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Northern Advocate, 15 July 1933, Page 2

A writer in “The Ring” claims that the negro has made his greatest strides in eport during the' last 20 years, in the realm of boxing. Where, a quarter of a century ago, there were only a handful of negro fighters, today the field is full of coloured battlers. So far so good. The number has unquestionably increased, but, gs the writer admits, the negroes of today cannot be compared with those of the days of Dixon, Gans, Walcott, and others of almost equal merit. In view of this it is difficult to accept the statement of their advance. In fact their standard has deteriorated. There are only three negroes at present in the front rank, Kid Chocolate, A 1 Brown, and Young Jack Thpmpson. There is little question that the negro has made his greatest progress in track arid field sport. Consider the facts. Prior to 1912 there were few negroes of any particular merit, but since then there has been quite a dazzling host of stars. Howard Drew, Sol Butler, de Hart E. Tolan and R. Metcalfe are but a few whose deeds are among the finest ever made ,in the athletic world. And in this phase of sport the negro is really only finding hie feet. With an extension in its scope his future deeds are certain to eclipse those of the past. But -he arrived 25 years ago in boxing. * * » « In a recent copy of the British Olympic Journal the world’s best ten performances at 5000 and 10,000 metres in 1932 are recorded. J. W. iSavidan stands eighth in the former list with a time of 14min 49 2-ssee. This I was the time he registered in finishing fourth at Los Angeles, but he defeated two who are ranked above him on time performance, so that he can fairly claim sixth place among the best 5000metre runners. L. Lehtinen, Finland, winner, of the Olympic event, heads the list with 14min 16 9-10 sec. In the 10,000 metres, J. Kusocinski, of Poland, stands first with 30.11 2-5, while Savidan with 31.4 2-5 is placed fifth. This placing accurately indicates his position at the above distance.