IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1704, 22 March 1913, Page 12

IN THE RING.

(By "Mercury.") ONE IDOL FALLS FOR EVER. Easter Monday—D. Murray v. J. Mitchell (Millerton), Easter Tuesday—Wellington B.A. Tourney (Ellis v. Thompson), Town Hall. April 9—Amateur Tourney, Dannevirke; Amateur Tourney, Palmorston North. April 30—P. Ellis v. T. Thompson, Blenheim. Tuesday's Town Hall Tourney, The Wellington Boxing Association is doing its part towards making a success of the Citizens' Carnival—and is doing it handsomely. It is putting up a purse of ,£SO for the principal event of tho tourney at the Town Hall on Tuesday night, and is shouldering all the incidental expenses of tho evening's sport to help alonj* tho good causo solely on tho principle that "virtue is its own reward." All profits from tho tourney are to be handed over to the Carnival Committee, which, in short, means that the association is taking all tho risk of failure, and none of the rewards of success. Wherefore, quite apart from the intrinsic merit of the entertainment provided, it behoves oil those interested in the success of tho movement—and what true citizen is not?—to support the association in its enterprise.' Tho big ovent will be a good one. Both the lads engaged are well known locally as capable of putting up a strenuous vimful battle—those who saw their previous meeting can guarantee this. Moreover, the preliminary bouts aie of moro than usual interest. They consist of the annual competitions between tho Otago and Viotoria Colleges—five boats in all—and the Collegians are keen on making this part of their tournament a big success. '. Stewart, the Victoria College lightweight, runner-up in his class at the New Zealand championships, is opposed to the Otago College crack, Menzies, who has an. unbeaten record so far, and this bout alone will be well worth. seeing. In all, the evening's bill of fare should be most satisfying and no one desirous of combining a pleasurable sense of helping along a worthy cause with the satisfaction of witnessing a good night's sport will bo absent from the Town Hall on the evening of Easter Tuesday, 1913.

Bomb. Wel/s—Down and Out, "Farewell—a long farewell to all my greatness"—so might' Bombardier Wells have quoted Cardinal Wolsley, last Saturday flight at tho conclusion of his. disastrous bout with "Gunboat" Smith in. Now York. For this is the end of the English champion in his role of world-beater. To be knocked out in tho second round bv a third-rater, ■ as the American ex-man-o'-ivarsman undoubtedly is, is ignominy indeed, and it is a set-back that Wells will never live down as far as "The States" are co'nccrned. How it happened is a . mystery, even with an in-and-out performer as tho Englishman has shown himself to bo. Wells is admittedly! even in America, tho finest boxer amonjj the white "heavies" to-day. He is big enough and "reachy" enough; ho has proved that lie carries a knock-out punoh in either hand. In fact, lie has all the attributes of a world's champion, and yet——. "Gunboat" Smith! Whisper is not in Gath! . His defeat by. Al. Palzer was bad enough, but that "regrettable incident" was put down to bad luck was, to a certain extent expiated by t)io Bom-, bardier's subsequent easy defeat of "Tom" Kennedy—but now, as the American "fans" will Fay of Wells, "It's into the discards for- his." Tho only explanation possible is that the Bombardier is the unfortunate' possessor of a "glass jaw," which is the American way of 6ayinp that he lacks durability-r that faculty for assimilating punishment that mnlces a good boxer a good fighter, and without which no boxer can 1» a world's ohampion. - "Denny" Murphy's Bad Luck. "Mercury" regrets having to chronicle a serious mishap to our local welter, "Ddnny" Murphy. During tlio course .of a training spar.with "Tommy"-Thompson —part of the latter's preparation for his bout with Ellis 011 Tuesday—Murphy threw over a vimful < right that landed-, high up on the head of 'his vis-a-vis with direful results—ft bad fracturo of the small bones in the back of the hand. • This will mean a long spell for "Denny." The break will take some two or three months to mend properly and then it will bo some while before the wounded member is sound enough for punching purposes, in addition to which there is that fatal lack of confidence that is always engendered by such an injury to be got rid of. This is generally tho longest part of the whole business. The misfortune is all the more galling to Murphy from tho fact that of late ho lias by careful ajid strenuous workingout managed to get his poundngo insido the lightwpigjit lijnit jn view of a match tvith Hegarty, and it is but poor con. eolation for him to know that ho has tho sympathy of all followers of the sport in New Zealand. 1

Master'and Punil. Our late visitor "Billy" Hannan has found that it is possible to teach a punil 100 muoh. He was matched with the pupil in question-r-one L. D'Arcy—recently, . at ■ West. Moitland, and found the young idea so strong and husky that ho was forced to cry "enough" in tho 18th round. The result, however, was not altogether unexpected, as in a letter to a friend in town, written just before the match, Hannan opined that lie "was up against it on account of the weight handicap." And so it: proved. Recent Affrays in America, Some cable messages of interest concerning the top-rankers of tho liffhtwoight division that have not reached our nnpers, are published in this week's Australian mail. Four of these are aooended from which it will be noted that-although doposed from his high estate, ex-Cham-pion Ad. - Wolgast is still in the game, and, moreover, is still in public demand. New York, Maroh 8. "Paoky" -Macfarland beat "Jack" Britton on points in ten rounds' rapid fighting at Madison Gardens last night. San Francisco, Maroh 5. Ad. Wolgast and "Harlem Tommy" Murphy have heen matched to box the best of 20 rounds either' on April 12 or o. week later. The terms of tho agreement have not been mado -.-.ublic, but it Is understood that Murphy will receive a considerably larger share of the purse than lie did when ho met Wolgast before. • San Franoisco, March 8. "Willie" Ritchie showed that he was determined to go to England when he refused yesterday an offer of ,£3200 to fisiht Ad. Wolgast on the Fourth of July. Ritchie 6ays that he Is going after the bag money that is to bB obtained in English theatrical engagements. London, Maroh B. Owen Moron 'ias received a tempting offer to fo to America, but will Drobably decide to stick to his Australian trip. Resurrection of Two Ancients. A significant commentary on tho shortage of "heavies" of class in Australia just now is found in the fact that tho Stadium management aro so hard put to it to find opponents for Curran and others of the biggest of the batch of visitors expected from overseas that it has been forced to dig, un those old-timers "Bill" Lang and "Bill" Squires. Tho latter was wanted by "Snowy" Baker to .meet tho winner of the SmithO'Donnell match (the result of which, by the way, wo ore still awaiting) on Easter Monday , but the seteran fonnd his farming duties too pressing to leave. He has, however, undertaken to get into training so as to be ready when next colled upon so his rc-entr.v '"nto tho ring may be exnected at any lime. . Lang is scheduled to figure as Curran's first Australian opponent and tho meeting is to take placo at somo date to bo fixed next month.

Two Offers to Box in Wcllinflton. At its last meeting the local association received offers from "Hock" Kevs and "Jack" Read to Ikix under its auspices, should suitable terms and matches bo arranged, and it is nrobable (lint an effort will I>p inndo to import nun or both of tho crack at an early date.