PUG PARS.

NZ Truth, Issue 352, 23 March 1912, Page 3

PUG PARS.

The amateur championships m Sydj ney are to conclude on Monday evenj ing next. The McVea-Barry match was postponed till last Saturday, hut word did not come through of the result. Owing to the illness of A. Burnett, the amateur bout arranged for Waipawa la_?t Wednesday weelc between Sid Porter and Burnett "was cancelled. As a referee, Tim Tracy gave entire satisfaction at the recent Waipawa tourney. Tim's services m the capacity of referee should be m great demand. Negotiations are still proceeding m Sydney for a match between Jimmy Clabby and Hughie Mehegan, the former 'to make the welter-weight limit at the ringside. •• 'i The Me.hegan-Pie&to fixture, whien was set down -for discussion m Melbourne recently, was postponed owing to . Picato having injured one of his hands, while training. . The Victorian light-weight, "Kid" McCoy, won from Frank O'Grady m Melbourne recently. Tho bout was stopped m the 15th round by the referee, who considered that O'Grady had had enough. Jimmy Ferguson, the Waipawa bantam, "lost to H, Firth, of Napier. Firth is now the bantam champ, of Hawke's Bay. Other win- • ners at the Waipawa tourney were IT. Ireland and E. Limpus. The N big thing m Sydney^ this "evening is the return match between "Cyclone" Thompson and Jack Lester. The last time the-pair met, Lester was winning on points till the nineteenth round, when Thompson knocked him out. Barney Ireland is matched to mvj-at Jim Mitchell, at Millerton on Easter Monday. Barney is m the boom just now. He is to meet -Charlie Herbert, the heavy champion of the Dominion, at Waipawa, while it is on the. cards that he will be given a return go with Peter Thomas, also at Waipawa. Poor Jim Griffin struck a snag m "Barney Ireland at Waipawa on Wednesday of last week. As a matter of fact, Jim was. no use to Ireland, and has plainly shown that he 'is a' back number. The end of the battle came m the second round. A right to the jaw fiooi'ed Griffin for eight. Up again he was walloped again. Up again he go,t it on the jaw, and Ti,m Tracy,, who refereod, took the right course by stopping the one-sided argument and giving the verdict to Ireland. Bob ..Fitzsimmons claims that : lie never followed any set mode of working m his lights.' Chatting with a New York pressman, a few weeks ago, he said:. "Every round I boxed was always different from the one . immediately preceding it. Variety -is the thing. Some days I would take-, to shoeing horses,' arid pass the whole 1 day m the village"?-' blacksmith's shop. -Other times, I would chop, wood. I alw ays needed eight hours' sleep, and always took it. If I got m late, I rested a little longer the next day. Another thing, 1. -never' trained, or worked, or exercised when there was no fight m view. There's nothing that saps a^ fellow's vitality so much as this continual grind m the gymnasium." One often wonders why the amateur- m- New Zealand doesn't come forth m search of glory and stoush, but "Second" isn't surprisedvat his shyness if all the associations Vre on a par with the Hastings body. On » the occasion of the last tourney, more than one amateur went from Waipawa to Hastings, paying his train fare, hotel expenses, etc., m addition to losing a day's wages. Having competed, the Association m question handed over to the lads the huge sum of 7s Gd to defray all expenses. Then we find a featherweight put up against a middleweight, and a middle-weight .pitted against a light-weight. This is not encouraging the' amateur, and the Association ought to go into committee and have its .bumps felt. The boom of stoush is extending to Waimate, where a tourney was recently held under the auspices of the '• Timaru Boxing Association; In a i six-round go Torrey (8.12) Dunedin, had thc best ot Bennett (8.8), Timaru, although there wasn't a great deal to choose between the two. Fighting runs m the Hagerty family two brothers giving an en-thusiastically-applauded three-round exhibition rally. Baker had the best of Hutt m the heavy-weight novice, but Bryson crawled all over Baker m the first round, and the latter hoist-ed-the signal of distress. McGrath (9 10), Timaru, belted seven bells out of Murphy (9.10), Waimate, who beat a dignified retreat after the first round. It took two rounds for Seager (10.0), Timaru, to dispose of Kirkman (0.11), Waimate. Rue I Cooke was referee. -. ' "'

Dave Smith is said to be leaving lor England early next month. Bill Rudd, m Sydney, is offering to put a side wager for a match v/ith L Jack Howard. '. The Wellington Boxing Association , is moving. The date of the annual , meeting is m sight. Jack Dillon and Frank Klaus are to • meet at 'Frisco to-day (Saturday) for the alleged middle-weight champion--i ship of the world. [ The latest acquisition to the pug '_ ranks m the Dominion, is Percy Richardson, a London lightweight with a good record. Percy Richardson, "a recent arrival from London, who is now located m Auckland, is the latest after Alf. Gault's scalp. Percy wishes to 'box Alf. for the light-weight championship of the Dominion, if any association is willing. Arrangements are well m hand by Mr G. Rowley, secretary to the Millerton Boxing Association, for 'ths tourney on Easter .Monday. Somq good amateur talent will be competing, the star item, of course, being the Ireland-Mitchell mill, which looks a good thing for the former. , Thus a New York cable: It,vis reported that Bob Fitzsimmons is secrst'iy training his 16-year-old son in'order to make a world-beater of him. This boy is said to be 6ft high and to weigh IGOlb. In addition, he possesses all the ringcraf t and generalship which his ■ father has been able to instil into him. The secretary to the Carterton branch of the Wairarapa Boxing Centre, Mr T. I-I. Hughes, has received [ two requests for matches. One is from a recent arrival from Lancashire, Jas. Cottrell, a welter weight, who ! wants to fight any other welter m ihe '■' Dominion. The other is from A. !.").' > Campbell, heavy-weight, now working m Martinborough. Both are apparent- ' j ly good men, but the local association lis not prepared to arrange the matches i. I yet. ' ' j It is likely that when the Welling--1 ton amateur championships come " round plenty of talent will be 3 , available. Quite a number of likely ! lads, are training at Jim Murphy's ■ -gym m Manners-street. Jim has • the gym m Al order just now, and . the lads ought to avail themselves 5 of the facilities offered them for i training. The gym is jl very crediti able concern, and Jim is to be congratulated oh having things ship- • shape. This is the sort of place the . Wellington Association ought to pat- ; . ronise m the right sort of way. ' ■ As "Second" anticipated last issue, ' Jack Read, the clever Tasmanian 5 light-weight and ex-amateur feather L champion ,of Australia, , side-stepped Billy Hannan. The pair were to. have l met at Newcastle, N.S.W., 'ori "March 9. i Hannan lias now been sold by Arthur - Douglas, Hock Keys and Read. What's - wrong? Is it that Read, Keys and Co. _ are frightened of the West Maitlander, 3 or is it that Bill>y isn't considered class . enough to draw a gate. At latest _• Hannan was after Mehegan, and had. 1 been pronaised a fight with Standon, » who has suffered defeat at the nan .is of Hock Keys and Mehegan. It looks*, r anyhow, that Billy Hannan will" havo ' -to come across to New Zealand again. 'He is. assured of a return match' with Alf. Gault. * • Thus "Fair Play," Waipawa :— ln r fairness to Jimmy Wells, allow me _ to contradict Barney Ireland's letter. 3 Now, Jimmy started, a boxing school .' here some three years ago, and Bar- . ney and Jimany Ferguson were two . of his first pupils to compete at~the J Hawke's Bay championship meeting, ' ahd he afterwards took them to 3 Wanganui. • Barney won from Wilis liams, and lost to Geal. Barney's l next fight was with Campbell at ■' Hastings. " Barney knocked him out r m |wo and a half rounds. After--1 wards he fought Butcher twice, win- ' ning both times. Lost to Porter ■ (four rounds) , Napier, drew with Dawson, Napier ; knocked Skipper - (two rounds), Waipawa; stopped 3 Archie Leckie (five rounds), Hastings ; won from Jack Smith (15 5 rounds) , Waipawa ; knocked out Jim i Sharp (four rounds), Hastings. Now, l Wells was with him and was his sec- , ond m every one of the above fights, a Now, how can Barney say Wells had' 3 nothing to do with him? Wells was i the man who battled hard to get . Barney all his fights, and has put i him where he is to-day. Wellsj rei cognising his, services were- no longer - required, quitted Barney and found - another good man m Peter Thomas. - ' Now, Jimmy Wells is a pupil of the 1 late Billy McArthy, who fought a t fifteen-round draw with - Arthur 5 Cripps, and should know some of the - fine points of the game. This is not written as a mud-slinging, affair, \but. m justice to Wells. I will give £.5 to any charitable aid if Barney can „ deny the above.