BOXING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7027, 15 January 1910, Page 13

BOXING.

PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL - ■ BOABD. • A' BHITISH SCHEME. .\ - The 'scheme proposed by the National Sporting Club of England, to establish an international board for the •: control of boxing is'theoretically admirable,, but practically impossible. It has inhercntweaknesses which condemn it .to failure(says tUo "Sydney Morning Herald ). Wo have received documents from..;.the great British sporting body detailing: the proposals. With practically every word of these documents the sporting public will concur. It is deplorable, from .th'le •point of view of: legitimate boxing and international championships,, that an: authoritative board 1 does not exist. , The National Sporting- Club amply.: shows its necessity, which has long been realised in every country where boxing is a recognised sport. Decent events 'have de-. nionstra-ted: it in a way that.will appeal to every section of public, so that'tne object-of the National Sporting Club is commendable in the highest degree;'but it is unattainable in the way now proTho proposal is:—. ';' '"To 1 create an international board, con- -.-, 6isting of two-sportsmen representative' of boxing in Great Britain and the. United States of America, and one representative in Australasia and' France, for the; purpose of—; , ; (1) Framing rules for the ."conduct '."of the championships of' the world; - "'■■'., , : '. -',.•"■ i ■■' (2) Fixing -the-weights at : which .world's championships must be ". contested; • . ,- (3) Deciding who are entitled to ':'.'' ,;call' themselves champions of', the 'world; • '"" '. ~ '"'■.'■'"■''."'ol .., ■-•(4)'If considered desirable, supply- ■ injt'belts or other' trophies to be held by recognised champions of the world."' ■«'

' In the first place, it would bo at least difficult to select two. Bportemen. representative of. America ' a^. F England., to OGntrol boxing, because the States have widely different laws. In some States conteste are-limited to ■ six rounds; in others they may go to 45—or finish.. In. some States., a decision' is. prohibited. altogether,, and.the public and ( the press are- left- to. form .their »¥n opinions.This, however, may not, be' an insuperable • difficulty; The varying - conditions 'might-be ignored for the sake of,, constituting, an international board. -, ~.::;.: ~Tke real difficulty—which renders the whole scheme, an/.-impossibility-r-is:. that ' the board would not be /able to control ■championship boxing, - for the very sim,ple reason that the championship" can only be obtained from the rinß, 1 and not from the. official, declaration of any. A professional champion does notget his title by being declared a eham-1 pion Ho obtains it by'actual achievement,'' and-when' hei gets'it :he possesses, a monopoly which no sporting _body in. the world can deprive him of. If, then, an international .board has ;no power, to determine who is entitled to the, championship, clearly 'its control of; boxing must be illusory; -". . . :. '•' .:,/-.';■.". : Tho National Sporting Club had an illustration'recently of the independence of the champion from the influence 01 any sporting body. Burns and.<JohnsOn ' w'ere in London a year or two ago. J-he former," who" was' champion, declined'no 'meet the''coloured hexer, ' except:-' upon, terras with".'which. ;Johnson. could "not comply—iGuflO, win, lose; or draw.;'; An international 'body, having the interests ! of ithe'sportund not of the : individual at heart, "might have justifiably .declared the title forfeit to Johnson. ; But would the declaration have- had , any.,,effect? The board:-might ceremoniously-.,bestow "upon the negro-tile most costly;!belt-;and a priceless! trophy—it,:<would .all;;,beitt vain in the boxinj; world. The champion would be the-man who had, won t,:the title. 'He would not be amenable to: the directions .'of- any board or club,-, .and could only- be: dispossessed by;defeat.,;;/.;* Eules. have been-, formed. ,m Australia for the regulation of the worlds championship 'sculling:; races.- They .were' adopted before the present■• champion could sit an outrigger. No board could enforce j them supon A.rnst noWv; ■•■■. lt-it endeavoured to do so the-champion would still receive-the,big; Purse,to row .on- the Zambesi—s>r.■would;!still ;j,be:..'the unique attraction in a sculling- race else: and'he: would thus be independent iof any "controlling'.' body.;- ..-ln.;a word, -the-champion has a mono,poly,-»of ,-his -title, and .'.is: virtually.) independent—within reasonable observation that applies..with tontines greater, force to: boxing'than' 'to: rawiriir'., .'.'•'' "•":'.;-'• / • -' • If' the board ' ■ lacks ; the: essential '.au-thority-1 then,- it:is useless to: discuss:;.its functions. But. even: supposing; it did have the .power, how can: it'form-rules that competitors must/obey?* In NewSouth Wales in-fighting is;to;be:Prohibited. In some of the American 1 States the clean .break is' almost -, unknown. How will the board form rules that will be' acceptable to all'the American'States, and to this State also, without first producing uniformity -in the existing methods? -The fact is 'that'the sboxera,' and not the board, will; subject; to '. the! law; of the land, always settle the conditions under which they will right, -, ; Then the boaird is to determine: who is entitled to call'himself champion: df the'world. Surely this is- ridiculous. Johnson: mayV lay down , conditions that "no present aspirant for ;£he championship will accept; and he may thus, avoid a fight for; an indefinite periodl-ibut:ho. •will remain ,the -potential .champion,: with all the money-earning; advantages, his title:, entails. ; He'can laugh at; the board The public will pay' to see the actual'not the .official: champion. He, may, in ,an l unsportsmanlike way; .but ■ by 'clever, manoeuvring, avoid a contest witha man likely, to defeat him.; '.He; may' earn tie "strongest condemnation of/'a "controlling" board;. he may elect ■'.\U>. fight for: a big purse in Australia -with an, inferior , man,; and dodge a superior, man',ready to meet' him under the auspices -of the board. -Johnson may:do any of -these'.things, and the strongest internationalboard could not take the championship, wjth,all its pecuniary'.advantages;, away: from-him. ; '•,;.. The world's boxiiig championship is associated with. enormous purses—up ,;to .£20,000. -There-ard enterprising promoters in America, England, France, and: -Australia, ready to stage the big con-; tests at any time. Even if all the promctors were united, even if every -present champion also supported the movement—which it is known would not be the case—new and at present unknown champions would surely upset their calculations, and frc-sh fight promoters would again offer "tempting purses,which would be the 'determining factor. It if, clear, therefore, that a really representative board could not be created; .but even if it could be got together, it would be ineffective. The rules for championship contests will depend upon local laws and mutual agreement between contestants; the standardising of weights .is desirable; but it is a secondary consideration, and can be arrang-. ed by national sporting clubs without the constitution of a board; the public, on the results of actual achievements in the

ring, and not any official body, will always detennino the world s championships, irrespective*'■ of. any body which, having no power of disqualification, would be impotent as "a board of contro3,", and the final' proposal to supply belts and trophies would not affect prpi'ossional boxers, who are cuided solely by .£IO,OOO and .£20,000 purses. It is a, pity that it's true, but the lamentable , fact is that the modern conditions' of boxing do - not permit of the existence of a (really effective international board of control. -., :., (From ' the v "Bulletin.") Lang missed the >. opportunity of his life on, Boxing Day.. After, he had got in his uppercut the old.man:was on the ropes helples9 aid obviously dead to the world. It was Lang's, great opportunity i to establish' a reputation for chivalrous ' fighting, and he throw- it away by landing the -veteran a.;savage .right, and left. What l he should have done was to drop his-hands and" declare he could not hit him again, and they'd, have carried him. she ulder high for: his chivalry. But Lang, had . no: chivalry'.about him that day—he was too scared. . And he had good reason to be. ' When: .Fitz beat -Peter. Maher he was .apparently in a much worse condition than :ho was on Boxing pay. Maher gothim round the 'neck with .one arm and punched him. ' twice in > the stomach so viciously that , Fitz vomited on, the spot. His groans , of agony could : -be heard,ali over the : ting, and, still groaning, ho noticed thai ' Maher's unprotected jaw was just about'-.:; three inches. from.' his : divine right. '-." Wallop! Down went Maher, and ' though they called him loudly and.mas-- . saged and rubbed and inj ected and did .all'-manner of .things/it was;six houra • befor-e he came out: ofLthe-trance into i; which the-3in bash had sent him. ! Huh-'-lin apparently had Fitz dead to the world, and the old fellow fairly crawled to his corner, a lamentable sight. Quo eye was closed, the other optio was olosing rapidly, several teeth were missing, and his face was:-gashed in a dozen, places, while the blood ran. in little trickles. , His seconds cried bitterly as they rubbed him and fanned with an, energy born of desperation. • "Am I to* old for .this .game t" .whispered Fiti. Someone assured him ho was, not. ' Thm ■gong; sounded. "Put me on me 014 feet," yelled Fitz, and then as RuMin. closed in to-give .the'coup de grace ho met that' awful right, and-it was the, best part of five minutes before he knew what had happened. - The man never fought a decent, fight afterwards., Chbynski had the, Freckled Freak at the. last gasp,. and the police were entering - the ring to save him from further, punishment, when, down wentChoynski. He . - stayed down- for. .nearly, three: minutes .' before he opened his eyes and asked if it was raining. Corfoett had knocked Fitz down'three times, and just as hewas coming right in,to. once more smite ' his reeling' adversary, the dazed; and . blinded '. Fitz' swung that terrible right. , clean'over his guard on to his jaw, and sent him' out with'such force that; the -.-. gentleman:, took 'several minutes to come-. round.'' All this had' been dinned into -Lang'bjr day and by night, till _he_regarded Fitz's Tight as something fearful and miraculously destructive.-, -Already, in spite of the heat'and' the disparity of , , weight and-'years, Fitz had got him'into > sore trouble. ■ Therefore, I 'he smote'while, ■■■■ ho:bould. .With Fitz for,an opponent, '., anything was possible, and he felt he, - could not afford to take risks. ' : , . ■ Thus an Australian in Frisco, in aletter received' at this offioe -.the \ day. after sthe' ■ Fitzsimmons-Lang... fight:—' It Lang wins-'over'Fitzsimmons ho can '-inake'i a: successful American ;tour ' as Australian champion; -Johnson, says he gave him the -hardest battle of,his train-.-ing career,:, and that he could: -lick Jeffries. " Sam Fitzpatrick says .; Lang could clean up all: the aspirant's up to the two-big fellows; and might reach 'Jack.' .Noted managers may , niako offers." • It jnay be so; but Lang will have to show much-better form than he did on Boxing Day, or else the Yankee fighters aro not what we over this sid* take'them for. ,^.'.,

!' All doubts as to tho certainty of the Jeffries-Johnson fight vanished with, a 1 jrreat bump recently, when, by some acSidorit, the root of the matter broke out of the earth of secreoy and wagged; shamelessly in the open, air. Johnson,made no secret of the-fact that he.was committed to Coffroth, of Colma, California—the arena in which so many, historic battles have been fought. Mcintosh bid 100,000 dollars, and his agent had instructions to soar Tip to 200.0T0 as a limit—which proves that Mcintosh went temporarily insane. But tho tight was allocated on the first bids, and a' ■ gentleman named Gleeson bid 101,000 ■ dollars, and secured the scrap in spito of Johnson's protests. Glooson was raid to represent a club in 'Frisco. But later on it turned out that his club was'a bogus affair. A piece.of land at Oaldahdß, across the harbour from 'Frisco, had been secured. As eoon as Gleeson had got the rights there wosa - stir and it was announced tnot the club Mr • Gleeson! - .represented wouldj erect thereon a Stadium similar to thai} at Rushcutter's Bay, Sydney , Sonne-) body \rith a detective instinct looked up, the Titles Office and discovered that the. ; land in question had been bought by ■ ■James J. Jeffries and Samuel Berger.i Then the fat was in the fire, and ft • pretty riot started. Johnson has oeeaj nicely tied up, and he is practically to fight Jefiries under Jouries* own Jnaaageraent. Gleeson, it eeems, v merely; Thequegtiori of a referee for the Jrf-J frica-Johneon. fight is making euch a . pother in the United States that some; ■ Renins ecriourfy proposed to ask Mcln-. tosh to come all the .way from 4 n ! tl S U f to . adjudicate. It woe suggested that ■ the train of sports who would travel in his wtitroe would more than repay the guarantee Mcintosh, would require. EvJ- . Uently there are eome people »» the States ■ who have no idea of the vast Ochemes Mcintosh is at preeent engaged on..' Of course, it is a compliment to Australian sportemanslup; but, ye pods! what oort of a slur as it. on tno Yankee brand. Shipman,' who is at , present representing Mcintosh in _ the States, is in pursuit of the picture rights for the world, and if that is out of the Question, for as much of th% lvojld as" he can arrange for. .The tTou-i . Me, of course, is that Jeflries and_ Johnson have »nch an elevated opinion of their own importance and magnetl* power that the price they pat on their Ijleseed pictures will nrobably be big enough to break tho Bank of England. In 'ifrieco .£40,000 re mentioned as their probable demand. The defeat of Stanley Ketchell by I Johnson was quite a disastrous affair. I The wollop that outed Ketchell seems to have been a real landslide; it knocked three of his teeth right. out and. smashed his nose. Manager Coffrotn savs Ketchell was still dazed from tho eflect two days afterwards. But the most deeplv-injurcd man was Willu" Britt, TCe tell ell's manager. He had wagered every "bean" he possessed on his man" at enormous odds, and when. Johnson went down from that wild drive of Kelchell's he saw a fortune suddenlv spring into being. It vias piled up in front of him Tight there—an* next moment it was ironc. and Ketclielt was dead to the world. Johnson s woliop- not onlv broke. *he manager » fortune; it broke his heart al=o. .After seeing Ketchell docked for- repairs, Tints went on a. jog. and died, partly of too much' cocktail taken to drown hie misery and chiefly because his misery could swim and kept on the surface of the cocktail all the time. They peem to take life vcrv seriously, eome of these Tanks.

Tho Sydney air is full of standi-and

xuinours thereof. At time of writing Lang is nursing a somewhat injured hand as tho result of thumping litz-,-im.inoiis not wisely but too well, but is otherwise fit for his fight with Squires on January 12th, 1910, in the era of our Lord. Squire* is also reported as trainin K hard and searching assiduously tor that Ica-I punch. On January 10th Smith and O'Ki-ofo will decide which is the better man, and on January 26th there will take place a scrap that is understood to he the loveliest thin? :n view for a Ion" time; when Johnny Summers, the Knirllsh lightweight, will inset Kudolph Unholz in battle array. At present. Somci-s (which le the correct way to mwTl 'his name) is training at National I'arfc. Although he is but twenty-five, years of age, he ha« a fairly long relord.' Ife has scrapped eight scraps in Australia of which one scrap was lost and two were drawn. In England he has been in the ring no loss than <7 times between 1002 and 1908, and won. on 51 occasions. In America ho survived 17 disagreements, winning five times, while 11 tim/is owin" to the obtusei nature of the law.'there was "no decision." Only ope fr'ht wag given against him in the Land "of the Wooden Ham. In Franco he beat Henry Piot in a four-round contest, so his Cotal is 102 battles since 1000.