BURNS BADLY BEATEN

NZ Truth, Issue 569, 13 May 1916, Page 11

BURNS BADLY BEATEN

Worried by tho Wiiy Welshman •■;■■ Edwardc.

Canadian Strong and Hardy, b\it Bad ' "■'■'.'■ ;•■ ' ..'!'.' 'Boxer. ■ ■'.■ / ... ; '' ■ - .

Very little introduction is required to the iatory of ipharlie Burns 's flret fight In Australia (saya, "Boxer-Major"). It v.'us,. perhajps^ urtlucky for him that he did not aerrep with Frank O'Connor's views -and aUow himself to weigh out at ten »tone riyigslde-^or its equivalent, f.BO pan.— for he m's.nt havo made a better DhJiwing with a less clever- man than Ocv/Edi wards.' ' At the salt c, time, ■ hla performance against the brilliant ., little •\Velahraan wa« such as to suggest that he might very probably liave, worn O'Connor <lpwiv by sheeFstrength"and, endurance, for' m spite q{ th© terrible hidinjr I3dv/ards administered, tho aptly nioKriamed "Rougjihouise" was still full of aggrqeaioh arid fight, right up to the en<V of the twentieth round r and kept: the better b;oxer continually on the move from st^rt to finish. In fact, the Welshman needed every ounce of the fine condition Ihe carried; for he never had a let up but was hitting', and get-

ting backwards round the ring every second of the sixty' minutes of fighting. , '..'.- Burns's endurance is of the same type as that of the late Jim Burge. but he has not that tough gentleman's knack of snuggling his chin out of danger. Edwards hit him just as he liked and as often as nature would permit. He drew the ruby to such an extent as must have been absolutely weakening to the Canadian, and yet he could not stop him or send him on the run. It became painful to watch one man being constantly flailed by another, and Edwards himself appeared to get sick of the task. Only just grown out of the feather class, young Llew's was a remarkable performance, and it was made patent that this sturdy, palevisaged little Briton i 3 likely to seriously trouble the very best Of our lightweights. . ■- ■ Following is the story of he FIGHT BY ROUNDS:'

Eddie Moy and Herb McCoy, -who fough last Saturday night, were introduced and well received; ditto Costica, the. Roumanian, who meets Darey> Dave Smith and Jimmy Clabby, who are to meet three weeks -hence, entered the ring, and were also introduced. The weights were: Edwards 9.6, Burns 9.B Vi. Arthur Scott was referee. Round One. — Burns fallowed EdWards round the ring, letting go vicious punches that did. not connect. Edwards brought a beautiful left to- the. face repeatedly, both shorf and straight, and an exquisite hook to the chin. , But Burns kept continually chasing, him round, driving m a lovely punch to the body and head. Llew's left. hook Is a particularly nice punch, and he contin uixlly landed some perfect • blows wi th both hands, and as far as the middUv of the round, it looked as If Edwards would beat the, Canadian, for better hitting was never Been. _ Burns seemed invulnerable to the little Welshman's bits,- however, arid went after .E^^ards?, who backed, landing a .punch at every foot he moved,, Ul\ Burns was bleeding at the mouth and from a cut on. the eye. So far as , points were concerned, Edwards won every inch of the round. Round Two.— Edwards stuffed the left hard to the nose, and kept on doing it. All round the ring he side-stepped —you couldn't call it backing~and stuffed the- left into the face, v and brought the right across. None but a cust-lron man could have stood what he gave Burns, whose face was bruised and bloody. Roughhouse put a very heavy right, to the body that- had no effect o ( n Edwards, who -landed ,everywhere.' While giving ground all the time he was out- boxing the Canadian, who ,was now: also, bleeding from the mouth and nose. He Beenied to be lighting- all the time for a k.6. punch, which he could not deliver. The little nian from Wales was tearing him to pieces. He never missed a punch; for Burns had no stop with either hand. His left straight and his snappy right cross landed 'exactly where he aimed it. Edwards laughed m his corner, as much

as to say, "They gave me an easy one ihis time." Round Three.— Llew started getting neatly round the ring, just out of reach, and landing both hands a.t his sweet will. When Burns threw a punch, Llew gently head-moved or side-stepped it, and drove his own fair* into the race. When Burns, close m, threw heavy punches, Edwards stopped them aa easily as a man would prevent a girl hitting him. Burns had absolutely no hope of stopping Edwards's punches, while Edwards had the most perfect guard for both Burns's hands, stopping a shower and then instantly lambasting that unfortunate face. It was laughable. At the same time, .Burns must be given credit for marvellous endurance. He was crimson from hair to belt, and had no earthly Idea of stopping a punch except with his face. Round Four.— Edwards sat m his corner smiling happily", and when he was called upon to do his work, he simply waited for Burns to do his roughhouse stunt, and simply slathered him. Burns's head danced about like a tennis ball strung from a clothes line. It was marvellous how the boy knocked it about. And yet Burns went after him all the time with wonderful gameness. For one monwnt Burns seemed to/think he had an opening, Edwards happening to miss with a lovely hook that went a bit too short. -He sailed m violently, but Llew took his measure, waited for him, nnd started to bang his face off again. Edwards stepped round his man, putting punch after punch to the face — blows calculated to stop a tram. The Canadian took them, and took them, and swanged away with terrible force, his right to the body leaving a great patch of blood on Edwards's Iptn : but it came from Burns's own, snout. Round Five. — Edwards waited pear his own corner till Roughhouse came to I him; then he stabbed him m the snout again and again. Burns smashed at the body with all his weight. His right got on; but his left was blocked. Then i Edwards started pushing the face off j him again. Burns made connection with a right to the body several times, and Edwards did not look too comfortable. There Is no question about it. this man has earned the, title of "Roughhouse." The kid kept hooking him. driving his left to the face, and m every way horribly battered him; but couldn't stop him coming m. We saw him drop Jimmy Hill like an outsider, and knew that only a few nights ugo ho put one of the best of all our featherweight boxers— Prank Thorn— down arid out m the third round. But he couldn't stop this felldw, though he hit him often enough. Round Six. — Burns went over and made desperate .attempts to get Edwards with his right hand, and some of the punches that landed on the ribs were terrible; but the little Welshman hooked him and, jabbed him murderously and his face was a picture again. His left eye was all but closed. It was absolutely unaccountable, how the man stood' up. Edwards picked his spots and took sitting shots at him, and yet the Catiadlan.: tore m, and m, and in> I the most ■wonderful specimen of endur- ! ance ever seen ! in this ring. Round the ! ring Edwards coolly moved, hitting at | every half yard, and never by any chance missing, for Burns was the easiest target imaginable. At every I step the little fellow landed a wallop, yet Burns pursued and kept up a vigorous attack, without- any success m the [way of landing on the marks he had I been fighting for so far. Round Seven; — Edwards started the same bombardment, never missing the face, and occasionally sinking the right Into the body, and: yet Burns pursued him, smashing his punches to the body, and it began to look as if the Welshman's best punches would be of no avail against this wonderful/hard man from the snows of Canada. Burns's face was again orimson, and Edwards again kept gently and carefully picking his spots, but couldn't drop him, whereas Burns chaaed him all round the ring, landing tremendous body blows. Edwards brought the right to the point a score of times, lifting Burns up straight, and yet at the finish Roughhouse laughed, as much as to say, "1 like this sort of thing," while m his corner Llow'looked most surprised and downhearted. • Round Eight.— Burns rushed ovor and mot Edwards m his own corner, and started to land the right to tho body, which by this time had heavy red marks on It, almost like scalds. These marks evidenced the power of Burns's punches, yet the kid picked him as coolly on the end of his gloves a« ever Grlffo did with a mug, hitting him exactly where he meant to. But still Burns bored m, chucking- the right .heavily to the body, while he blew blood like a harpooned whale. Round jthe ring Edwards backed at every yard a perfect bombardment, and yet the Canadian pushed after him with deadly intent, so that at the end of a fearful round Edwards was very glad to sink into his chair. Round Nino, — Burns ploughed over to bo mot by Edwards's carefully measured.rights to the point— not one, but .several. Then he began pumping the left m and dancing round the ring, taking good care not to let Burns land his murderous right; but all the time getting good, clean punches on. Burns pushed m as if to get tho support of Bdwardfl'fl body; but met a constant bombardment, nnd tvim once roundly hooted, though for nothing that he did wrong. Some of the terraceltes evidently thought he was making too much of tho said support. Edwards jabbed him m the face a dozen times white taking one very heavy left to tho I nose that brought the ruby" freely, Head to head they both landed hard punches; but Edwards, even here, was o rolle ahead. It would be labor In vain to continue to follow the fortunes of the fight m detail; for each succeeding round was n replica of thoso already Rivon: the only difference being that Burns wan more heavily punished tho farther it went; for Edv/ards never let up In hl3 strongth, speed, nor cool, calculated hitting. Burns snorted carmine nnd laughed through hi* red paint, us he wont to his chair after each round. At the close of the thirteenth he actually had to feel for the ropes jo guide him to his cor nor, and yet he would nut go down or yield. It got wearisome to watch a brave fellow getting so fearfully laced and quite unable to hit the other chap anywhere but on tho left loin — Goorj?e Duweon's famoux punch — nnd Edwards Btopued Bcores of ihoso with his elbow, nt that, When he clvoted to oblige the Cnnuck by getting head to head nnd exchanging them, ax m the nftoenth, he beai him there, also. And yet Burns was dangerouff and do«rped to tho last. The verdict was a foregone conclusion.