BOXING AND BOXERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 18 June 1936, Page 9

BOXING AND BOXERS

“ALL IS NOT WELL” B. DENNISON’S COMMENTS (By Air Mail—Prom Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, 14th May. All is not well, with big and pretentious boxing (writes B. Bennison). That may or may not be news. But such is the fact, and is much to be regretted. Tom Broadribb, who has been associated with Jeff Dickson in the Albert Hall promotions, has given it out that, after Monday of Derby week, he will step down in the matter of Kensington, and employ himself in other directions. Tiiat is his own and entirely domestic affair. It is proper that he should be free to shape his own ends. 1 am, however, keenly interested to know whether fighting will be done at the Albert Hall in much xhe same way as before. Perhaps Dickson, when he is back in London from the States, will table his plans for the future. Meantime, the British Boxing Board of Control have again invited criticism by telling the world that,henceforth champions of different weights will not be permitted to tight lor a title. Such a pronouncement should have been made when permission was sought to match Petersen and Jock McAvoy for the British and Empire heavyweight championship, if, as must be presumed, they were forced to such a decision by the unworthiness of that fight. It is surely too late in the day for them to condemn that contest on the score of physical disparities. They knew McAvoy’s poundage to an ounce, and, I take it, his capacity also. If they had the least fear that he was not a suitable opponent for the Welshman, they should have ruled him out. For myself I saw no objection to the match, since McAvoy had gone tnt full distance against John Henry Lewis in a fight for the world’s cruiser championship. The blood is not on the match mak ers. The blame was with Petersen and McAvoy. They failed lamentably to give value for money, and earned ail the criticism showered upon them, McAvoy for his shyness to venture, Petersen for his inability to make a fight of it. So far as may be known they have not been called over the coals by the governing body. Mr Arthur Myers, the referee, however, has been removed from the “star” list of arbiters. His reduction to the ranks, as it were, if it means anything at all, means that the Board are decided he failed to exercise the power with which he was invested.

DID HIS BEST His integrity is not, of course, impeached. As he says, he did his best. He could not have made Petersen and McAvoy fight as we know they can fight) but he might, with every justification, have declared “no contest” because of the exaggerated caution of one and the ineptitude of the other. But, if he had oi'dered the men out of the ring for making a travesty of fighting, would he have had the undivided support of the Board? The position of Mr Myers at Earl’s Court was unenviable. But that is a matter upon which I have no desire to enlarge. What is more important is this. Do the Board arrogate : to themselves the sole right to decide whether a match is good or bad? So far they have not been remarkable for discrimination. Surely they do not intend to make it a hard and fast rule to judge capacity by weights and measures alone. McAvoy did not lose to Petersen because he was the lighter man by roundabout 14 pounds. He lost because he was not good enough. I certainly maintain that he was big enough. Pie was up against a phenomenal fighter, plus a fighter of greater height and poundage. He employed the wrong tactics in making it his first business to cover the full championship course. We were warned after he was discovered that, if Camera were allowed to fight other than a giant like himself, the sport of fighting would suffer incalculable harm. The mountainous Italian is, as I have always maintained, a next-to-nobedy. and outside the circus would probably never have been heard of, had he not happened at a time when heavyweights were the least proficient of ail fighters.

OTHER EXAMPLES Carpentier, when he might have come within the middleweight limit, knocked out Bombardier Wells at Ghent. Dempsey came near to slaughtering JeSs Willard, who had the ad-

vantage of several stones. And there was Jimmy Wilde. If he had been strictly confined to fly-weights, he would have been left with little or nothing to do. I have in mind more than one middle weight who could have made a Roman holiday at the expense of not a few present-day heavyweights. Nel Tarleton is prepared to tight ‘Harry Mizler, and, if he is matched ; with the London lightweight, I for one I would offer no objection. I would, of course, prefer that Tarleton con--1 fined himself to men of his own divi- ■ sion, which offers a desirable field for i iffm to exploit. There are Dick Cor- | bett and Benny Sharkey, in particular, all ready to fight for the teatheiweight title. He has reached an age when he would be well advised to make the most of his‘championship. And that also goes for Benny Lynch if. as soon as was practical, he defended the world’s flyweight kingdom which he took from Jackie Brown, he vvoffld have increased Ins capital by at least a thousand pounds. London, I know, was tremendously keen lo see him. When he comes to lown towards the end of the month, his opponent will be Pat Warburton, u young Welshman, all anxious to reach finality. Would Lynch not have reaped the more bountifully by defending his title against Jim Warnock, the Irish lad? I think so. However, I can assure you that the little men of the ring have seldom had such opportunities. The big battalions for the moment are out of fashion. I inquired on Wednesday of Syd Hulls. Wembley’s match maker, whether he had anything in view for Petersen. His reply was No, and so far as 1 can see we shall continue to draw blanks. I am afraid that things in the matter of Petersen will have to right themselves. The position will remain difficult until all fighters are prepared to engage themselves on a percentage. For some time, perhaps for good and all, there will be no more many-thousand purses.” Which is in the nature of things. After the excellent boxing produced in the Golden Glove tournament, the public cannot be expected to pay “any money” for the privilege of seeing fighters with a licence to fix their own value.