BOXING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20706, 2 May 1929, Page 5

BOXING.

By ■ Üboss Counter,

Three of the ■ team of American and Canadian boxers who 'were engaged by Mr Lean, of Stadiums, Ltd.; Sydney, were pn the Aorangi-when she , called at Auckland .last week. ‘ They were Babe 'Herman, aflight-weight who is highly spoken of, Sam Shack, a' feather-weight,'- and Pinky Silverbefg, a bantamweight.-While in Auckland they ihquired'about the. prospects .' of fighting in New Zeajand when their contracts in Australia have expired. Roy O’Brien, who. lias beeii. matched against Artie Hay by, the Otago: Association for May 18, arrived in' Auckland last week ■ from Australia. O’Rricn, who •at present scales 10.12, was a few- Weeks ago considered by “ Solar Plexus ” a suitable opponent for Jack, Carroll, the Australian’ welter-weight champion. He has knocked out such prominent performers ■ as Jim Patterson and Jim Miller.

- The New Zealander .George .Modrich, who -is doing-beftpr in the-British ring than liis. Dominion record .suggested; he would, is being trained and managed for his boute in. Great Britain by Fred Dyer, the’ “ Singing Boxer ” of other clays.. " • Ted: Ssudwina, -the German-American heavy-weight boxer, who lost to Phil Scott,-on a foul, a few months ago, scClris to .have some difficulty in getting British neavyweights to meet him. But Roland .Todd,. former in iddle-weight champion of Great Britain, stepped oiit of’bis proper weight,.- class to fight Sandwina' recently. The handicap was too much for Todd, who was severely punished;' the referee stopping the bout in the fourth, round. ,’ Emile ■ Pladncr, a flyweight., has, taken the pjaee of Georges Carpentier as the boxing idol of France. So : there must have been intense' disappointment when he was disqualified for hitting low, in the fifth round of his contest with Frankie Gcnaro, in Paris a- few days ago. A few months, ago the:-National ■ Boxing Association' of Amerjya, crowned Genaro ;as the fly-weight champoin of the world, in place of Newsboy Drown. The English- champion. Johnny Hill, had beaten Brown in Eiigland. Hill' also beat Pladner in two fights in London, but subsequently, in Pans, Pladner beat Hill. decisivelv, The young Frenchman also beat Izzy Schwartz, who had claimed the title after Fidel la Barba ghve it up. On,March 2 PJadrier knocked out Genapo ini.sß seconds, and won.tlic’ world’s-- championship, only - to lose it now on a foul. Many good critics consider, that Pladncr ,is the best. alllound .boxer, that France has...produced—better as a boxer, pure and simple, than U r P j n i- tlcr ’ and ctter than Ledoux, who yelled, for success on. hitting power rather than skill. >

Bob Fitzsimmons . .was the gredtest master of defensive boxing and aggressive hitting .ever ;Been. Six feet. tail and only a middleweight, built for. hitting power,, with; light legs - and wonderful fighting equipment above the waist'with long, arms, great forearm, and hands that were perfect for punching; until age prade tufi bones brittle. Fitzsimmons wa s the ideal fighter. He had an alert and cunning fighting Drain. - Sometimes he was dazed and staggering,- and,sometimes when he was hit hard he pretended* to be dazed:and staggering., . In either ease he .was as dangerous as a Toiled rattler. An opponent could not Desist the impulse to go an and try to finish' oid Bob. And then Bob would-'weave a bit, , spread -hia legs, and sink in the body punch he had been for just? Arid he-never missed.’ , The only man he could not knock'out was Jeffries.- Bob finally admitted that Jeffries was the one man he had ' ever seen . who : could, not be knocked out. - Arid in his'fighting days, before that- six years' retirement ’ from which-he was.-dragged,- aged. 36/ to fight Janpson,. hn was. tireless and punchproof. Besides Jeffries was 'a: first-class boxer. Ihemnly man whp-ever marked him iii a fight, was ■ Fitzsimmons.

'' The ease with which Jinx Maloney, of South Boston,'■ whipped'*Toin'.Heeney recently ’ proved, again ‘that Gene • Tunncy used discretion ‘in seletcirig ’ Heeney as his .opponent when ’Rickard wanted to put . Jack Sharkey in with him last. July (writes' Robert Edgren). -An easy mark tor- Maloney could hardly have’-beeii any-thing-but ah easy mark for Tunney. The Trinney fight, however, may, have softened Heeney a lot for; eight months later. ' Tufin'ey .plaeterefi. Heeney through 11; rounds like a man punching a puriching bag. 'lt would have,’been better for Heeney if he:bad v ;riot been -so game. Gameriess was his. ; .outßtariding quality, as a. fighter, .’,. He-was -too grime, in the onesided match, with' Tunney/ and .took- too much Hammering. •-Gene,could not- knock him; out; rind the referee Dad to step- in, finally/ wheri Heeney was 'still.'ori his feet, but too dazed and weary to put.his .guard up. ■'■ Heeney . showed,-a temporary, streak of intelligence ; when .he came brick to this country and .announced that-, hc v ,im tended to. desert the. .ring .and “go into business.”. It is ■no business to .go out -and' hiimp your- chjn-.'into, punches for 10 ot ‘ 15'rounds. That was Hceney’s specialty.. and ring history proves.-that the fighters.'who - liked ;to show their' ability to'“take it” never lasted .long,'. As for Maloiiey, the boy. from the South Boston fish :markets'seems to'have 'developed a noivTieaft. After-Sharkey had knocked ■him out; he seemed to lose heart. Nobody figured Maloney among the heavy-weights

any more.' And here he is. This complicates matters still more for Sharkey and company, title searchers. ; . ‘‘ Bushy " Graham, the Rochester (N.Y.) bantam, who fpr.. three years has. claimed ■ the bantam'title,-along with ceveral others —La Barba, Taylor, Suggs, and Al. Brown —-lost.whatever hold-lie-had on the vacant 1 crown when ,he fouled “Kid.” Chocolated ,m the seventh round in New York on April 13, and was disqualified. Hundreds of fights took place before the official contest owing to large numbers of counterfeit tickets being in. circulation among the crowd. It was a terrific fight, with several knockdowns and many fouls, and. it was a disappointing ending to a sensational’.battle. . Graham floored; Chocolate with a smashing right to, the jaw. in-the .first round, and again in the second with ,a left to the body that-landed suspiciously low, but he rose arid returned the compliment by dropping Graham' with a left hook. 1 Graham's first foul occurred in this round, and the referee ordered several minutes’ rest before-instructing-the men to continue, the fight. Chocolate, furious w-ith Graham’s foul punch, again floored the. New York man before the 1 • round ended. Graham was also warned for low blows in the next, and again in the sixth, and Chocolate was well ahead on points. Immediately the seventh. round' commenced, Chocolate nailed “ Bushy with 'a-crashing-right to the chin,-and followed him round the .-.ring,, punching the white man'.before. him/ - Graham- was helpless, and tried,to avoid further .punishment by another foul to the groin of the “ Kid.’’ The - referee then stopped the fight, and awarded it to Chocolate amidst the.'cheers of the crowd, who left the.,hall after: booing Graham for- his showing. Thus passed out one of the championship contenders for the bantamweight. title. • ' -. i From the.earliest, days of pugilism; the negro lias always held a foremost'position (says an. exchange). It is ho unaccustomed distinction which come'p to" the black race through the rise,of George Godfrey as'the most formidable'challenger of the white contenders for the crown left vacant by' Gehe Tuuriejv The modern age knows Jack Johnson, Sam Langford, ' Sam M’Yea, Joe Jeanette, Joe .Walcott.. George Dixon, Joe, Blaekburn, and a. host qf lesser lights. .The old-timers remember; Deter Jackson. George, Godfrej’. the “o)3 chocolate,” and Professor Hadley. ’ But the history of the negro as a power in the roped arena runs’even farther back •than the ’Bo’s.. The' first heavy-weight -negro fighter with a clear right to the world's title was Jim Jeffries; He gained it by knocking out decrepit Peter Jackson in four pounds in ’Frisco. After-Jack-son as the, standard bearer of the negro in the ring came George' Dixon,- bantamweight and‘.then feather-weight champion. From 1890. when he' claimed’ bantam honours, imtil'l9oo, when' Terry-M'Gbvern knocked him out in eight rounds for the feather-weight laurels. Dixon was a world’s sensation. In 1909 Little Chocolate died in Boston—down and out, forgotten, as he fought in: vain against, the ravages of tuberculosis. Then there-came Joe Walcott, a physical freak. Joe stood only oft lin' in his 'socks,, but he had a torso like a heavy-weight. ' "He never scaled:’ more than 1501b,' but this West Indian negro, who rightly was called the Giant Killer, feared no, man. . After years of success, in the ring Walcott got into a mix-up " ‘at- a, negro dance-and was shot in the. head. That ended his, career. The saddest chapter in the history of the negro in boxing must be written about Joe Gans, the Old Master, who - headed the light-weight title for many years and finally succumbed .to ■ the _ ravages of disease. To many,’ Gans still, stands as the bean ideal,, of boxing—the cleverest machine that ever, feinted ah opponent into a knot. Since Gahs’s day we have had Jack Johnson, one of the best heavyweights who ever > held the title, and a marvel at-defensive fighting; Sam Langford. 'who ‘only recently was saved 'from blindness after an illustrious career; Joe Jeanette.,who is a referee in New Jersey: Sam M’Vea, now dead; Jeff- Clark, Bill Tate,: Kid Norfolk,' Harry. Wills, and now George Godfrey. - ‘ Godfrey is far frotn a Peter Jackson or a Jack Johnson. But with all that he is undoubtedly one., of the best heavy-weight contenders, and should be considered. ' When the Newcastle boxer. Jack Roberts, met Willie. Smith at the Sydney Stadium- recently he had to pay forfeit of £IOO for being six ounces,'over the stipulated '9.3,- the Springbok receiving £275 and Roberts £75. In describing the bout in the Australian Referee, Jack Elliott-says: “ The surprise of Die evening was the confident -.manner in which Roberts: attacked the proposition before him, punching.with every ounce of strength he. possessed, and ref using to'-be disheartened when made to miss. It rather takes the heart out of his victory to-for-feit £'XOO, but liis future looks very bright, and I know-of-no -man in Australia likely to trouble him; At the opening bell, the slim, fair Springbok made a striking,contrast to his heavy-muscled, swarthy opponent, who wasted no'time in preliminary sparring; but-.got to. .work, with terrific right swings, which, were ,not as wild as they looked, for several: glanced. Smith, who was -boxing with much caution.' He tried' hard 'to connect with his left • jabs. Roberts, however, took little notice, of them, and towards the. end of- the ; round staggered Smith with a right, and had the crowd standing with excitement with his endeavours to-land , a knock-out blow; Sniitli. by, clcyer defensive work, just hiaiiagcd to back-move oTit . of danger, a hair’s breadth' separating' his' 'jaw from the vicious punches flashing past, arid the round ended with Smith still'.back-pedal-ling. In' the’second. Roberts forced ,bis man before him, unceasingly trying -to bring.him-down; Smith was doing better, with left jabs, and a thrill was expert; enced towards.the end of the session when he was caught by a right swing. and was down for a noua,t of -two'. A dazed man climbed to his feet and evaded Roberts almost until the end. when he was pinned to the ropes, and was. receiving ’a_ body-, hattering when the... bell. was. ringing. Roberts’s punching .. was terrific. He simply crashed his blows home, and’ the Springbok’s* nose —damaged in training —was'a sorry sight. -Sriiith tried hard in' the third, but Roberts Swayed under most of his punches, and, countering with.hooks bad his man’back bn his heels-the whole round.' ■ Smith was not doing so well-at infighting'as against: La Barh i. and most of the .clinches found him holding. At the start, of the fourth it ..looked as though Roberts had ‘sold out.’ and Smith had found, his. form, for the first, two minutes was all Smith, who experienced little difficulty in stabbing lefts to the' face and .an-occasional right'to the body. The fight had now taken an unexpected turn in Smith’s favour, ’ and one won- , dered if Roberts was really a ‘ ona-round ’ boxer. But the last minute he showered punches in Smith’s direction. A right landed-with smashing force over • his left t eye.' and the Springbok returned to’ his corner .with blood pouring from the nasty gash, after being, subjected to >a barrage of vicions blowa —which Roberts, with the fight,well in hand—hurled at him. Smith’s secgiids'. worked, with frantic haste to : patch the badly-damaged eye, but _ it was the punches he had taken -following the event of the cut eye that, had caused the trouble, and when bo. left his corner, the ■end was in sight, -Giving him no opportunity to protect his injury. Roberts drove ;him to the ropes ahd'-flailed punches to the head and body. The ■ Springbok was now almost blinded by blood streaming from his eye, and only courage- kept him ion liis feet.. A left hook had him hanging on. and. after one minute forty.secondsof the fifth round: had elapsed, he was .dropped to the canvas by a right cross. He fell full length’.on the floor. . At six ’he raised himself to his elbow, but was unable to beat the-'count, though he was ,on his feet, just after the fatal ■ 10.”