The Ring—News and Notes TIME FOR A STOCK-TAKING

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1936, Page 22

The Ring—News and Notes TIME FOR A STOCK-TAKING

DOMINION'S BOXING RESOURCES ("By Aeneas.") Now that boxing is definitely looking up in the Dominion and importations are either here or on their way, the time has arrived to take stock of our own resources and see to what extent they can be matched against each other or against imported men so as to secure the best results. In this regard particular attention should be paid to title-holders and aspirants to championship honours. Things have been so slack in the past that boxers have had all too lew opportunities to display their wares, either in title contests or in minor bouts, but a gla?sce at the healthy proportions of the boxing fixtures list reveals that this is at least in a fair way to being altered. To obtain a regulated system of matchings the ideal would be for the engagements to be mapped out, by the New Zealand Boxing Council but as that body, as at present constituted, is purely an administrative body, the responsibility rests upon the affiliated associations, each of which is naturally anxious to secure the best possible matches to offer to its patrons.

In considering the heavyweight divi- si sion first the ' thought immediately arises that it is a pity that the couatry's outstanding performer in this division is at present out of the e country. As a similar position obtains c in the lightweight division, in which J* the champion is in Australia, the hope may be expressed that these two men n will realise that there are now more d opportunities at home than when they a left and will return to profit by them, t What an excellent drawing card it would be, for instance, if the Welling- s ton Association was able to match t Maurice Strickland with Roy de Gans tt in the near future. - NICOL'S CAREER ENDING? j With Strickland Absent in England, the heavyweight crown rests upon the head of the southern miner, Ray Nicol, but Invercargill critics who saw his two contests with de Gans feel i that he is approaching the end of his career. Speculation has been aroused down that way regarding a match between him and a challenger for 'his heavyweight title. The prospective < opponents mentioned are Reeve, whom ' Nicol has challenged for the light- 1 heavy title, Val Luttrell, whose Sydney 1 career was cut short by a broken jaw, ] and Frank Prendergast. J The weights of New Zealand's lead- : ing boxers in the top divisions are such that a certain amount of intermingling between the divisions is possible. Not only is there talk of a Reeve-Nicol bout, but also Reeve has been anxious for some time to have a chance to annex Maurice O'Brien's middleweight title. Then again Don Stirling, welterweight champion, has a match arranged with Reeve. Thus it will be seen that the position is made easier than it would be if each man was confined to his own division. ■ "Kid" Fisher will have his chance on Monday night to show what he can do against the light-heavy champion and the Englishman must also be kept m view as a contender for O'Brien's title. Nor would Fisher be too heavy for a bout with Stirling, a match which should draw well. Fisher is down to meet Jack McMahon, of Palmerston North, at Feilding on July C, and another prospective opponent is Era Jacobs, whom he has met previously. WELTERWEIGHT TALENT. The welterweight champion. Don Stirling, has found matches so hard to get in his own division that he is willing to accept engagements against

boxing fixtures. ■ June 20.—Stirling v. Hughes, at Dunedin. \ ' June 22.—Fisher v. Reeve, at Welling- [ ton; Pluto v. Mudgway, llutchens • v. Sanders, at Auckland. > June 23.—Reekie v. Brooks, at Christ- ; church. s June 30—Fisher v. Reeve, at Pctone; I R. Aitkcn v. Brooks, at Christ- ■ church. j July I.—Nicholls v. de Gans, at lnvercargill. . July 2. —Miramar Club championships. July 4._piuto v. Stirling, at Dunedin. July 6.—Pluto v. Reeve, at Auckland; Fisher v. McMahon, at Feilding. July B.—Miramar v. Moera, for I-ou e Smith Shield, at Moera. e July JO.—Hall v. Rayner, at Hastings. 5 August 15 and 17.—Wellington amateur r championships. 4 September 4.—Annual conference New, s Zealand Boxing Association, at; Wellington. e September 4, 5, 7.—Dominion amateur championships, at Wellington. middleweiglits, but he has matches ahead against Archie Hughes, the former lightweight champion, and Cyril Pluto, the Western Australian welterweight champion. Neville Mudgway is in the same field, as also are McMahon and Hutchens, not to mention Marine Ryan, though the lastnamed is really a middleweight. Among the lightweights there is a v "natural" ahead—when Jarvis returns e from Australia, which he expressed it his intention of doing within the threee month period—between the champion e and Billy Aitken. It is uncertain at the d moment whether Hughes is still in r this class but, if so, he may attempt to lt win back the crown. II FEATHERWEIGHT POSITION. it In the featherweight division Billy g Aitken is outstanding but does not d ge em to attach a great deal of importance to his position, having his eyes " fastened on the lightweight title. d Whether he will attempt to recover the featherweight title which the £ Boxing Council lifted oil him remains a to be seen, but there is a fair amount ,t of other talent in this division such as Clarrie Kayner, Ralph Aitken, Percy is Hawes, and Johnny Richmond. |e The bantamweight division has been e- responsible for very little activity in it recent years and the title is at present vacant. There is no reason, however, ic w hy the Dominion should not produce ie a crop of bantamweights to add their JS quota to the general activity. n- UN WOE THY FIGHT :lf Ut at EMPIRE BOXING TITLE iv ISre Let there be plain speaking. The at fight for the British and Empire heavyin weight championships between Jack :e Petersen and Jock McAvoy, at the Empress Stadium, Earl's Court, was unld worthy of the occasion. It touched r " the limit of ineptitude and ended in s £ long and loud chorus of derision y (writes B. Bennison in an English jourly nal). For, as I understand nian-to-mau lighting, it was an impossible burlesque £ It was not a fight, for the reason thai ,5 McAvoy, holder of his country's middle in weight title, made for the negation ol as fighting, and Petersen could not fight n- except after the way of a probations —his left hand was a tentative, grop in ing thing, and with his right he was incredibly wide of the target. of Worse; every round was disfigured B. by holding and mauling, which called ie lor more than the mere cautions given ot by the referee, Mr. Arthur S. Myers, ol n. Manchester. Is PETERSEN'S WORST. >d At no time in his career has Petersen given such a poor display: hi? fires were strangely damped down; l:c was an unnecessarily careful Petersen 'p it was as if he saw all the demons in hi; a challenger. At least., he was content to scratch and scrape with what is normally a magnificent left hand, and stooc

o far off as to imply that his purpose j ,'as to score most points. j It could not have been any contempt ■< e had for McAvoy that made him shy < 0 unloosen his heaviest artillery. The , xplanation, so I am decided, is that he ( oncluded almost from the moment ] /IcAvoy came out of his corner that he j iad little to beat, and, truth to tell, . he An/rican-styled "Thunderbolt" had , lothing up his sleeve beyond a gift for iucking, dodging, and waddling in such , 1 way as to make the best blows of he champion beat the air. McAvoy did not land a punch of crious account—he was scared of leting himself go full out. This was a nistakc, for I do believe that if McVvoy had chanced everything he would lave extended the Welshman to the imit of his capacity, if not won. HOLD SPECIALTIES ■ POPULAR IN THE DOMINION Though they are not slow to appreciate wrestling which follows orthodox lines New Zealanders dearly love to see something special in the way of holds, and it has been found that next to securing a string of wins the best way in which a wrestler can make his drawing power secure in this country is to have in his kit a hold which is either peculiarly his own, or else one in which he has specialised and thereby becomes more adapt than other men in its application. Whenever wrestling crops up as a subject of conversation it is not long before particular holds are being discussed. Often, too, application follows theory, and enthusiasts tie themselves up in knots from which, apparently, they sometimes have difficulty in freeing themselves. During the past two seasons interest in this connection has been kept alive, and nearly all of this year's importations seem ready and able to follow suit. Last year Earl McCready brought the spreadeagle, or rocking-chair splits, into common use, and now it is freely used on all sides. Another hold introduced by McCready, but more sparing-! ly used, was the octopus death lock. Then came Jaget Singh's Indian or Hindu death lock, which he used with an effectiveness which imitators do not seem to be able to copy, and Ole Andresen with his full' nelson applied with the legs. Harban Singh used the Indian whip to good purpose. THIS YEAR'S NOVELTIES. This season has been responsible for Mehringer's grapevines. Boesch's dropkicks. and short-arm scissors twist, Blomfield's octopus .clamp, - Russell's suplex hold, Forsgren's version of the

Boston crab, and Steve Savage's toe holds, though the last-mentioned were seen only at Auckland. Among the latest arrivals Sam Leathers has brought an array of leg and combination arm and leg holds which are reputed to be capable of producing the desired results, find Bob Kruse a collection of wrist locks. Leathers s "educated" legs have not yet been seen in action in Wellington, but Kruse needed only one opportunity to show just how useful mastery over the various wrist locks can be. His opening performance against Mehringer was highly impressive, to say the least of it and local enthusiasts will be anxious to see more of the same kind. There is plenty of worthy opposition in the country for the Portland man, and there are going to be some great matches when he is tried out to the full. LEATHERS IMPRESSIVE DEBUT AGAINST MOCREADY I Easily the best professional wrestI ling contest ever staged in Wanganui was won by Earl McCready (Canada) who -in the sixth round back-slammed "Sad" Sam Leathers (United States) and left him lying almost unconscious in the ring, remarks the "Chronicled Leathers, wrestling his first bout in the Dominion, gripped the crowd's imagination and regard, making the pace all the way against the Empire champion. Gaining a fall with a figurefour scissors in the second round, and applied in an unusual manner, Leathers continued from then until the vital sixth round master of nearly every move McCready made. Quick on his legs, tall, and clever, "Sad" Sam made McCready work hard and :t really looked as if the bout would have ended in the Canadian a loser, but weight and strength told a tale in the sixth round and the bout ended just when the crowd was on the tiptoes of expectation. ZAHARIAS GETS UNDER WAY. Chris Zaharias, of evident Grecian extraction, wrestled his first bout in the Dominion at Nelson to a staccato guttural accompaniment born o f his own exertions; after eight rounds of which lie failed, to convince Referee A. Jenkins, of Wellington, that he was a better man at his chosen calling Hi a n Pete Mehringer, former ; Olympic amateur champion, o£ Kansas City, America. The bout, which I was interesting in some respects, was I watched by n fairly large house, who t declined to show much enthusiasm.

| McCready v. Leathers, at Dunedin. June 25.—Blomfield v. Mehringer, at Hawera. June 27.—McCready v. Mehringer, a* New Plymouth. elusive of taxation, tlie guarantee to Eoss will mean a promotion outlay of more than £16,000 for Ross alone. At the Income Tax Department it has been calculated that the tax guarantee will amount to £4799 13s lid, made up as follows: —Federal income tax. £2513 14s lOd; State tax, £1821 7s sd; special income tax, £464 lis Bd. TARANAKI WRESTLER f Very few of even the keenest wrest- > ling fans in Taranaki know that there is a matman in South Africa who is becoming increasingly well known as "The Taranaki Tiger." He is Jack Kent, formerly of Hawera. and his allin style together with his clever wrestling have brought him well to the fore in the wrestling world in South Africa. He is shortly leaving for England, and all will join in wishing him the best " of luck. i Kent is a carpenter by trade, and a 1 wrestler by inclination. In New Zea--1 land he wrestled as an amateur, hav- ' ing something like 60 bouts before he 3 suffered his first defeat. Kent left New Zealand to see the 1 world, and he is certainly succeeding. I Hi? first stop was Australia; he then ; went to South Africa, and he is now I heading for England. ! ONE-MINUTE BOUTS i The Northern Boxing Association has i been pleasing its patrons _ lately by t including teams matches in the pro- ; grammes. Although the duration of t each individual bout is only one minute, j the whirlwind tactics, and non-stop, t non-scientific slugging adopted by the s contestants invariably provide the spectators with an abundance of excitement, to say nothing of amusement. Credit for the bright thought of in- * troducing such a novel element into the evening's entertainment goes to „ Lieutenant "Pugs" Thcw, R.N. (rer cent.lv returned to England) who sug- » gesied the idea to the Northern Boxing , Association. Some boxing writers have criticised these teams matches, mainr taining that they render the sport . farcical (says the "Observer"), but one i might as well suggest that a reader of s Wodchousc automatically loses, his 3 appreciation of Galsworthy in anj | case, the public like them.