BOXING

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 July 1924, Page 6

BOXING

GENERAL NOTES.

(By

“Looker-on.”)

Nominations for the West Coast championships, including all divisions from fly-weight to heavy-weight, close on July 17. I understand that the Westport Boxing Association are negotiating with Dick Pasoce for a special bout at the end of this month, when his opponent will be either Armstrong (Christchurch) or P. Charles (Wellington). hollowing the example of Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion, lightweight Benny Leonard has signed a contract, through his manager, Billy Gibson, to appear in a motion picture based on his life. Gibson announces that the contract stipulates the screen agreement will in no way interfere with. Leonard’s pending ring engagements. One hundred thousand dollars is the figure which has induced the champion to sign his name. The life of the professional boxer is usually crammed full of strange incidents and experiences, and there are not many, even of the younger pugilists, who have not at least one amusing story to tell. Australian Tommy Fair hall dropped enough data for a paragraph recently when telling of his earlier efforts in the ring at the time he was first endeavouring to “get into the game.” Harry Denham, a friend of B Fairhall, was matched to fight one Bluey Porter, at a country place called Kempsey, one of the “tall timber” villages in New South Wales. Denham in the eleventh hour became ill and at his suggestion Fairhall agreed to journey to Kempsey and battle under Denham’s name. “It was the funniest little camp I have ever seen,” said Tommy, when describing his doings in Kempsey. “While the preliminaries were in progress I had to take the tickets at the door, and after the band and the ‘dead-heads’ had been admitted there was no room for anyone else. The majority of the audience were ‘abos’ and between them they made a fearful dm. One big black fellow came up to me at the door saying that he was Billy Foote, the aboriginal boxer, and he wanted to be admitted on the strength of this. I knew Foote, so I replied, “There’s Foote up in the ring now. Where’s your money if you want to come in!’ He didn’t make any reply, but a little later on he re turned with about four of his burly black friends and asked, ‘Are you going to let us in!’ I didn’t want a riot, so I just stepped away from the door and I guess that the black fellows have not stopped streaming into the hall yet. Well, to return to the figlrt; I stopped Porter in seven rounds, but after the reporters had paid for the new clothes, prop, ring, and the corn sack mat out of the ‘gate,’ there was not much left for the boxers To cap it all, the train I was returning on was derailed, and when I did finally arrive home after my journey of easily a thousand miles, I was showing a loss of £3 15.” Fair hall concluded that it had cost him more money than the fight was worth to “square” an enthusiast who knew that he was not Denham, and who called out, “Hullo Nutty” as soon as he entered the hall.