BOXING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 December 1924, Page 10

BOXING.

Jiist at present there, is a controversy in various papers regarding the Methods used by Tom Cribb and his supporters usM By Tom Cribb and his riutipofters in the Historic fights BeJu r eeii Grißß arid . Moliifieslujt, the negrO' ex-slave, fot the chsiriipibnsiiip. Cribb was orieofthe greatest fighters who ©vef wCht intb thol ring in the days Of the bard knuckle cohtests. Thfe. enthusiast Who' wishes 10 read the of the fights mdiitiohed above will find His appetite fuily satisfied iii *‘Corinthian Bajiri,” Andrew .Soiitar, the famous iidvelist, gives rein, to an ardent ehthusiasirifor the noble art. Those . familiar with Cohan Doyle’ri ‘ ‘Rodney Stone’ ’. will re,rriembef the wonderful account of the fight between Jack Harrison, the tdr, and Crab Wilson, Arid the descriptions in “Corinthian Dayri” are just as fiiie. It seeriis wonderful to bs what h hold the aft Of pugilism hid on the nation during the period Of the wars with France. From the King to the humblest eubieOt everybody was intonated iii the doings of the ‘ ‘fariesr,’ ’ and,it was the correct thing for members of the nobility to be in the inner circle- of pugilistica. The following article will prove of interest, both to those who know tUsir subject 7 and those who are taking their first steps, so to spdak:

• MOLINEAUX AND CRIBB. (Referee.) Cribb Game Out of Retirement Only When His Courage arid the Nation’s Honour Were Questioned. The following from W.H.P. came to hand from Many Peaks (Queensland), arid lie evidently knows his subject well. He writes':

“As a lifelong enthusiast on the ring and its. history, and an admirer of Mr F. G-. Menke’s Referee articles, I was much , surprised to find his obviously anti-British version of the CribbMolineaux contests, so intensely pronegro and anti-white. Its source was probably a second-hand account, written when, or after, the two nations were at war, with the memory of the Sharinon-Chesapeake marine duel burning on the national mind, and b’hen. even so despised a creature as an exslave, though a double loser, was considered a suitable stick with which to chastise the British dog, a weakness cornmon to all nations in a similar crisis.

“The respective characters and temperaments of the two gladiators, as shown by the authentic first-hand accounts of indeperiderit eye-witnesses 'Written from different viewpoints, contrast widely, and convincingly prove, with both at their best, which was the superior. Tom Cribb, with all his admitted science, was, like Sayers, one Of the most noted gluttons in ring history, invariably allowing his opponent to wear himself down, and was equally docile and conscientious in his training. After his second victory over the ring Napoleon, Belcher, from whom he took quite as much, punishment as he did from Molineaux, Cribb retired into business, becoming very fat and prosperous before the negro arrived, hence the ignored challenges until his courage and the nation’s Honour were questioned.

‘lt was then that the high-minded veteran, unlike younger champions of our own time, mad© an unquestionable come-back, risking every interest that made life easy, facing the ordeal physically unfit, as his stated weight shows. Even theft h© withstood the terrific onslaught of the Herculean young black, and finally outstayed him in th© 33rd round, Molineaux collapsing in a fit of shivers, caused by Crib Vs scientific body hitting and the mid-wiriter rain. T iv 8-inch gash on his head through falling against a ring post is too absurd to consider, like- the other story that his hand was smashed with a claw-

hammer during thfe fight—not mentioned this time. , q, “Ward’s trickery to gain time I would riot doubt, being, only one of coriritless,shady things in frequent uSe at such times, brit I must deny the statenierit that the negro seconds were unschooled,... in the technique of fighting, Bill Richmond having risen froni famine to fame as tb© Earl of Richf ihond’s black, a leading ririfi figure fdt years, while Sutton was a first-clariS\ heavy-weight, and once bested the famous ,Ned Painter. Mplineaux, on<y of the strongest and gamest natural) fighters the ring hris kiioWri,. >vas a sort; of human gorilla in build arid disposik tion, and when a free man sought to beat .down all opposition by forge of arm and character, a dominant figure in any company. His crazy selfcbrifidence arid strong passions led him to despise all science arid training, , which his able mairistay, Richiriond, found Were uttei’ly watted Ori him. ■ , . “Cnly as Sa servile slave, could he • nave beeh forced tb obeV orders; bad his former master only ‘foreseen . his ring possibilities; but once ririshackled, ' defiance of authority beeariie hit- . natural delight, his crowning act being the breakfast at Thistletoii Gap—a pigeon pie and a quarter of porter— . not a charitable gift, as stated; with 400 guineas at stake, but ordered and Consumed with gusto, a characteristic x clare-devil act of bravado, defiance and contempt, against earnest advice, that neither backers, .trainer nor seconds dared to prevent.' . “He was the untaught Siki of his' day in a fistic universe limited to one island, in which the seeds of his selfundoing quickly ..thrived. After the. Second fight, with Cribb, lie wss beaten by yoring Jack Shaw, the iriiinbrtal Lifeguardsniari of Waterloo, arid his subsequent deblirie, sad to say like many otlibr SanisOriib herOOs, threw brit a fain’t shadow of his former possible, greatness. He bravely sriugHt to at-1 - tain the highest, and with wiser jridg-A ' irierit iriight have succeeded; Gribb, ori'i th© other hand, Schooled under Nel- -’? son’s naval discipline, was habitually " obedient tb. Orders; .and thereby at times lacked, initiative, While in retireriient',, before th© Alolineaux fights, He met, with two severe accidents, being crushed by. a cpal waggon, and also by a-oewt load, which h® was ,carrying for a wager aerbsg a sheet of ice, hut slipped arid fell benedth. “Falstaff-like in iriore tHaii one respect, he discreetly kilo wed’ 1 thri'- impetuous black to_‘exhariht hiiriself iri the first encounter, iiL which the "icy stdrrii afesidted. When unfit, hri went over 30 • founds, defending 'rttrprigly. Iri. thb second contest, with conditions re- -T versed, arid vtakirig all that crime; he broke poor Moliheanx’s' jaW, and at -least, one account .says, 'two ribs, in • only six short rounds. “No ring fighters fames was greater 4 or so dqng enduring, Tom Gribb’s Parlor lasting'',to orir oivri day, : and the sculptured lion over his Woolwich tomb, like that of Australia’s lritef : and riobier Molineaux at' Roma (Peter Jackson), ‘liriplOtes th© partirig tribrite of a sign.’ I*} strong contrast, Americaii syinpktny for their drislcy ririg pioneer, as 1 expressed iri the article f of November 12, seems uncoriviricirig, ’ whett,. iri the * adjoining column, Joe Gans is said to have ‘died practically penniless in Baltimore,’ while Langford, almost blind, was lately given a benefit by colored friehds. Sic,- trahsijb 'gloria mundi.’i