho "cyclono" act was in full blast.' But Thompson reminded ono more of an elephant with two trunks than tiny sort of eyclono we tee in thes-o parts. Tlio decision was tlio only possiblo one, in spito of what has been said about Thompson "forcing tho fight." As ho was useless in long-rango fighting, Thompson naturally got close. Much ns ono May disliko his methods, it is impossiblo not to admiro 'the grit and determination of tlio man. Tho way lie' bored in was magnificent, and his capacity for receiving punishment is a wonderful and horrible thing. It has been said that Smith liasu t u knock-out blow about him. And on Monday night's form it- certainly seemed so.' But writer has his doubts about Johnson himself- knocking Thompson out. Wallop him ho certainly- would —to mush. But /Thompson is an unusually tough man... When wo sco Smith up,against someono with moro of i tlio human about Kim, ho may appear to bo a hard hitter. ..He certainly., seems one in his training.-., As for-his rival, ho can on'duro tho worst that can como; so ho puts his feelings osido and wades in to givo tho-killing stroke. But Smith took all- sorts of caro ho should not deliver it; and when ho did manage to deliver it. Smith was not there to tako deliverv. And one naturally always prefers to see skill and dexterity prevail over bruto force. . .

The Middle-weight Championship. So far as New Zealand is concerned tho world's middle-weight .championship ovent is "off." Last week "Mercury commented on tho deadlock that had arisen in tho projected match between "Pave" Smith, of. "ours," and "Billy" Papke, for tho middle-weight premiership over tho weighing-in question, and then expressed tho opinion that the outiomo would probably bo tho abandonment of tho fixturo as a championship proposition. This is exactly what has occurred. Tho latest development is that tlio men are to meet to-night on tho same terms ns when Smith'scored his win from tho

Amoricau—that is at list. 111b. This, .of course, robs tho match of about 90 per cent of its interest. Under the original conditions it would havo afforded an excellent opportunity for Smith to have placed himself among the world's best: now it is simply a mnteh for nothing in particular except the nurse between two good men. Even if Smith does win it wont go for much, for without the hall mark of "championship" such a contest will not be taken very seriously outside Australia. Exactly why the chiimplomhip condition; sere abandoned is not quitq dear

from the facts beforo us, although it is not hard to dcduco plenty of good and sufficient reasons for tho change. The first is, of course, that ncithor man couiu draw tho weight, the others aro mainly bound lip in (lie fact' that it is extremely unlikely that, with his reputation in America and his forthcoming trip lo England lo consider, Papke was going to place his long-waitral-for titlo in jeopardy ni fur away Australia. Tho titlo is too great an asset to lie thus' lightly risked, l'he official reason is that neither man would give way over tho weighing dispute, ' Smith' insisting on a "ringsido" poundage and Papke refusing to consider this, but this hardly seems a sufficient bar if both men wanted to do business. Anyhow,, that is the position. Notes. Last Saturday, at the Stadium in .Sydney,'an Australian audience was able to sit back, and se« two American pugilists practising tlicir little ringside wiles and guilo on ono another. That is, if things eventuated as scheduled. Billy Papke was billed to have met his fellow countryman "Cyclone" Johnny Thompson, and ilio result of tho match will servo as an excellent guido to to-day's contest. That tho bout was a fierco ono thero can be little doubt, as Thompson left for tho "States" on tho following Monday,, and his value iu America would be vastly enhancod by the record of a good showing against Papke. There was no "national or even a State rivalry between tho Americans—lllinois claims both boxers. Ono is a Danish-American, and the other a German-American, and both aro "all-in" fighters.

Last Saturday, at Greymoutli, Tim Tracy knocked out "Gnat Williams in tlueo rounds,'this being the focond time that "Tim" has secured tho verdict against the samo .foeman.

Thero will- bo "something doing" in tho boxing business at Petone next Thursday, - This will bo tho first time that nn association fixture has been held in "tho village," and tho inhabitants thereof are determined that tho occasion shall be a worthy one, with a view to a repetition later on.' • Besides, the big contest between Archie Leckie and "Doss" Burns, four good , preliminaries havo; been arranged, in each'case a Petonito being pitted against a' town boxer. , Train arrangements. will; be advertised later.

Sinco tho : foregoing remarks in tho Smith-Papke match wero written word has been received in town that thero-is ft possibility that tho •, contest will not tako place to-night after' all. It appears that Smith jarred his hand badly in his bout ;with .Thompson, and when getting medical ridvico took, tho opportunity to havoi'avth'ohiugh overhaul, with tho. re-, suit that ho was advised to tako a spell. Nothing definite appears to havo been heard of a postponement, but it was considered probable when the mail left.