IN THE RING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1912, Page 18

IN THE RING

BOXING NOTES. FRENCHMAN WINS. It's a long lane that has no turning (says the Bulletin), and even the Turk is liable to win a battle if he keeps going long enough; so it is small wonder that at last the sun of fortune has smiled on the French boxers within our gates. On Wednesday night, last week, E. Zanders, the Yankee fighting printer, met Ercole de Balzac at the Sydney Stadium— to his sorrow. Balzac was cautious. He declined to go mad till Zanders had held his own for about nine rounds. Then somebody whistled the "Marseillaise" — and Balzac charged.. The daeh of the Old Guard was nothing to it. Zanders was rolled up, bashed and banged, but retorted with a nasty upper-cut and a heavy jolt. In the eleventh Balzac timed and aimed hie blows excellently, and I every one told. Early in the twelfth Balzac knocked Zanders 'down and fell upon him. Zanders took nine seconds and got up. He would have saved himself a lot of suffering had he stayed down, for the Frenchman set to work to slash him to ribbons. Seeing the case was hopeless, Referee Scott stopped the fight -and gave Balzac the verdict, whereupon the gallant Gaul put_ his arm round his opponent and helped him to his chair. HOW TIL BEAT READ. In his match with Read, Paul Til stood to his. guns with the coolness of a veteran, giving, as a rule, more than he received, and was the fighter against the boxer the whole time. It was Read (cays the Referee) who stood off, and it was Read who got into holts, as a rule, spite of the fact that he had greater strength and showed sturdier build, and aleo scaled, fit as the proverbial fiddle, 41b more than the lad he met. Weights were announced : Read, 9st lOflb, and Til 9et 6|lb. When the same pair fought on 21st September last Til brought the balance to lOst 4£lb, and Read lOst 81b. i Generally speaking, the contest was highly exciting, and there were rounds which caught the crowd to such an extent that the scene was something to be remembered. One which stood out well from all others was the tenth. Neither spared himself or his opponent. If there was tho slightest let-up,, or if every punch did not work material damage, no blame could be laid at the door of the contestants' intentions, nor could failure be charged against consideration for self in bo far as fear of what the other fellow might do during the mixing went, for both literally hurled themselves, into- it, and carried* the great onlooking crowd with them, throwing its very soul into the spectacle witnessed. Til emerged from that severe ordeal "holding a decided lead, which rendered his advantage, so far, moat pronounced. Subsequently Read pulled up some, and in the sixteenth round Til tired so much that he was by no means a good second best as far as the points, of that round went, and R/3ad also had the better of the next three minutes. After this, however, Til got going once more, and gathered a further margin to be tacked on to the surplus secured in the earlier part of the battle. The judges, Dr. Maitland and Mr. L. H. Nathan, agreed that Til had won, and the declaration to that effect met with a rousing reception which completely smothered an attempt by sections here and ' there about the house to get in a little hostile stuff. DAVE SMITH'S RETURN. In a letter to "Amateur," of the Referee, Dave Smith saygr*-"! intend to take a run down to New Orleans shortly, and will go from there to San Francisco, and from there back to Australia. I am sorry that I will have to leave here without satisfying myself as to whether M'Goorty's victory over me was a fluke, but 1 guess it can't be helped. I suppose you heard how S was hocussed on the weight question? They made me believe there was a forfeit up for weight, and after I had pulled myself down by sweating in a Turkish bath, M'Goorty came in away above weight. But lam not squealing, for even though I was weak as a cat it's safe odds he would have got me with that long hook of his, anyway. I have seen him fight both Williams and Houck since, then, and have made a study of him. He is a dangerous man' at the beginning of a fight, and that is all. If he cannot land that punch inside of two rounds he flounders like a ship at eea. But. he won't fight me again, and that settles it." Smith defeated Barney Williams, of Southwalk, before a packed house at Jack M'Guigan's National A.C., Philadelphia, on 2lst September. Both boys 'fought like bearcats all the way, but Barney tired toward the end, and the Australian scootod home a winner by a shade. Williams led in the early .part of the contest, and managed to sting Smith good and hard, but David was so strong that Barney's wallops bounced off like shells from an armour-plated hull. A good bout in Philadelphia on the night of 23rd Sept. was between- Smith and George Ashe, of Philadelphia. Smith won by a good margin. The Australian had the crowd excited in every round, thanks to his rapid-fire delivery, never letting up for a second. He was after Ashe from one corner of the ring to the other/Heft, right and left at face and body. Ashe put up a good contest, utterly contradicting any argument regarding his gameness, for he came back for more every time, and, although he took enough punishment to put most men. out of the business, he was never off his feet, and went away without a mark. COMPETITORS' EXPENSES. The Manawatu Association was evidently staggered at'J. Hagerty's estimate of what he. should get way of expenses for his then projected match under its auspices. The council of the New Zealand Boxing Association, at its last meeting, received a letter from the Manawatu Association with respect to what it considered to be an exorbitant demand by Hagerty for expenses in connection with his proposed match against L. Porter, and suggested that if. there was no rule relating to the question of expenses it was necessary, in the interests of the sport, that there should be one. , It was decided that the counoit had no power to ,deal with the matter, which, in the absence of a definite rule, was one solely between promoting bodies and competitors. /'KILL TO WIN !" In Perth on Saturday night Alf Goodwin, the English lightweight boxer, obeyihg the primal instinct of self-preserva-tion, went down on the boards without being hit. Thi« Jsays'the Sun correspondent) happened In the sixth round of his light with Alf Morcy. "The Englishman had been leading well until Morey hooked him with a left in the region of the 6olar plexus. Goodwin sank on his knees writhing in pain. The referee commenced to count, and got as far aa six when tho Englishman attempted to rise. Morey rushed up and stood, menacingly over his opponent, and the latter at once sank back to his^ kneeling posture. The referee, Wally Moyle, stopped tho fight and awarded it to Morey. Goodwin staggered to the ropes, and endeavoured to explain, but the crowd, thinking it was a. schlenter, refused to hear him, and hooted unreasonably. Goodwin complains that the referee should have pushed Morey back when he was rushing up for the purpose of administering a coup do grace. "I am satisfied,'' said he, "that if you want to win in Perth you have to kill your man with an axe." THE OTAGO FEATHER-WEIGHT CONTEST. A nice point in boxing law has_ yet to be settled by the council. At its last meeting T. Thompson wrote that his contest in the feather-weight championship of Otago with A. Lane, in July last, had been declared a draw by the referee, yet he had received, arid only as late as 25th October, the second prize. In view of the referee's decision, he contended that the first and second prizes should have been equally divided. He asked the coUhcil to enquire into the matter. Tho council's secretary reported that the decinion of the referee in the bout between i Lane and Thompson had been referred to

the council, as a question of law was involved. Tho council had decided that the referee had erred in his decision, and that the bout should have been awarded to Lane. Judging from Thompson's letter, he was evidently unaware of the appeal to. the council and ite result. It was decided to communicate with the Otago Association on the matter before replying to Thompson. NOTES. Mehegan and Wells meet on the 10th inst. Knockout White, of N.P.C., has. settled down to a strict course of training for his coming match with Billy Burns, of Ireland. Whit* is sparring with Arthur Tierney and Joe. Wallis. This match .is 6efc down for decision to-day at the Railway and Tramway Recreation Club. Les O'Doanell has again been matched to meet Jerry Jerome, in Brisbane, 14th December. Les states that Dave Smith will be in Sydney next week, and he is also looking for a battle with David. Bill Rudd Wants to meet Ernie Zanders in a return battle, and states that he is prepared to wager £50. Bill would also like to meet Thumper Balzac, to see who can thump the hardest. As promoter of the Melbourne Athletic Pavilion, Bill Lang's opening night was on Monday. It is stated that Bill may arrange to have some of the important boxers appear 'there. Audouy and Jack Clarke, of New Zealand, are matched to meet at the Stadium. Jack is training out at the N.P.C., where all of the spojrts roll up to see the fun. Last week Joe Jeannette had an easy victory at Columbus, knocking out George Christian in the ninth round.