THE PRIZE-FIGHT NUISANCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1912, Page 4

THE PRIZE-FIGHT NUISANCE.

: it is to be Hoped that the Auckland Exhibition Commissioners will refuse to entertain the proposal which is to ! be made to them by the Northern j Boxing Association, namely, that a huge stadium should be erected in the Exhibition grounds in the Auckland Domain, and that a series of prizeI fights after the manner of those which are held periodically in Sydney should be instituted, the services of six or j seven of "the world's greatest fighters" being secured. The Association claims that it can guarantee a prize of £1000 for each fight. If the Commissioners do not agree \to the proposal, then a stadium will be erected on some private site in Auckland or the suburbs of that city, a building capable of providing seating accommodation for 5000 people. The promoters are seemingly confident of being able to carry their project through, as they have, we read, engaged a professional organiser from Sydney who will shortly leave for Australia, America, and Great Britain to spread the good news of the coming pugilistic carnival amongst the proI fessional followers of the so-called "noble art of self-defence," and make arrangements with some of the champions of the ring to make' their appearance before an Antipodean spectatorate. We trust that the Exhibition Commissioners in the northern i city will unanimously decide to leave this "pug" business to "private enterprise." There is no harm in a well-conducted boxing contest, although it is true that these exhibitions are for the most part voted "deadly dull" by the onlookers so long as the boxing is strictly "scientific." When, however, heatea blood begins to tell and the "go" becomes so "willing" that "science" gives, place, to rough-and-tumble "plugging" the cheering is vociferous, and the combatants are loudly encouraged or discouraged by partisan cries of either a complimentary or an abusive character, as the circumstances and the individual preferences and sympathies of the' spectators may go. But the class of "boxing"—isave the- mark !-^which is characteristic of. the big contests in which Burns and Johnson and other "heroes" of the prize-ring have taken part at the Sydney stadium is of quite a different kind from the comparatively tame ■and tepid performances of the "Kaiwarra Chicken," the "Buller Bull Pilp," and similar amateurs or semiprofessionals who take part in the average New Zealand boxing contests. The Sydney "fights" are really prizefights, and although, for the first few rounds, "science" may play some part, all pretence at "science" is soon thrown to the winds, and the combatants go in for just as determined and brutal "plugging" as did' ever Tom Sayers, Jem Mace, or other bygone celebrities of the British prizering. As to the effect upon that admittedly large section of the public which takes pleasure in seeing two men batter each other's faces into gory masses of pulp, or which takes equal pleasure in discussing the "kidney punch" delivered by this champion or the "slashing upper-cut" of, the other, anyone who has happened to be in Sydney at the time one of these prize-fights is on hand can testify to the all-round demoralising effect of such brutal and degrading exhibitions. This is a kind of sport" which New Zealand can very well do without, especially when the welfare of our young men is considered. With honest, healthy, manly pastimes of all kinds, and with all branches of decently-conducted, legitimate sport we have every sympathy But the prize-fight is quite outside ""s category. It is simply a variant or the demoralising exhibitions of the Koman gladiators, and cannot fail to brutahse and demoralise the minds of those who witness such " spectacles. We liope, therefore, not only that the Auckland Exhibition Commissioners; will promptly and emphatically "turn down the proposal that a prize-fight stadium should be erected in the Exhibition grounds, but we would'go turther and suggest to the Government, that it should take steps to prevent any prize-fights, either for £1000' orJSIO a "go," being held anywhere within the Dominion, either in AuckJand or elsewhere, andwhether on pri-vately-owned ground or not. There> is a precedent for stopping such disgusting spectacles, for the London County Council stepped in, it may be remembered, and prevented a prizefight taking place between the negro pugilist, Johnson, and a certain English exponent of the "noble .art?' What the L.C.C. could do, the NewZealand Government can, we think, also do. If the necessary legislative power, however, does not exist, it can be obtained next session, in ample time to prevent Auckland, and New Zealand, being disgraced by a series of prize-fights "for £1000 each."