WHO IS CHAMPION?

NZ Truth, Issue 605, 20 January 1917, Page 11

WHO IS CHAMPION?

The Claims of the Middleweight*. Who lies Darcy Will Have to Meet. As to the patriotism or otherwise oi lies Darcy clearing, away, from Australia at a time when it was deemed possible that the people of the Commdnwealth would vote for Conscription, and. that he'CLes Darcy) as a young, eligible soldier, would have te don khaki and engage m a different sort of ; "scrapping," the writer is not at present concerned, m; fact has never been concerned. We all* happen to know that practically the Banne' system prevails m Australia as m New Zealand, and that is m order to leave the country a permit must be obtained. Presumably it: is easier to leave Australia than it is to leave' New Zealand, and no doubt since the "Noes" had it In Australia there has been a REIxAXATIQN OF THE PERMIT ; SYSTEM, while in> New Zealand it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for any man to g&t permission to say farewell to ; this conscripted country. However, "The Second" is talking or proposes to talk, ' boxing and. not politics or war. Les Darcy got away from Australia under conditions which on the whole did not do total credit. B&r better would it have been had he waited and like his trainer, Mick Hawkins, obtained permission to leave Australia. This indicates that Hawkins has left Australia.; He is now on his way to New York, and presumably Hawkins, who has been associated with Darcy m all his triumphs m Australia will be associated with' the younsr champion m America. ■ ■ „' f ; ; ■' •'• ;•■ ' ■- ,- ■ , Hawkins should be m America at a very early date. He has left Sydney for New Yorky and his departure for America almost coincides with the date on which it was announced £hat Darcy had reached- New York. Presumably, on arrival m New York Darcy. sent out tor his old trainer. The trainer has obtained permission to leave Austra-

Ha, as other boxers and those associated with boxers have done, and it is safe to assume that until Hawkins arrives m America, Darcy will not engage m i any encounters m ■ the ring. What we do know is that the young Australian has placed himself m THE HANDS ' OF TEX RICKARD, L the . big fight promote! ol America, and > that there has been a lot of talk about ' Carpentier, Willard and Darcy. . What ; it all means we do not know, excepting ' that it seems very unlikely that the Frenchman will leave, France while the ■ war is on, and that' m 'the meantime ~; Darcy will have to take on the middle- • weights of America, and , thus make good his .claim to the middleweight ■ championship. It is possible' for a \ middleweight to become the heavy- , weight champion of the world. Bob . Fitzsimmons was a middleweight when he defeated James J. Corbett,' end it is not beyond the dreams of possibility ' that Darcy might defeat Jess Willard ,or Carpentier. ' '. . It is. just as well, however, that we ! should exclude the idea of Darcy becoming heavyweight champion of the \ world. Before him is the task of winning, by defeating the host of Amerij can middleweights now m the field, the undisputed title of middleweight champion of the world, and td sa.y that the title is a very much disputed one at present is something which the Australian.fan, blind m his belief m Darcy, will not readily admit*. \ Now at various times we have heard it said that Jack Dillon or Mike Gib- ; bons is the real middleweight champion, that is the champion m Amef ica^; i eyes/- though the fact that sometime ago Gibbons decisively ' defeated and got a newspape^r decision over Dillon . m a .10 rounds affair, has put the Dili lon claim out of court. The' real fact ; of the matter, however, is neither Gib- ; bons nor Dillon have any just' claim to ■ the .title, because the man who claims i the title, who m fact won it; when it was supposed to be fought for, was AL McCoy. George Chip was the recog- , nised champion or rather the recognised. American champion, WHEN HE MET McCOY and was defeated m one round, and though Chip had another try he failed to regain his title, and the fact that Darcy whipped Chip m Sydney does not matter a jot. If Darey starts off by defeating McCoy then he makes good his claim, and America will have to recognise him as the Champion, and as there will be plenty of money available wherever Darcy fights, the Inducement to McCoy to risk.lt. will be very . considerable. t ' Therefore, as McCoy is the legitimate middleweight champion of America, J>aroy must first defeat McCoy before he claims the world's championship; Then he will be m the position to dictate his terms to the contenders for the title, and the most prominent, of course, will be Mike Gibbons. The St. Pant's "Phantom," as 'he has been called, has fought so many ten -rounders that he has probably forgotten what the twenty rounds course is like, and a championship fight must be for twenty rounds or over. No doubt, a DarcyGibbbns fight would be; the real chami pionsMp fight, because when all is said and done McCoy is not taken seriously, notwithstanding the fact that he is the champion m his class. Should Darcy triumph ' over Gibbons, and judging from all accounts and on the opinions of those who have seen both men In

action, the Australian should have little difficulty m beating Gibbons, then, no doubt, Jack Dillon would be trotted along and as Dillon is said to have shown form suggesting that he is a back number/particularly m his fight with Gibbons, we might just as well assume that Dillon as a middleweight would have no chance with the Australian w fc ho, assuming that he had first defeated McCoy, would be DEFENDING HIS MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP. But when we get through ' McCoy, Gibbons and Dillon, have we finished with the middeweights of America, who to judge from American newspapers, are well m the limelight? By a long chalk, NO. The latest files from America show that the middleweight claimants are many, and their claims cannot be, set aside too hastily. There is One Bob Moha, who has made good with a vengeance; there is Jimmy O'Hagen, who is negotiating for a match with Al. McCoy, and who should he defeat the erstwhile, champion, would be entitled to a match with Darcy before any of them. This O'Hagen is said to have risen from obscurity and has defeated middle weights one after the other. He has challenged Mike Gibbons, but was ignored, and closely following this he challenged McCoy, ' and McCoy nibbled, no doubt scenting many dollars if he got into contact with Darcy. Apart from Moha and O'Hagen, there is another middleweight known as "Mighty Billy .Mtske," who quite recently defeated Battling Levinsky, who had easily defeated "Knock-out" Brown. Miske has also got a decision over Jack Dillon, and has thrown his cap "m the ring" to no less than Jess Willard. Miske is what is called a "cruiser- weight" arid it is quite possible that he would make the middleweight if a match with Darcy was assured. ' In addition to the more prominent mlddleweights m America, there is a small army of lesser lights, , such as '/Knock-out" Brown, Qus Chrißtie, and others who at various times have been m Australia, and know what Darcy is and what he did to McGoorty, Chip, ' Clabby, and others. And' lest we forget it,, there is Jeff Smith, who can be sure to put m a claim against Darcy. On the whole Daxcy will have AN EXCEEDINGLY BUSY TIME OF IT. It looks easy for him to get the championship, and it looks as if he will have some hard fighting 1 to retain it though one thing is certain where the .championship is not to be at stake, there will he a long list of 10-rounders for Darcy to engage m. From ,the above it can well be glean - , ed that before Darcy is through with all the eligible middle weights m America, who will be hot foot after him, he will have had a long list Of battles. Then, .. and not till then will he be given a chance to battle for the heavyweight championship, Like the road to Tipperary it seems a "long, long way to go." Just as to whether the "Man Killer," Jack Dillon, will have. a chance with Darcy, ; the following from a New York paper ought to decide Jack Dillon. THE ALLEGED "MAN KILLER," from Indianapolis, has opened a cafe m .his town and has determined to retire from the ring, so the story goes. The diminutive, piston-rod puncher is reported to have told a few cronies that he feels he has done all the fighting that is required of one man. Therefore he will back into the Hall of Retirement. His last few encounters weren't any too pleasing to the Giant Killer, for he didn't add any glory to his shield. His defeat at the hands of Mike Gibbons robbed Dillon of much of his touted ability, even though the bout didn't satisfy many that it was fought on the up and up. And just previous to that affair Battling Levinsky gave him a terrible lacing m Boston. After that fight Dillon broke down and cried m his dressing-room. It may be the gloomy-looking battler realised he was moving swiftly down the toboggan of lost hopes. Whatever it was, the man from the West couldn't help feeling convinced he wasn't the man of a few years back. If -he quits 'twill mean the passing out of one of the queerest characters that ever wore a glove. FOUGHT MANY BATTLES. Dillon has been fighting many years, and has been held up as the fighter that was always going to do something. For eight years he fought many, many battles, but most of Ills rival* were members of the "beeX an"* club. The Cew opponents he met that were entitled to consideration seldom failed to finish the scheduled route. The poor "beef an'" scrappers were those that glorify Dillon's record with knockouts charged against them. His bnly worthy achievements around the East were his conquest of Frank Moran m a ten-round joust m Brooklyn; the knockout he administered to Tom Cowler, and the knockout he handed Charley Wolnert m Phllly and alflo the beating he slipped Wolnert In the Garden. His other performances within our confines ware with poor old Jim Plynn and 'several nonentities that are unworthy of space. Still, he always had plenty of admirers who assorted Dillon was the greatest fighter of those times. If he was, he never showed that desired something. His epitaph will road: The fighter that was always going to do something 1 ."