PHYSICAL SUPREMACY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14644, 1 April 1911, Page 8

PHYSICAL SUPREMACY.

■■ _— «.. — ."■ WRESTLER AGAINST BOXER. In the course of a discussion last week concerning the passing of the heavyweight boxing championship into the keeping of the coloured race, Clarence Weber, Australia's champion wrestler and strong man, said to a Melbourne interviewer: — "1 cannot see why there should be so much worry over the fact that Jack Johnson has won the world's championship in boxing. It does not mean by any means that Johnson is a better man than any white man, but merely that he is better at boxing under Marquis of Queensberry rules they are permitted, not as the authors intended they should be interpreted. Now, I am willing, in order to show that physical supremacy is not by any means the prerogative of the boxer, to enter into a contest with any heavyweight boxer and pit my game against'his, to show which is the better man. By this I mean that he may box and I shall wrestle. We should struggle to a finish—till one is not in a position to continue. "There would be no brutality in a contest of this kind," continued Weber, ?' for I engage not to actually cripple my adversary; but he may knock me out if he can. Neither of us would kick or bite, and I would engage not to strike with my fists. This may seem tall talk, because Johnson is not here; but I am sorry, he is not. here, and in the meantime this offer stands good to any heavyweight boxer here or elsewhere. The ring would be an ordinary boxing ring, with a mat on the floor, and he to wear loose jacket and boxing gloves. Should any boxer care to avail himself of my • offer, terms and conditions of the contest may be arranged. I want to demonstrate that the real art of self-defence consists more in wrestling than in boxing."