A "GREAT FIGHT.”

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6493, 13 April 1908, Page 3

A "GREAT FIGHT.”

CHARLIE GRIFFIN r. JIM DRISCOLL. A DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY. GRIFFIN LOSES ON A FOUL.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, February 23.

Tho fight* at tho National . Sporting Club last -Monday for the featherweight championship of the world between Charlie Grilfin. of New Zealand, the Australasian champion, and Jim Driscoll. of Cardiff, tho undisputed head of the Home 9st division, was a great disappointment. The men were fighting for JJ74o—made up of ADOO aside and the club puree—but I have seen many a better fight where fewer shillings depended on the result than tho pounds at stake on. this occasion. Monday’s fight was a one-man show, and a poor one at that. The fault was Griffin's. To give tho New Zealander his due it must be said that he is as game a lad as one could wish to see in the ring and a perfect glutton at taking punishment, but as a boxer—accepting Uis form against Driscoll as being so good as ho could give—he is many removes from a top-notchcr. His defence, so far as keeping the "point" out of danger, is good, but the way Driscoll found his face with tho left time after time in every round, and plugged him in the body with left and r'ght made tho Now- Zealander look Tike a novice. ■Ae for attack Griffin hardly seemed to know that he had. a left, and such lends as ho made—they were few and far between—were usually either ishort for vide of their objective. From beginning to end Driscoll was master of tho situation, and was miles in front for points when, in the fifteenth round, disqualification overtook Griffin. The New Zealander deserved his fate, of that there can bo no manner of doubt, and had not tho referee, Mr Douglas, exhibited unusual leniency Griffin would have ruled out in the previous round for deliberately butting his opponent. To me, and to many others, it seemed that Griffin, finding that ho was hopelessly outclassed, and that his strength was giving out, deliberately courted the fate that overtook him. He was a good deal more to blame apparently than Dricoll for the sickening amount of clinching which disfigured the contest. The voice of the referee was continually heard calling upon th© men to break away, and towards the end of the contest he found it necessary to get into the ring in order to ensure prompt obedience to his orders, for Griffin showed an indisposition to obey. Maybe he is a little hard of hearing, for once he tried to uppercut Dricoll whilst breaking from a cluteh after th© bell rang, and nearly succeeded in giving the , W elshman a nasty punch under the chin. QUESTIONABLE TACTICS.

The house was entirely friendly to the stranger daring the first dozen rounds, bat his tactics thenceforward were so questionable that signs of disapprobation. began to be manifested, and when Griffin retired to his corner at the end of the 13th round a storm of hissing and booing accompanied him. Twice during that bout h© had been cautioned for butting in the clinches, and had he been an English boxer there can be no doubt that disqualification would have been his lot. The house indeed demanded that he should be so punished, but Mr Douglas apparently did not share tho general view that Griffin's "headwork” was deliberate. Driscoll eretainly thought it-was, and . seemed to treat his opponent to some "tongue pie" over tho business. Tho referee’s cautions were not effective, for in the XTth round he offended again. Once more Mr Douglas gave him a chance, but early in ■ the next round, after receiving a damaging left which opened the skin over his right eye, Griffin bored in on Driscoll and once more butted him hard under the chin. In a second tho house was in an uproar, cries of "foul,” “disqualify," mingling with hoots, boos, and hisses. Undoubtedly Griffin’s foul head-work had every appearance of being intentional, and Mr Douglas’ could hardly have indulged in farther cautions. His ruling out ot the New Zealander met with the approval of nearly everybody, even those who. like myself, would have dearly liked to see the man from "down under” come out on top. When ruled out Griffin seemed still strong on his legs, and though bleeding slightly from the nose and from the out over his right ©ye did not seem very much the worse for wear. This made his foul fighting all the more unaccountable. As regards his stamina and capacity for ■ taking punishment he upheld his reputation, but little more can be said in his favour. Apparently quite a gentlemanly young follow in th© ordinary walk of life, it is a pity Griffin did not lose his first match on English soil in a more straightforward and sportsmanlike manner. WINNING THROUGHOUT.

Driscoll fought a winning battle throughout. He was clever and skilful as of yore, his footwork and generalship being splendid. It seemed to me, however, that ■ he was not punching with so much power as usual, and certainly he exhibited what appeared to be an excess of caution after he had taken the measure of his man. Apparently he was watching for his opponent to “bring something out of the bag” for his delectation, hut the things wnffijn had in th© way of surprises were the "head-work" aforementioned, and a very swift clip on th© breakaway. When the fight was over Driscoll weni over to Griffin’s corner and appeared to_ bo promising him a good hiding with the ’raw ’uns" at some more convenient time.

The weighing of the men took place at tho N.S.C. at 2 o’clock in the afternoon before an interested company inoluding Tommy Burns, Driscoll ’ and Griffin met for the first time, and shook hands heartily, the Welshman remarking to his opponent, "I hope the best man will win.” Griffin, who was attended by his backer, "Carlton," and several friends from the North, looked hard and well, though not quite so round and muscular as his portraits conveyed. Still, ho was clean and bright, and taking the Seale naked he pulled down Set ISJIb, or a pound and a half inside the stipulated tlrt. Driscoll followed at once and weighed in a singlet Brt 131 b, which made only a few ouneea between the two. Side by side the Welshman looked all his inch and a half the taller and, indeed, quite a 71b bigger man than Griffin. Th© weighing over, "Driscoll wins for A100!’’ was called more than once, but met with no response. When th© members assembled in the Club at night Griffin’s backers could have had 130 to 40 about the New Zealander’s chances, but there seemed to he precious little money about for the visitor, and after the men had taken the ring offers of 2 to 1 against Griffin found no takers.

PRELIMINARY BOUTS. The way for the Mg contest was pared by a series of bents which provided considerable excitement whilst they lasted. The first, a ten-round contest between Lance-Corporal Baker, of the West India Regiment, and Driver Soulsby, of the Royal Field Artillery, was all over in a couple of minutes, a smash under the heart sending Sonleby down and out; the second, also a tenround bout between Charley Hickman, of Manchester, and Private I'arnan, a fine-looking Irish Guardsman, lasted a round and a bit, the soldier being "ent•d" by Hickman with a clip on the point. The third contest lasted lees

than a minute. Bill King, of Mai worth, bringing Bill Herring, of Lambeth, down for the count with the first punch he landed. Whilst Driscoll and Griffin were mat ing ready for their fight, Joo Fletcher, of Camberwell, and Young Josephs, ol Aldgato, provided a comic linterlude with a three-round exhibition which created roars of laughter by their trick} fooling with hands and feet. With their departure a more or less solemn silence settled on tbo house, and Mr Bettinson announced the arrival of the piece do resistance, adding that as Griffin was a stranger to England, Tommy Burns, the world's champion, had offered to give him his countenance and advice during the contort—an announcement that brought forth cheers. Tho Welshman was first to appear, being followed immediately by the New Zealander. At the outset Driscoll's party objected to Griffin wearing fingerless skin-tight gloves beneath the ordinary mittens, which brought a protest from the other side, as Griffin declined to go on unles sthe Welshman removed his bandages. The upshot was Mr Douglas's order to both men to wear nothing but the ordinary gloves. Driscoll was seconded by- Joe 'White. Tom Driscoll, Albert Jones, "Tiger” Smith, and Arthur Guttridge. whilst Griffin had the assistance of Tommy Burns, Dixon, and Carlton. A DETAILED ACCOUNT.

Round I.—When they faced it was seen that Driscoll had an advantage m heigat and roach, which Griaj,. <, crouching style caused to appear even greater than it was. They ieinted for fully a minute, watching each other very closely, at tho end of which Driscoll led with tho left, but failed. Twice afterwards he tried th© same hit without success, but thou, coming to close quarters, put the right hard on the body. Afterward Driscoll landed tho loft right on to th© colonial’s head, timo being called without tho New Zealander having once led. Round 2.—They got to business at once, Dricoll, who was the quicker, being much more effective than his opponent. Twice after feinting with the left he smashed the right straight to tho body, and then later swung tho same hand on to the head. The New Zealander got home a good half-arm right swing on tho head in reply, but towards the close Driscoll was scoring very rapidly. Thrice he put tho left straight on to his opponent's mouth and afterwards the right without receiving a rqply. Round 3.—Starting with a stinging left on the month, Driscoll followed it up with a hard right on the body, and repeated the dose a moment later. Griffin at sought shelter in his opponent s arms, and on breaking away tried a right hand clip. It missed its mark by a foot. From her© to th© end it was pretty much all Driscoll and hug, Griffin seldom attempting to do more than keep out of danger. Bound A—Griffin was more or less a chopping block for Driscoll’s loft, and when the New Zealander tried for safety half-arm j abs caused him to give at a distance Dricoll scored well, adding to a sequence of left hits ao i°SE le . S°od rights on tho jaw, just a little too high to effect their purP?*®; got home, but the blow had little force behind it, though it caused Driscoll to sniff a bit. Round s.—Hugging was the order of the day, and the referee’s "break-away” became quite monotonous. Driscoll paid a good deal of attention to the body, and his straight drives in the wind evidently caused Griffin considerr^!,l^ n Iu men(X - K Driscoll’s round all th© way, oA? Und < 6 '~ r ir ifiin ' Primed with sage advico from Tommy Burns, came out T?° rncr w ] tll *do or die expression. fie opened quite aggressively, but his lead was woefully short, and before he could recover his guard Driscoll was 7 0m i° °, n hl l. At °°<» the New Zealander Clinched, and it was PuUcy-hauly ’ work to the finish, with Imscoll doing all tho scoring. Round 7.—Dricoll get over Griffin’s guard with the left time after time, but the visiter boxed better than in tho previous rounds, and showed any amount of pluck.' Of headway, however, ho tee m/ster.’ 1)1160011 al^a

Bound B.—A better contested round than «tr of its predecessors. Grinin twice landed the left in breaking away Wlt fr Hnscoll "taking a breather* a better show. Still the Welshman had all tho best of the exchanges. Round 9.—Griffin was very smart out of his corner and was evidently intent nSa lorcln £ tl l 6 , pace ' A left on the ribs and a straight drive op the head however, altered his tactics, and onc4 more clinching disfigured an otherwise rather interesting round in which clever headwork enabled both mon to escape punishment.

Round 10.—Driscoll made the, body hi© mart this time, and received one or Kf? tJ “ fa «v Which left their mark, but he always managed to return two for on© and his hits wer© certainly heavier than those Griffin landed.

Round 11.—Griffin cam© up fresh and strong and made another effort to liven fFmgs up But-Driscoll wasn’t out for a fight just at the moment, and contented himself with a fine display of footwork which caused all Griffin’s wellmeant swings to bo wasted. Meanwhile h© was steadily adding to his points with left-hand dabs on the face, flavoured with a selection of body blows which caused Griffin to get close. During this round Driscoll’s seconds drew attention to Griffin’s butting but tho lefere© paid no heed.

Round 12.—Burns had been pouring advice into Griffin's ear during the interval, and th© New Zealander tried once more to. "have a go." Driscoll’s ringoraft. however, prevented Griffin cornering him or administering anything in tho shape of a’ damaging hit whilst whenever he left himself open the visitor received a forcible reminder on face or body that he waa not boxing a snadow. Bnt for these punches Grif fin might well have imagined that he was .shadow-boxing, for seldom was Driscoll where tho New Zealander most desired him to be. Twice or three times Griffin certainly did get home, but Driscoll was always going away from the hits and suffered little in consequence. Griffin’s headwork at close quarters during this round was open to question, and ho tried to upper-cut his opponent after the bell sounded

Bound 13. —Both men came cut of their corner apparently os fresh as fiddles,- but after a 'promising opening daring which Driscoll brought Griffin down, the pair were continually in holds. Once on tho break-away the New Zealander landed a redounding back-hander in the Welshman’s face, and once brought the right across perilously near Driscoll’s chin. On th© whole, however, he received a good deal more than he gave both in quantity and quality.

Bound 14.—A very ugly bout. Driscpll went in to fore© matters, but Griffin protected himself by clinching in the course of which he butted Driscoll heavily under the jaw, and received a reprimand from the referee. Twice subsequently he offended in a like manner, causing much excitemment among the spectators and bringing down upon himself further cautions. Driscoll though' considerably' worried by his oi>l ponent a itaotios, continued to < score freely, and a very heavy left in the face jurt before the gong sounded seemed to presage the collapse of the New Zealander who, however, hung cn till 'time" brought him relief. The minute s rest and the unremitting attention of Tommy Burns and Co. seemed to pun Griffin completely, rotind; and he cam© out of hi« comer for

Round 15.—Griffin started as though he meant to annihilate Driscoll in one act. But apparently he thought better of it, for after sparring for a few seconds and receiving one in the month he rushed to a clinch, bored his face inte Driscoll's neck, and then brought

up his head under the Welshman’s chin. A cry of "foul” was at once raised, and the referee brought the contest to a summary close by disqualifying th© New Zealander. STAKES PAID OVER. The New Zealander did not form one of a company preeent at the N.S.C. on Tuesday afternoon when the stakes and purse-money were paid over. Driscoll was on hand looking none the worse for his fight with the colonial. The young Welshman, indeed, showed no mark, and. complained of nothing but the butting resorted tc in the last three rounds by tho visitor. "Carlton,” the backer of 'th© loser, expressed his regret at the way in which the affair ended, and stated that while fully alive to tho fact that Griffin had been beaten by a better man, ho would have given much to have seen th© affair fought out on straightforward lines. Ho adder! that after tlio contest Griffin stated that never previously had b© been opposed to such a , skilful and clever opponent us Driscoll, whose superiority was so marked that ho (Grifiita) must in some way have lost his head towards the finish. Carlton stated, however, that Griffin fought to orders, and might have done bettor had h© gone his own way.