BEN FOORD’S FUTURE

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 153, 1 July 1939, Page 13

BEN FOORD’S FUTURE

BOXERS HE HAS MET MAX BAER WAS THE HEAVIEST PUNCHER FARR THE CLEVEREST AND SCHMELING THE MOST CAREFUL

Ben Foord is really serious about bis boxing come-back. When the news of it was first published people doubted its authenticity, but a chat with the former British and Empire champion would soon remove those doubts.

“I am only 26 years old,” Foord told a South African writer in May last. "My rest from the game has done me good and X am keen to get back into harness. ’

A smashed hand and the “graft” that goes on in the sport oversea were the factors that forced the handsome South African to retire from the game, disillusioned and in disgust a few months ago. “When I beat Petersen for the British and Empire titles,” said Foord, “I was on the top of the world; or rather, I thought I was, and I had visions of winning the world title, but it was in that contest that I broke my hand and it troubled me in every fight afterwards.” Asked for his opinion about the leading fighters he had met and seen, Foord ranked Max Baer as the heaviest puncher he had encountered, Tommy Farr as one of the cleverest and Max Schmeling as one of the most careful—slow'to warm up and difficult to box.

"I tried to outbox Schmeling in Hambourg,” said Foord, “instead of making a hot fight of it right from the start. That was how Joe Louis beat him; he never gave him a chance to warm up.” Visit To America. Ben went to America, but did not fight there. “I saw Louis beat Braddock, and there is no doubt that the negro is a great fighter; he is a marvellous counter-puncher, and I cannot see any of the leading men of to-day beating him; someone is bound to come along and do so sooner or later, but there is no one on the horizon Just now.”

Asked if he would go oversea again, in the event of his meeting with success in South African rings, Foord gave an emphatic “No”; "if I do well here, I will continue boxing, but they can bring the opponents to me; I may have a shot at the South African title if I do well in my projected fight with Buck Everett, but I have no ambitions to go looking for glory oversea again.

"At present I weigh 2081b5., and would probably come down half-a-stone in training,” he continued. "A couple of big local boys have promised to help me in my preparation, and my damaged hand seems to have recovered entirely.”

Foord possesses that mysterious quality "personality,” and will undoubtedly draw a big crowd when he fights in Johannesburg. Professional boxers, on the whole, are not overburdened with intellect, but big Ben is an intelligent fellow, who can discuss affairs of the world, and it is not only the mundane things that appeal to him.

His eyes lit up when he spoke of his cottage in the Surrey hills, with its outlook on green fields and wooded valleys. "I would go back to England for that,” said Foord, “but not to fight again.” Since his return to South Africa Foord has become interested in a mining proposition in the Rustenburg district, and this must appeal To the streak of adventure in his make-up. It is probably that streak that is bringing him back to the boxing ring. A comparatively young man as heavyweights go, Foord may yet regain the Empire title, but his fight with Everett, a couple of months hence, must have a big bearing on his future.

Whatever that future is, one cannot imagine Foord ever resigning himself to the cage of city life. For him it must always be the spaces and the wind and the sun and the rain.