BOXING

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11423, 20 January 1923, Page 15

BOXING

SMITH'S VICTORY JACK KEENAN BEATEN. FIGHT STOPPED AT TWELFTH ROUND. An interesting contest was witnessed by a very large audience at Auckland when Stewart Smith, of Auckland, formerly of Melbourne, gained the - decision over Jack Keenan, of this city. The referee (Mr T. Sampson) stopped the fight shortly after the commencement of the twelfth round, declaring Smith the winner (says the Auckland “Stax”). “It was d hard fight, with the better man undoubtedly r the winner. On stripping, both men appeared to be in good nick. Smith, perhaps, being the more fit, and scaling at lOst 2ifb, as against Keenan’s lOst 4Jib. A . detailed account of the fight follows:THE FIGHT BY ROUNDS. Round One.—At the gong both jveni forward in characteristic style, Smith prancing hack from Keenan, who led out aggressively with a right swing. There was good fighting throughout; Just. before the end Smith got home with a stinging right uppercut to the jaw, but Keenan did not show any effect. Round Two.—Opening with a long clinch, in which few blows were exchanged, matters brightened a little towards the end, each man landing some heavy blows to the body, whilst a vicious right uppercut was dodged by Keenan, who employed hie own peculiar method of turning quickly and walkiftg away with his back to Smith. The last-named, who was doing all the leading, was apparently gaining very little for his effort, Keenan’s coolness and ability to receive hard blows with, out flinching being anything but encouraging. Round Three.—Smith jumped up smiling and, bored into Keenan with heavy right swings,- bearing him to the ropes. Some tight work followed, artcj a good number of blows were given by each. Smith, perhaps, having the better of it,, with some telling left' crosses, when he got Keenan on the ropes,

Round Four.—Close work of a more uninteresting nature was seen all through. Keenan, with his head down, doing very little in the way of hitting, while Smith kept in close and contented himself with a few jabs to jthe front of the body. After being separated by the referee, Keenan rush- , m quickly and scored with both gloves in hard uppercuts and 1 crosses to the ribe, and Smith appeared to be msing ground. Round Five.—“ There is too much holding and hitting,” warned the referee at the commencement. Smith wont at it willingly, boring into Keenan with smashing lefts to the face and body, which made Keenan back on to the ropes. Smith followed up his advantage, and had much the -better of it- in the corners, sending in hard right hooks to the body. Keenan remained very cool, and let Smith have oite on the nose that prepared the way for a right cross, whioh caught the exMelbourne man undefended, and he c ' ot, bled up for a second, only to be at Ke.enan pith renewed yigflur. Elu-

give tactics saved Keenan from ment. A very even round. Bound Six. —A rapid succession of vicious swings Try Keenan characterised the opening of this round, Smith .-being on the defensive all through. Twice he caught the Australian on the jaw with a hard left uppercut, and n the clinches, in which Smith sought refuge, Keenan repeatedly whipped round punishing right to the ribs. A ,heavy left swing which caught Smith on the mouth just as he was breaking from a clinch made the Australian’s snnporters feel insecure. At the gong Sriiith was bleeding freely, and his seconds had to work hard to erase the groggy look on his face. Bound Seven.—Here again, Smith took a lot more punishment in the way of resounding right crosses and uppercuts. His body was bruised in a number of places and he bled freely, though Keenan did not appear to he hurt, and during the clinches was quite calm, occasionally smiling up at a friend in’-the circle. Smith rallied at the end and crashed a heavy right 'into Keenan’s jaw oh going into a iclinch. Before Keenan recovered Smith jumped back and landed his left on the jaw, though a trifle too far round to be effective.

Bound IJight.—Keenan came up looking a little tired, but still fresher than Smith, who, howevier, opened the round with a stinging straight left which dosed Keenan’s left eye. This was closely followed by a left to the jaw and a heavy right jab to the ribs. Keenan came back with a welltimed left upper that poshed Smith’s head back.' He was not quiok to follow up and Smith returned carefully, rushed in suddenly to punish" Keenan with telling body blows. Keenan replied with weak left swings and halfi'abs with his right, and at the gong ie looked tired.

Bound Nine.—On the ropes almost at once Keenan found it difficult to dodge Smith’s telling left ribs and right uppers to the face. But he rallied with surprising energy and let Smith tfeefJ the fforqe of ta vicious right uppercut ta the jaw. Then there were more clinches in which Keenan exerted himself and held the advantage with stinging right rips. This was a particularly hard round, and both mon were tired when they sat down. Bound Ten.—Smith caine up with a bound and a smile and rushed Keenan on to the ropes, 'where he hit him on the mouth with his left, and followed up with a hard right poke to the front of the body. Keenan was on the defensive all the way through, only his clever guard and masterly elusive tactics saving him. i

Bound * Eleven.—Smith came up laughing and went at Keenan with his left, and a clinch ensued. The referee warned Smith for pulling. The Australian looked happy, and after a femt with his right jumped in and rooked Keenan with a great left, which evoked much applause. Keenan must have felt this, sauce Smith tumbled him back to the ropes rather easily. Keenan was not done yet, and returned some hard right rips to the body. Smith bore into him again, however, smashing- a right swing on to Keenan’s left ear and another to the face. Keenan’s left c.ve was closed, and he looked the worse for a gruelling round.

Bound Twelve.—At the gong Smith rushed Keenan and met with little resistance to his hard left swinging blows that made Keenan reel. Smith jaw his t «hattea* and put ip a telling

right hook that Winded “the- receiver, who stood tottering and done. “Stop!” cried the referee, and held up Smith’s hand -to denote his victory, while Keenan’s seconds went through the ropes in a flash to save him frpm falling. Another three seconds would have meant a knock-out. Meanwhile the crowd cheered lustily. M'QUARRIE-McCLEAJHL ... TANGLE FAMOUS REFEREE’S OPINION.. BOXING IN BBITAIN- -AND- ELSEWHERE. Some weeks ago. Mr H. X>ivera,.seQr rotary of the Otago Boxing 'Association, having learned that Mr John _H. Douglas (father of the well-known’cricketer, who is touring with the English team) would pot he able to come to Dunedin, got into toucha-with-h im through Mr R. G. Andersen, -Auckland, and scoured his valued opinion on the McQnar-rie-McCl->&ry contest (says the Dun T edin “Star”). Mr Douglas also ret plied to questions from a Dunedin “Star” reporter in regard to-boxing in Britain and elsewhere?" ' Unfortunately, -Mr Douglas is at present confined to the'Mater MSsericordia Hospital, Epsom, ■'Auckland,*' owing to an accident he recgh"®! '6n‘ s hoard ship during the voyage' to 'NBtv Zealand. It may be mentioned that, besides being an ardent cricketer and supporter of the game all over, the world, Mr Douglas has been intimately connected with British boxing since 1874. He has been president of the Amateur Boxing Association of England fhr fifteen years, referee of the National Sporting Club of England for twenty-two years, and president of the World’s Federation of Amateur Boxing Associations since its foundation. Mr Douglas is still s referee of the National Sporting dub. having regard to his long experience and his prominence in the boxing world, an opinion coming from him is of considerable interest and import, anoe. MB DOUGLAS’S REPLIES. The following questions from the 0.8. A. were placed before Mr Douglas:— (1) Should any unforeseen circumstance arise during the duration of a round, or during the minutes’ spell between the rounds, has the referee to use bis own discretion in dealing with it? (2) Does that round or spell stand suspended until the refered leaders “Box onP” 1 C 9) Is the referee’s decision final in every case when he acts alone ? Mr Douglass replied as follows: “Dear Sir, —I am in receipt of your letter of the 3rd inst., and am pleased to give you all the information I can. Presuming that the competition in question was conducted under the rules of the Amateur Boxing Association—notwithstanding the N.Z.A.B.A. is not affiliated to such parenk_gqpociation—then the referee’s decision is the cor. rect one, and he has, on his own* initiative, full power to deal .with an, incident that may occur during ' the bout. The referee’s deeision-is final and subject to no appeal. . Therefore the answers to your three questions are all in the affirmative. I can 6peak with some authority, as I am president of the. Amgjeur B.osiflg Aggoci^.

tion and also preajd®i_of the Jv<3lds Federation of Amateur Boxing oiations.”Are DOUGLAS INTHKVUSWimX „ In addition to the above,.,.Mr Douglas kindly communicated his opinion on several msttm that should n at interest-tospartsmenr “ " " Questioned asto how bearing *aa*progpgwjing in England, lie rephedtUEfc xu fwwlanty was’ <m the up grwSe'oontSiously, hot there ware no JKO* 9? 'improvement in the quality enag to the amateur or profeanenal rank*. - Do you think,were is any hkmlihpod of Britain evolving a “white hope" ftg The heavyweight ahiumpfithehip af _ tljf world? —Not the slightest. Can you express an opinion as to the relative merits and advantages of the American and British schoaSfe of ooxThe Americans, he replied, otmtinae to box like tradesmen, in thesame way as euch men as our Jim Drisoafl and Owen Moran used to do, whereas oar boxers'seem* to ropy all old American faults and omit all their virtrns. As regarda'twr'amateursi'w® have not got at the present classy professional mctructors. In regard to the SH-Oairmtier affair, Mr Douglas could nob venture »n opinion, as he had only seen what had • been’stated in the Sydney end Auckland papers. He considered that for the world’s heavyweight champ* onafrip . thfere Vis one man who had a chance against Dempsey, and that was the negro Wills. Mr Douglas said he was sorry he had not beeroable to come to Dunedin, and be would like to express his grateful thanks, through the columns of fiw Dunedin “Evening Star,” to the South Adelaide Cricket Association, Victoria Cricket- Association r New South Wales Cricket Association, and the Australian .Board of Control, and , also the New Zealand Crioket Aaeoeiation for all the hospitality and sympathy they had shown him eince hit arrival at'Adelaide and Auckland. ’ & % •

NEXT THURSDAY'S TCHJRNpY*

That the sport of boxing retains itk* popularity among -tile sporting public" is evident by the interest being dis-* played in the forthcoming tournamencto be held on Tboredau next. In eecur--ing a match between Murray and Hannah for the lightweight championship, the local association may- be considered* fortunate, as seienl-mwiAtuiaa had* been anxious to procure’ tho-fixture,-but the locaT officials. arranged with Murray some morithpT ago that his first, match in defence the tjtle won jji, Wellington against OUVeif irirould lje, here. after a spell, considers himself in better condition than oyer while the followers of Hanna}?, are confident of his ability to reproduce his old whirlwind form. .. , Four preliminary conteetehave bees arranged, and in each case there shqjßld be dose, well-conteeied bouts. The' demand for seats sines the plan opened on Wednesday last warrants the suggestion that there will he a largo attendance, and intending patrons should book their seats. The system of ticket* for early doors will he followed, and holders of ’tickets purchased in advance will have preference of seats. We referee wUI be Mr Earle Stewart, while the judges will be Messrs Staples and Wood*- ,