BURLESQUE ON BOXING.

NZ Truth, Issue 604, 13 January 1917, Page 11

BURLESQUE ON BOXING.

Has-Been's and Going-to-Be's.

It is . certainly up to the Stadium proprietary to look the boxing question fair m the face, and to decide whether it is wise to hand out old-age pensioners and kindergarten kids, to their patrons as exponents of boxing, says "Sydney Sportsman." In no branch of sport is there less room for the hasbeen, than m boxing. The old-time boxer should not be taken from his cozy homo corner, or the shade of his vine and fig trees, pr the shelter of the asylum where he finds rest and peace, to be hurled into the ring to make a spectacle of himself, on the chance of drawing a house on his past records. The ring has no time for those -who are pensioners on the past, it demands present-day physical I perfection, courage, and skill. It is repugnant to all sense .of chivalry to witness a good old has-been,'lumber-ing around a ring to be battered by some youthful opponent. The fact that such a sorry spectacle may fill the coffers of . the Stadium, and return "grandfather" <a cut as well, ill atones for the bad taste it leaves m jlie mouth of the public. . The other extreme is the baby bunting, m many instances not half way through his ♦teens. To the ordinary patron of boxing matches this "chicken butchering" is even more repugnant than the grotesque come-back of grandfather. The Stadium has done much for boxing m the past, and has before it possibilities of greater good for the .game. If its management seriously considers that, figuratively, combing the cemeteries for has-beens, and raking the kindergarten classes for combatants, is to be £he salvation of the Stadium, we are afraid its business acumen has slipped a cog. We commend consideration of the question to those who control the destinies of the Stadium.