THE FIGHTS OF BILLY WELLS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume III, Issue 361, 21 February 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE FIGHTS OF BILLY WELLS.

ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THE LOE SIURY OF BRITAIN’S MOST POPULAR BOXER.

It was in January, 1911, says Pearson’s Weekly, that Wells and “Gunner James Moir met at the Olympia Annexe, West Kensington, and that Wells, to his sorrow, learnt the truth of the saying that a fight » never won until it is tost. Wells, ramember, had acted as Moir’s sparring partner when he first came home from India, but when the two met in their first boxing match, the“sparring partner” very nearly beat his old master. In the opening round, so frequently did e.L jjet Ins leit fist “home'- on his opponent's person that members of the great crowd present began to leave in the belief that all was over bar the shouting. But they fought two more rounds, and in the third ono the cool, calculating Moir got one in on Wells’ body that knocked tom flown and out; for when Mr Eugene Corri, the referee, had counted the fatal ten seconds Wells was still on the ground, gasping and apparently almost oblivious to where he was and what was going on. He had paid the penalty of rashness; impetuosity had been his undoing for the first time since he had come back. Although short, the fight was a most dramatic one in many ways, the most remarkable thing about it being the almost irresistible methods of Wells at the start.

WILY GUNNER MOIRHis early success was all the more amajring because of the cute way in . which Moir tried to get “pn his nerves.” Knowing full well the highly -strung nature of his opponent, the gunner kept - him waiting ten minutes or so in the before he deigned to appear himBut the eclipse of Billy Wells was a very short one. It was characteristic of him to be thus counted out against Moir in January and to rise up in April and beat “Iron” Hague—the man who had knocked out Moir in less than two minutes a few months before—in the heavyweight championship of England. In Hague, Wells bad t° meet a solid, phlegmatic Yorkshireman, not a very scientific boxer perhaps, but a fighter who could hit and a man who could take blows with a tantalising suggestion of calm indifference to physical hurt. In one way “Iron” Hague—the "Iron” was admirably apt in those days—was about the worst sort of opponent for a nervy, impressionable man like Wells to take on, but for aH that the Bombardier won all along the line. He thus became heavyweight champion of his country and winner of Lord Lonsdale’s belt. Having shown himself the best heavyfreightboxer in the land, Wells proceeded to —give up boxing. At any rate he rested on his laurels for a time and left the ring for the stage. For some months he Joured London and the provinces in a specially written music-hall sketch, in which he played the part of a young boxer ready to tackle any other boxer in the world. The sketch was called, “Wanted, a Man.” The “man” was forthcoming; Jack Johnson was also on the halls at that time, and before Im.g he and Wells were matched to figbr each other. But. as will be remembered, they were not allowed to meet. A crusade against the proposed “Hack v. white” match, in which Hie Reverend F. B. Meyer took a leading part, ended iu the promoters abandoning the scheme.

TO MEET JACK JOHNSON.

The match was to have been for a purse of £B,OOO. and, showing the money there is in boxing, a computation of Johnson’s share of his fight with Jeffries teas as follows: £ Parse 15,150 Moving pictures 33,000 Music-hall engagements ... 20.000 Bets, etc. - £ 4,000 £72,150 Billy Wells has never made anything like this, of course, but he is young yet, and he may easily have a fortune in his fists. - . . , • Opinions were very sharply dividea on the “Stop the Fight” crusade; and although Mr. Meyer came in for a good deal of hostile criticism for the stand h« took, be bore Biily Wells no malice. On the contrary, he’said some very nice things about him and some that showed a lack of expert boxing knowledge. Whether Wells would have won is a matter that will remain unsolved for all time, for Wells and Johnson are never likely to meet now.