PROFESSIONAL BOXERS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 March 1934, Page 8

PROFESSIONAL BOXERS

FEW QUITTERS IN RING AMERICAN CRITIC’S SURVEY. FAMOUS BOUTS RECALLED Are there many quitters in the prizering? That was the question put to me recently, and, in all frankness, I replied that there were very few (writes Clarenct Gillespie, in “The Ring”). Pugilists c'an stand so niueli and no more, and it is their 'business to deliver and take punishment. They realise this, and generally realise it, too, before really entering the business. Some of them are high-strung and nervous, and little things prey on their mind's, and some of them, by nature, love peace. And yet, when, they enter the ring, nearly all of them forget all this and. light with all the courage at their command. Many were tried in the big war and they, without exception, proved themselves true and royal soldiers. Fred McKay is an example. Glassed 1 in that category before the war, he won every conceivable honour on. the battlefields of France, and died a national hero.

'Spider Kelly, king of seconds, and a wonderful boxer in his time, talking on the subject of quitters, one day said: “I have to have awful good proof bo-' fore. I ever accuse a man of quitting. In my day I would have knocked down any man who ever accused me of possessing that quality. At that, there 1 is no. sense of taking a licking for nothing, or standing a pounding when; you have no chance to reciprocate. “Fighters whom I have met and know, are a gritty set. Some, to be sure, have yellow streaks, but those who bear that reputation have generally earned it by being very wise matchmakers and . taking on. only soft marks. “If a man chooses to take on soft marks, that is really liis own affair, and, if he can get them without too much trouble and in a legitimate way, who has a right to blame him?” To accuse one of being a quitter is to stir up strife;, no matter, how m’uch of a coward at heart a many may be. A' pugilist is always very sensitive on that point, no. matter how shady his reputation or how often before he has been charged with that sort of thing. And if you intimate lie bears that stamp, he will go far to show you you are mistaken in convincing you to the contrary.

Take a very great boxer —Tommy Ryan. At one time certain, people questioned his gameness. Later, however, he proved that no gamer boxer lived, but he had to fight Tommy West and Kid MoCov to a standstill to wipe out tho stigma.

They used to say, too, that Peter Maher was a quitter, but later he proved that he wasn’it. And there have been other pugilists besides Ryan and Maher who have been accused of being quitters when they did not deserve the name.

Early in his career, Young Corbett was put down in the quitter class, but he soon proved that he was of the right sort. When he set out he was a boy of the “I don’t care what becomes of me” kind, and unless he was winning a fight right off the reel he did not appear to care whether he won or lost. In his fight with Terry McGovern, the battle which really wound up Terry’s career, Corbett showed real gameness when, after receiving a terrific blow in the groin, he came back and gave McGovern, an awful beating. If he wanted to quit, all Corbett had to do was to lie down, the wisest, sportsman would not have been surprised had he. been counted out. Enemies of another Corbett, James J., once said that the slightest p-unch would have made him' think of quitting in a battle, no matter how much he had at stake. When Corbett fought Fitzsimmons at Carson City in 1897, his defeat came after a blow in; the wind, or solar plexus, as a learned sporting writer put it that day, and as a blow on that paid, of the anatomy has been called ever since. Pictures of that fight were taken, and, when produced, they proved beyond question that Corbett was unquestionably knocked out, and the theory of his having quit was knocked into a cocked hat. And in all of his fight®, Corbett displayed wonderful gameness. To. stand ten slashing rounds against a man of _Jeffries’ power, when the latter was stronger and! better than ever before or after was no small task, but Corbett accomplished it -without wincing. Many thought George Dixon would, quit when be met a rival who could get to him and punch him hard, but;, when the crucial test came, Dixon fooled his defamers .badly. Dixon found such an opponent in Teriy McGovern. For eight rounds McGovern, punched Dixon with all his might, but Dixon gave in only -when his seconds threw up the sponge. It is iny opinion that .the quitters in the ring are few and' far between. Was Jess Willard a quitter? You’ve often heard that asked, and how often have you heard people call him that ugly name. Yet, would you call a man that after bo had taken everything that the great Manassa Mauler, Jack Dempsey, could hand him in three rounds and still come up for more? Would' you call a fellow a quitter who stood up for further punishment after being floored seven times in one round and then fought like a demon in the next, only to- be battered into submission again in the third?

No, that is not. quitting! Jess Willard, despite his defeat and loss', of tho world’s heavyweight championship, had courage. Yes, plenty of it._ It takes game men in this hustling world to reach the top of their class in any vocation, and boxing is no exception. In fact, in pugilism’, that is one of a fighter’s greatest assets. Show me the man who lacks courage, and I’ll point him out as a failure. He simply. Can’t make good. Phil Scott, among others who possessed everything a great fighter would care to have, is all example of a failure because he lacked the fighting heart. Fred McKay, Boer Rodel, Fred Fulton arid Ruby Goldstein are examples ofj great prospects who lacked the courage; to carry on when given the acid test.|; But I will say this —boxers, as a class,* arc a game and courageous lot.