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BOXING.

MAKING YOUTHS -BETTER MEN

CLEAN LIVING AND SELF-

CONTROL.

There are many people (says the Melbourne Argus) who believe that boxing is a sport that has not a redeeming feature to just.fy its existence. '.'Bruta]ising"_and " 'degrading" are the terms usually applied to it, probably because the people who hold these views will not, as a rule, indulge in stronger expressions, otherwise the epithets would perhaps, he more forcioP?, if less accurate. They would certainly regard a statement that boxing could exercise a strong moral' influence for good on its participants as emanating from a warped-sense of humour. Allowing that there has been much in th« past history of the sport to justify condemnation, there are, nevertheless, aspects of it to-day that should considerably modify the existing prejudice. ATTAINING PERFECT CONDITION. ■If:a youth wishes to become a boxer at present—and tiiere are many attracted, to the ring, not only on account of us awards, out because of the natural love an Australian or New Zea.lander has for coming out on top — even before he can hope to obtain a hearing from those who control boxing, he. has much .to learn. But the great point of his lessons is that he must be clean —physically and morally. It would be a great mistake to believe that the sport is solely confined to professionalism. In the "many boxing schools there are hundreds of young men in training for no other reason than the desire to be physically lit; of course with the idea, also, oi selfdefence as a secondary motive. They enter the pastime as amateurs, and never dream of forsaking that status. Many of them never even take part in amateur contests, being satisfied with the benefit they receive from the exercise ; but whatever class they are in they have one characteristic in common and that js clean living. To be able to use'their hands at all they must practise rigid self-denial. This is the chief passport to perfect physical condition. The cigarette must go; alcohol in any form is anathema; regular hours are essential, and a suppression of the devices and desires of. their own hearts must be observed. Any infringement of the law brings its own inevitable punishment. Secrecy is of no avail, because no base metal is able to stand the test of the ring. The youths recognise this fact, and for this reason there is scarcely to be found in the community a body of more clean-living men than boxers, whether amateur or professional. If for no other reason this implanting of the advantages of restraint and self-denial in growing youths and .young men should commend the sport even to the most prejudiced, j It must l)o remembered that of the hundreds who go in for boxing for the sake of the sport a very few on tor the ranks of the professionals. In the schools and -.gynuwsi.ums. where the art is taught, tlioro is a. total absence of tho undosirahle atmosphere with such institutions. They are conducted under rigid iulcr, "and their proprietors value their good name too much to permit behaviour that would in any way bring discredit on their establishment.

FAIR. PLAY AN INFLEXIBLE LAW. Apart from the physical benefit derived from the sport there are added the 4ul van tapes that youths learn the great lessons of fair play and selfcontrol under the most intense provocation. Fair play is the most inflexible lnw of the schools, and an infringement of the law would need courage as great as the indiscretion

which prompted it. The boxer who J lo jch his temper loses everything. I If a youth wishes to step from the > amateur class into the professional .-. catus, there is nothing to prevent his doing so, provided that he has conformed to all essential standards; but he has to prove it to..the satisfaction of the official medical adviser to the j Medium. The latter is an enthusiastic i ; uhiete, and although no longer young, ca.: .show a muscle that testihes to perfect condition. It is to him that an I iupiring youth must answer, and a military medical examination is a simple matter compared \vjth the test the aspir. ant must undergo before he is permit-! ted to step into the ring. The doctor has made himself the friend and adviser of all the lads, and there is nothing of ambiguity in his advice or instruction, ' and they appreciate it. He has no . doubts, from long experience, of the i benefit of boxing. He is able to say ' from personal knowledge that at present' the class of youth entering the ring is | much superior to»that of the past. He I believes., that the benefit they receive ' from the clean, wholesome training is invaluable to them in after life, and j they are more inclined to keep to it j than to relapse into injudicious living. J TheFe is one point on which he is ! most emphatic, and that is the greater j place that physical training should have ! in education, part of which should be i boxing. That is not theory, for he | quotes as proof the children of ath- } letes, whom he has known intimately. Better a nation of boxers, he says, I than an indiscriminate inter-marriage of the unfit, with resultant disaster to all concerned RIGOROUS DISCIPLINE INVOLVED That the sport of boxing js devoid of danger to health is proved by the fact that youths, properly trained, can be- J gin in six-round contests, and work up to ten rounds, without showing any great distress, and be none the worse on the following day. In all the years Dr. Hanly has been adviser to the Stadium in Melbourne there has not ; been, he is proud -to say, one instance of serious results from boxing. " Any ■ moral ill-effects are not in the boxers ! themselves. They are provided by the alleged "sports" and "hangers-on" who infest every class of-athletic sport. If an amateur is obliged to live a > righteous, sober, and upright life, the existence of the professional is akin to that of the anchorite. An amateur may . relax, but the professional must keep; himself up to the mark. There is an • idea that the, work attached to prepara. i tion is anything but. strenuous, but it; is an idea that a visit to a training school will quickly dispel. After a j morning devoted to swift walking, fol- ! lowed by various exercises, the man puts in an afternoon at which the average citizen would stand aghast. . First he indulges in ten to fifteen minutes' ! hard skipping; then the real business ! commences, when the trainer enters the ring to meet, not one opponent the i ; whole time, but" in round after round j a fresh sparring partner, each putting | forward all the- strength and skill he ■ possesses. He stops blows without j j wincing, any one of which would put J the untrained man put of action, and after half-a-dozen rounds he may be seen carrying out a few more exercises i before being rubbed down by his I trainer. But the wonder of it is that so perfect is the physical condition that the body bears no mark or bruise, and the man himself is as fresh as when he begafi. Moreover, he is able to discuss, 'in a friendly impersonal manner with . his opponents, the jolts he has given i and received. . j One trainer deHares that if all men I were boxers, prohibition would ensue automatically, and in »iVnany other directions the world would be cleaner and sweeter. It-is not the boxer thnt- . rna^es the snort unsavoury, but its I "hangers on.''

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HNS19230609.2.5.10

Bibliographic details

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 June 1923, Page 4

Word Count
1,273

BOXING. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 June 1923, Page 4

BOXING. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 June 1923, Page 4

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