PUG PARS.

NZ Truth, Issue 873, 19 August 1922, Page 10

PUG PARS.

The Dargaville association put on a. great right on Saturday night when C. Cann and Mike Flynn met. The fight went the full distance and Flynn got the decision of Referee "Gnat" Williams. The Aussie fighters at present m the Dominion were delighted to hear the news as they all declared Flynn a good fighter if he got an opportunity to show it. At New Plymouth on Saturday night Whitaker got the decision over Pooley. It was a good fight and went the full distance. Whitaker will now be matched at Christchurch with the winner of the MeCleary-Cadman contest. Briekman and Pearce, the two amateurs, who fought so well at the last "Wellington tourney, and whose display caused such a riot over the decision, both want to turn pro. Now, if the local association has the gumption to put them on m a ten-rounder as a preliminary to the big fight on September 18, there will be a big, house to see them fight. Both hoys are very keen to go again. It is understood that Pat. Gleeson is to be one of the principals at the next Wellington tourney, and the local asociation is negotiating for Jack Keenan to meet him, but nothing definite has been fixed yet. Gus . Whyte writes from HaWera thdt he is willing to again chop Dave Pretty. Terms can be . arranged by letter. . Some little time back Jofe Beckett went through a three or six months' engagement with a circus at £100 per week. And English writers have stated Beckett to be thick m the head! Eugene Criqui is touring 1 France, ; giving exhibitions at every town he passes. Mons. Geoi'ges Carpentier will need to look- to his popularity pretty soon, for Eugene is both a great fighter and a good fellow, and makes many friends wherever he goes. Commenting m a London paper on the Criqui-Fox contest, Eugene . Corri, the famous referee, states' that he was greatly disappointed m Criqui. He says: "I have to confess that I was greatly disappointed with him. Everything he tried in>.the way of boxing was pretty well killed by Fox, who m the matter of tactics was simply splendid. Fox smothered Criqui; he would not allow him to fight at all, and he . was winning comfortably at half distance. I see it stated that the Frenchman was content to bide his time; that he just waited for the opportunity to knock out the Britisher. You may take it from me that Criqui even. before halfway had been reached was like every member of his party, m a very unsettled state of mind as to what was going to happen." The Cfiqui we knew was both a boxer and a terriblepuncher, so Fox must be a remarkably clever lad. Criqui, himself, put his poor showing down to worrying over his wife, and stated after the fight that Madame Criqui, who, by the way, is a talented actress, was so seriously ill that Criqui, through his manager, Mons. Eaudeline, asked Mr. "Peggy" Bettinson, manager of the National Sporting Club, if it were possible to have the contest postponed. He would not have fought Fox had it not been that he had gambled nearly his last penny on his chances. Since Jack Kearns hit London, evi-. dently the English spillers of airy and inky dope m the matter of over-boom-ed pugilists have copied his style slightly. Here .is what was upset about Soldier Horace Jones, of Canada, whom George Cook recently deijeated: Soldier Jones is a human whirlwind, with a teak jaw and a castiron body. Jones is as hard as ebony, but has no guard worthy of notice. He is capable of receiving the heaviest punches on, the point of the jaw. The only effect is that he grins and laughs when hit. He laughs when he misses his opponent with a terrific right. He fights like an infuriated individual m a street bi-awl, and is never quiescent. Even between rounds his feet are dancing and his arms are moving-. He leads with his left as often as with his right. He is the only fighter of his kind m the world. (Thank heaven!) To even think of Jones one must visualise a high explosive bomb, a cavalry charge, a battering ram, or a blizzard. (Help!) / Jack Dempsey reckons that earningeasy money on the vaudeville stage does him more harm than good. Certainly it swells his (and his astute manager's) bank roll, : but sparringthree round exhibitions every day means pulling one's punches, and worse still, getting into t the habit of doing so. Jess Willard was a great showman when he was champion, and earned an enormous amount of easy money exhibiting himself m the circus ring and on the vaudeville stage- He thought more of money than of holding' the title, and so al-

lowed himself, by living easy, to drift away from his boxin# self 1 . Not so Dempsey. He is proud of his title, and means to keep it — says Jack Kearns. Some time back there appeared an article rby Albert Dorrington m the "London Daily Mail" re the deadly holds of the Japs and what they' did to Peter Jackson. It appears that Billy Lawless (Solar Plexus) exploded this, and here- is. his story: — "It is remarkable how many of a certain class of freelance scribblers persist m writing of things that never happened. Perhaps they do so thinking that the pre-sent-day fans Ido not remember nor have' records that would prove .the incorrectness of the statements. But sooner or later they fall. in. ,As Peter Jackson never worked for Foley at the White Horse, but had an hotel of his own at the time, and as Peter was m America in ' the late eighties, Albert Dorrington's tale must fall very flat. 'It took the whole of Foley's training staff to eject the diminutive Jap,' says Mr Dorrington. Did it? De Rougement might have ridden on the backs of turtles, but Dorrington never saw the whole of Foley's training staff trying by gentle persuasion to eject any one man. There were some hard nuts m that mob who wpre far ifrom gentle, and 'had the occasion arrived for any - one to be ejected they would have done it m a way that would have been proved the quickest route to the casualty ward of the Sydney Hospital." The Petone Association will hold its next tourney on or about September 20 and 12 amateur fights will be staged, with .two special six-rounders. "Shorty" Woodward (Napier) will be matched with a first- class lightweight and Stan Martin (Thames) will be pitted against a good bantam. Em Morgan. Alex Drummond, Billy Barnes, Brickman, W. Stewart, Geo. Dale, Tom Cleary and Sid Whtthy will be pitted against Petone's best. The Herbert Street School will arrange another open night m the near future, and judging by the request for invitations from both ladies and gentlemen the gym. will have to find another school to get them all m. The date will be announced shortly. Dave Mundy, who is now m Wellington, would like to be matched with any heavyweight m the country, and as Wellington has not had a heavy bout for some time perhaps Mundy and McCleary would be a good draw. A good boy has been unearthed at the Herbert ' Street boxing school m Sid Whithy. He has a style which makes one suspect that he has been m the stoush game for a time, but his school declares him to be a born boxer. ,-ie will probably be on view at Wellington's next tourney: Alf Lewis wants to enter the ring again with Dick Redwing or any othe,.* feather.' He also challenges the winner of the Jimmy Carr-Biddulph fight. Those working at Lewis's school • at Petone include Dan Love, Sid Vine, E. Corner and Jack Burns. The latter would like to be put on with H. Hobson. \ .Tack Devine -writes to say that he is still looking- for a match for the lightweight wrestling championship. The arrangements for the recent Carterton tourney were not exactly firstclass, and by the time the next one comes on they should be improved. There were many vexatious delays between the bouts, but, strange to say, the crowd took it well. Then, when the fighters appeared, it was often found that some .had Boz gloves and others 6oz. This meant more delay while the necessary adjustments were made. . . , t There were several good boys ' seen out at the Carterton tourney, but the majority of them sadly needed coaching. A couple of promising lads m Tim Tracey's school are the lightweight J. Brown and the welter Jack Williams. The. Timaru Boxing Centre did nobly m the performance of the trust of carrying- out the South Canterbury championships- Tfye ,'hub of South Canterbury is noted for its devotees m all classes of sport, but m none are there to be found men more willing and enthusiastic m utilising every energy for the furtherance of a pastime than m the art of boxing. They have met with rebuffs, but have carried on undismayed, and they gained a pleasing reward at the conclusion of the recent championship meeting m the fact that the delegates from other centres fully 'and freely congratulated the executive officers on their general arrangements tor the tourney. In 1913 Timaru successfully conducted the New Zealand championships and the centre then gained a record by sending to the New Zealand Boxing Council the largest cheque it had ever received from any centre up to that date — £68. The cheque forwarded to the Council by Timaru after the South Island championship was for £46 16s 6d. At the championships recently, a notable innovation was the installation of electric fans m the corners, and a novelty prize was that donated by Mr. T. Cloudsley, a medal for . the most plucky loser. The president (Mr. A. S. Elworthy) gave a silver cup for the most scientific boxer, and this was awarded to young Griffiths, of Dunedin, who is the makings of a champion m his class. Among those whom South Canterbury fans should sincerely thank for the good bouts they witnessed at* Timaru, mention must be made m addition to the president, of Jack Imrie (chairman of the centre), Jack O'Leary (secretary), and that evergreen sport, .Fred Watson, the official announcer at the tournaments and a real hard worker m the "preliminaries." Laurie Cadman says that he got his present injury while sparring with Jerry Whittome, but the trouble passed off very quickly at the time and he did not notice it again until he was sparring at Christchurch one night last week. He was very sorry to disappoint the association but it was the cox-rect thing to do rather than crack up after going a couple of rounds. Laurie Cadman returned to Auckland from Christchurch last week. He was a very disappointed man at not being able to; meet Brian McCleary, but the Christchurch Association has promised to put the fight on next month, if Cadman is recovered. His trouble was a nerve one and he is now at Rotorua consulting a specialist. Secretary No ! ttle of the Westport Association was m Christchurch last week, and hoped to see the CadmanMcCleary fight. His association is considering Jack Heeney and Laurie Cadman for a fight. Cadman is very anxious for Sid Fitzsimmons to know that he will be pleased to fight him as. soon as he gets over his present disability. W. Crawford writes from New Plymouth stating that his school there is now m full swing- and that he has some very promising material. He particularly instances, a . thirteen-year-old feather named Gray, who has a punch like a welter. Billy Coates, a ; lightweight, and Curly Anderson, a flyweight, are also m the top class. "True Sport" (Wellington) sends along the following: "I read with interest the report of the' meeting of the New Zealand Boxing Council and particularly that part which stated that a committee was appointed to consider a scheme to require referees to qualify for positions. I quite agree that only competent referees should j officiate, but, what about the judges? | Are they such recognised boxing experts that they don't need, to qualify? ■My experience of; these gentlemen is that they are neither use nor ornamnt to the noble art. So that, Avhile endorsing the Council's action re the referee matter, a 'committee for the qualification of judges would be more sensible. While on this matter allow me to voice my surprise at the palpably wrong decision that was given m the amateur bout at ,the Town

Hall between Pearce and Brickman. The fight looked to me like a professional versus an amateur, and if the outburst of hooting meant anything, the big audience apparently were of the same mind. Boys of the Brickman type are hard to find, and the only boxer I have seen m Now Zealand, who had a better conception of a good straight left, was Hughie Dwyer." [What about Pat Gleeson? — "Spearmint."] Bill Scott, the Taranaki. welter, has been doing a, lot of sparring with C. Whitaker ,and is reported to be a greatly improved fighter. He is anxious to be matched with any welter m the Dominion. Tommy Walker, of Dunodin, wishes it known that he will wrestle Jack Devine, the Lancashire lightweight, I for a side bet of £25. Several correspondents have written re the decision m the Pearce-Brick-man contests at the Town Hall last week. There is no space for the letters, but it should be pointed out that a few more errors of this description and the public will stop away from these contests. Argentine promoters are hot for a bout between Dempsey and Louis Firpo, and are willing to put up a purse of 500,000 dollars. They're shading even Tex Rickard with their gameness. According to a recent American exchange, the largest ' boxing arena m the world is m progress m New York City. It will be called the Velodrome and will seat 25,000 people. Such wonderful matches as Lew Tendler v. Bennie Leonard, Johnny Kllbane v. Johnny Dundee, Jack Dempsey v. Harry Wills (if permissible mixed match), Johnny Wilde v. Johnny Buff, are said to have been listed for this stadium when completed. That's Yankee newspaper talk, anyway! According to George Mendies, boxing is not an occupation but a "knock"-upation. As Roy Brien thinks he can beat anything his weight Em Morgan can be matched against him for £10 aside. Stan Martin will be seen m action at the Petone tourney. G, Dunn will probably be his opponent. Martin works out at Herbert Street School. Geo. Pringle says the Napier boys had a great time at Wairoa and the association there is composed of verjfine sports and good match-makers. Pringle took three boys up and they were all beaten, but only by narrow rrTfins, The Napic-r boxer is considering starting a school at Wairoa. Carl Calloway is willing to b = matched ag-ainst Fred Sturrock at any time. He says tho question of a side wag-er can be cMscussed when the fight is arranged. Ho also wants a return match with Paul Hannah. The Manawatu Association contemplates, a big pro. fight on Cup night, December 2G. Already the "heads" have been looking round for likely material. The Kid Harris-Cann fight will tak-3 place at Palmerston North on September 13 and one week later the Manawatu Association is promoting a big Novice Tourney. It is the intention of the Manawatu people to encourage the amateurs by every possible means. The ex-heavyweight amateur champion, W. Corbett, has now opened a gymnasium m Palmerston North and has over thirty pupils learning the stoush business. The Palmerston North lightweight, Bert O'Keefe, recently joined the ranks of the bendicts.