In the Ring

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 22

In the Ring

BY " MILO "

SMITH GOES DOWN TO FAIRHALL

LOCAL AND G

Backed by a record of forty-three fights, billed as "the boy with the Davcy Bmile," and generally recommended as being one of the leading Australian boxers in his particular class, Freddy Smith entered the ring at the Town Hall on Monday evening to try conclusions with a fellow Australian, Tommy Fairhall, in a professional "light-weight" bout over fifteen rounds. Botb boys tipped the beam at 9st lljlb, and were obviously trained' to the minute. Fairhall, accompanied by his trainer, Jack Donnelly, and his seconds, Percy Charles, Cliff Pearce, and Mai Warwick, was first in vhe-ring;-and busied himself seeing that liis gloves were properly adjusted; Smith was loudly cheered on his arrival a few seconds later, and made seyeral quite neat bows to the loudly applauding "fans." He was seconded by Trainer Pat Connors, Paul Demsky, Herb Bundy, .and Gordon Cording, and was soon ready for the fray. Mr. Earl Stewart, the referee, called the pair to the centre of the ring, issued final instructions, and the r go,n£,aunounced the opening of the first round.^

'■■'Smith never looked like a fighter, nor did the slightest characteristic of the late Les Darcy manifest itself, not even the . much : vaunted, allegedly non-disappear-ing smile. -His arms were held tightly into his body, and even after stopping the first punch that hurt, a left hook to the jaw, he did not attempt to cover up this side of the vital part. A succession of- thre« apparently light punches to the head followed and Smith .propped to.the canvas; he was up at the count of nine, but a few seconds Ja-terTagain Kit-the boards after illowing ('his jaw to come in contact with a snappy -right-jolt.- JAgain 'he-rose, just before the final move of Mr. Stewart's arm, but Fairhall stepped in v confidently, rather JfiP, confidently,it,appeared,,and his opponent was in sore distress on the ropes wh en the gong brought relief. Fairhall connected at will in the second round, during which Smith was warned for hitting dangerously low. He was evidently in :a bad way, however, and, possibly, had little knowledge of what he was doing. :.-•-■■•

,-Jle end came in the third round. It wa3 by.no means unexpected, perhaps a little-Related; Smith stopped a succession, of punches to the face, and, snibth-«rltig-"up; backed to the ropes. He dropped his hands as he rebounded oft .the-.taut>-hemp, and a smashing right to the jaw, sent him down and very mack-"out;"" The audience behaved in a T 3 cry.or<ierly fashion, and whereas jeers and cries to "get up" had greeted Smith on teach occasion during the bout thai j t_ canvas, after the final episode the crowd melted away with hardly a murmur. Within about five mi,,ut*s the badly beaten one was sufficiently recovered to be helped from the rin°-, and he presented juite a pathetic figure as ha covered his bruised face with his heavily bandaged hands, when he was conducted to his dressing-room through tne^ilent-.waiting crowd.

T, ?&°l c-? J 0". 18 Sen6rally admitted to ", 6,.™6 besf bo Xin^ critic in Australasia. ' alriJ all, J9,.?;am©d as the best 9st 121b •boy to be-found in either the Commonwealth or New Zealand, Had Smith even put up a substantial resistance against him, it would have been sufficient recommendation for several more star fights m the Dominion; and to beat JJairhall was to put himself in line for a match with the clever and hard-hitting les Murray. What now is ,the position? w-iT'i he ?<>*■'*' g° tack to Sydney shown,, Maorilanders that he lllv-'nS? % w: 1 ,-" Mil°" ventoes to v«ay that a Wellington audience will xaKe a lot of convincing as «ren the ;;most sympathetic critic cannot offer an - fST H? m%, :t ™°* not v Uhe '■ l nf ) 6? fluked in the first round and r:-f n n, derf d .g~Sgy; he was fit and well „- and at his best fighting weight The position as seen by -'ililo" is that he • was beateri as cleanly and decifiiveiv as Fatthall will beat him upon a?v^ future « w certainly the best man M W class „ ..eo m the Dominion for" many a ft

••• 9°° oi Mabriland's. leading heaw;2*\.^.Heeney, was^n Yn -at Gisborne during last week ZVL> wiat, W scheduled... L 7 fifteen^ 5 Heeney's first fight since j.fkf^f^^6 contest, at Auckland with Cyril Whittaker, but he showed be weU up t0 his usunl *»«, yancuthat he scored ■ a-, technical knockr^f ,f>:. s °PP°neiif in the ninth i.'rjund ;drd ; not come as a'surprise to -the large-gathering of.enthusiasts which ..Witnessed,; /the battle. . Both men £w.eighedsm>at 13st 81b, and though.the ;:T' slt? r-was the taller of the pail; this ~ advantage .was well balanced by the , greater sturdiness of the: New 2eai»nder; l^rom^the^imtial gong, Heeney went in ,his man, whom ha ■punched^ i%?ff* '■™aoaMlloat. - tie contest. From ; round .ojiwards. it "was ob1 "* it wae:pnly : a , mattei- of a : ,.tfi«)u^ft f .FlettE smother and connect to »r^.'.Tg?li J )a.Ft with one of his haymaking :S?fcWJ???-'.■.-•■■A-Stiff ■• left to the, jaw, ..folKwed^ by, a right jab; to the' heart' Csent'4he:'A-ns,tralian to the boards for i*^. 6. c°W b, :°.l : *si* 'in round nine, but he -rose.gamely and endeavoured.to fight J.back....Twice, in.succession he a^ain hit ;tte .y canvasr' and the" necessity of vHeeney_i'inflicting further- unnecessary »Bttnishjnent was obviated' by the towel iflWteriijg^in ,froni his angle. The i^ i } t>?SK?JI^dl 9 after the fight'that' '•tne^NewV-Zealander had improved out tof',sight' 'since 'the pair had previously rbdttl6d.''atl .Eockhampton, Queenslaiid,' -Heeney's- tour^of 1 Australia in ~19225-in-.search of Colin , Bell's title.

;3fle^t "maintained that ,Ke himself was

•ittjeicelleiit' fettle, but-had been al"Jnost ;out'; onihis feet■ since the -first •round, vwhen the local boy had jolted; I'Eim.oiCthe chin. Heeney. said, he knew Q&ZggSI&JSdP at .any 1 -stage' after the Jthird,» round;'t Hett had' fought gamely -an2~clianly^ "however, and would prob"aMf do better "next time." ,

*'*'"Why not a match between this pair *vnder. the Wellington Association? The *last heavyweight contest in the city was 'provided by Australian George Cook ;;and Albert Lloyd, and the resulting ;■ struggle was probably the most spectacular that has been staged locally Seince pre-war days. " . ' ,Dellabarca, who on Monday evening fought Cottrell, of Petbne, to a very close decision, is a hard-hitting paper-

lENERAL NEWS

AN UNSATISFACTORY DISPLAY

weight from J. Heenan's school at Eastbourne. He is a great little counter fighter, but, through lack of experience, cannot time his blows to perfection when on the attack. He should try and cultivate the art of making his opponent lead, an art^which has proved such an asset to that, wily Frenchman Gene Volaire. Cottrell is a clever twohanded boxer, but in his latest encounter did not show anything like hi» true form. He is trained by his father, the well-known Petone instructor, who also has the handling of featherweight Billy Barnes.

Trainer Ike Kutaer announces that Eugene Volaire will arrive in the Dominion early next month.

Has the reader ever considered how many genuine professional lightweights there are in New Zealand? He will probably be surprised to learn that, excludiog Australians, there is only one, Les. Murray, the holder of the title. But he will maintain that the majority of bouts are billed as being lightweight contests? The answer is that associations are allowing welterweights to masquerade as lightweights, simply because this is the class which is most popular with the " fans." Fairhall and Smith were billed as taking part in a lightweight contest, yet both entered the ring at 9st ll£lb. There was no breach of agreement. The association well knew that Fairhall could never make the lightweight limit, 9st 91b, and retain' both his legs. Paul Hannah met with disaster through trying to make the limit for Les. Murray, and for the same boy, Clarrie Blackburn took off a stone in;weight, tipped the beam at one pound below the limit, and was too weak to even have a chance, though admittedly he put up a great fight. Fred. Hansen is a welterweight, Pat Gleeson was also a welterweight when in New Zealand, so was Billy Preston; but, nevertheless, the associations under which they fought billed them as lightweights. Jack Keenan, of Auckland, now weighs about lOst 61b at his best, and Harry May is at his best when scaling about lOst 21b." Paul Demsky is a genuine lightweight, but he is not a New Zealander, so that Les. Murray at 9st 61b stands alone.

Bob Budge, a welterweight, and F. Brown, a lightweight, are the latest additions to the Tracy school. Both boys are reported by veteran Tim to be coming on well, and they will very shortly be looking for matches under the Wellington Association.

With the purses now given to boxers they would be able to make quite a'con- I siderable amount of money out of the game if only they would take as a pattern veteran Tim Tracy, in his fighting days. Tim.vof course, is a bootmaker by trade, .and he states that never during his whole career did he lose a day's work when preparing for a contest. He h"as fought some of the leading 'lights of the fistic arena, Hock Keys, Rudy Unholz, Bob 80110, and company, yet all his training was done at night after he had finished a hard day's work, and even on the evening of battle he downed tools sharp ao 5 o'clock, not before. Surely there would be some pretty opulent citizens of pugdom if the modern boxer worked on these lines! No, he must have at least four weeks to himself; perhaps a little light road work in the morning, rest until 3 in the afternoon, and then the usual gymnasium routine, skipping, sparring, bag and ball punching, and ground work, capped by a good rub down wjth the best training oil pro- i curable. The day before the bout, he lays-off, usually commences to dry-out, but on "the" day, everything must be to his liking; he must not be worried; he must have plenty of rest; there are ] innumerable little things: which must be done for the boxer, who, heavily clothed in woollen sweaters and coats, finally arrives at the scene de combat—in a taxi. Out of the purse, he has to compensate for his four weeks of preparation; 25 per cent., perhaps more, goes to his trainer, and two ot three parties in celebration of hisivictory probably eats up the remainder of the purse. In the event of a defeat, the parties follow by way of consolation, so the result is the same. How different was Tim," who walked down to the venue •of the fight, and was never too tired to carry his own bag of fighting equipment? He collected his end of the purse, more often the thick than the thin, and banked it. He had very few expenses and the prize was always overhand above his wages. He made quite'a little money—he does not' deny it; so do modern ringmen. He can show something" for his efforts; how. many of the present-day figEters can do this? ■

Dick Nixon, of the Tracy school, hadi little difficulty in outpointing the local welterweight champion Eddie Napier, in a preliminary on Monday evening. He was giving away several pounds-in weight, but proved to be much the, cleaner hitter and the cleverer boxer, beating Pat Connors' boy by a fair margin. He willdo well in the game when he learns to punch as straight with his right hand as he does with his left. It was the straight left which beat Napier every time.

A suggestion was, made during the week, that as through lack of a suitable lightweight, the North Island would not be represented at the New Zealand championship meeting, Percy Charles, the local favourite, should be nominated and sent to Dunedin by the Wellington Association. Charles, who has held provincial championships for two years, would no doubt have acquitted himself remarkably well, but the regulations governing the tournament do not make it eligible for any person, who has not qualified in thefinal of the North Island weight, to take part in the competition for the New Zealand title. It seems rather a pity that this promising pugilist'did. not compete in the either the Wellington or the North Island tourneys,' as, judging from the information to hand, ie would have had very little to' 'beat.. ■•, Percy Black was a lucky- boy 'to get the • decision against. Norman .M'Arthur; in the star preliminary to the Fairhall-. Smith affair; M'Arthur made the fight from the outset, and used a pretty "one-two" punch as he came. In the clinches, however, he punched wildly with his right hand and was very lucky not to break this member on Black's protecting elbow, on which the latter boy took most of the blows. A return bout between this pair will.be looked forward to with much interest. It is quite probable, however, that Black may decide to take a much-needed spell from the ring as he has lately been fighting rather more than is good for a

growing young man. Seven bouts in six weeks uses up quite a lot of spare energy.

In a fifteen-round bout at New York, towards the end of last month, Benny Leonard, lightweight champion of the .world, retained his title by easily outpointing the Hebrew fighter, Lew Tendj Duri?S the first four rounds Leonard and Tendler fought with spirit, delivering hard blows to the head. Both took considerable punishment. Tendler, in the second round, drove Leonard to the ropes, but the champion came back with telling blows to the face and body. Leonard staggered his opponent with a "gJ i j tO i. the J aw J ust before the bell ended the fourth round. Leonard, durJ^j, mnext four rou"<Js, appeared to handle Tendler in a confident manner, .administering heavy punishment to the latter s body and face. Tendler's seconds between the rounds applied ice to Tendler's face, which was rapidly swelling. Leonard's great superiority was clearly evident in the remaining seven rounds. Tendler's blows missed their goal, while Leonard inflicted constant telling punishment on his weakening opponent, who in the fourteenth and fifteenth rounds appeared to be sustained only by gameness, which saved him from a knock-out. The deciding of this bout settles a long-standing argument between Tendler and the champion, Leonard. The pair have been continually matched since their previous meeting, but invariably a dispute, usually over the weights and the amount of the forfeit, has arisen, whereat the articles have not been carried out. It was contended by the challenger's supporters that Leonard was avoiding him, but now the matter has been decided, let us hope, once and for all. The chamnion, whose correct name is Benjamin Leinert, is also a Hebrew, and was born at New York in April, 1896. He weighs 135 pounds, is sft 6in in height, and. strangely enough, until he found' that he was a talented glove artist, followed the occupation of a boot-black in a New York hotel. In consequence of this latter, he is greatly favoured by the _'plebs," and all the small rouse-abouts in the numerous hotels are very proud of "their Benny" and make much of the fact that he was once one of them.