The Squires-Burns Fight

Southland Times, Issue 10996, 27 July 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Squires-Burns Fight

HOW THE AUSTRALIAN WAS BEATEN.. AUSTRALIAN IGNORANCE OB IN-BIGIITING. A letter has been received in Australia from Barney Reynolds, the manager a ho went to California withV S11111i'es to prepare him for the fight villi Burns, which ended in the sigma defeat of the Australian, champion in one round of less than a minute. This letter was written before , he. tig-bit look place, but it contained anticipations which give the po«' . i,. I ,■ explanation of the sensational defeat of Squires. The following is an extract from the letter ; ■■ I want to assure you that Bill is ell that could be desired —strong, lealtby and apparently fully aedim- ;> i is,, d. There is but one thing hero she! may prove dangerous to us, and i!.,. i a- the Australian ignorance ol in-ii Iniug. or short-range work. Our rotten hreak-away system is ctosponsiI>!e f..i this defect. Bill slops lighting v hen in holds, and it is here that Ibe American gets in his best work. Ed. 1 lagan, a heavy-weight I ■ imaged. last week, rattled Bill in clinches until Bill lost his temper. I called on him io punch, but he couldn't, lie Just threw his man on the lloor. If Burns does win it will i e in close work. Tins is Bill’s- weak place. I am having him coached in it bv Eddy Hanlon, the best in-tight-big light-weight of his day, but Bill is a poor scholar.” Tit., meaning of this is explained by the Melbourne Age. Americans light under Marquis of Quconsbcrry rules, US the Marquis of Queensberry intended they should fight, and the con--i-iuenee is that in-flghting is with i mile as scientific and far more elective than out-lighting, it takes iwo to make a clinch in Marquis of '.'ueeiisberry rules—that is. two men ha\i> io be actually holding on to

mil oilier before the referee has any p p. 10 separate them. If one man i;. holding on with one hand or nwo hands and his opponent’s two hands are free there is no clinch, and the man whose two hands are free has a right to smite away at the man who is holding hiin to his heart s cojntent and either light himself free or comnlete :he clinch by clasping his opponent either by one hand or two hands, ami until • the clinch is so coinsletod the referee has no right to smarate the men. This important rule P, flagrantly broken in Australia on ~v( . ry occasion. Australian boxers have become used to being parted by tin- j-feree. who calls *'• Break,” and ■Junius hot ween as soon as one man 'lays a clasp upon the other. It is considered chivalrous among Australian boxers for the man clasped to stand like a statue with his hands c. id' apart, l 0 make it plain that he would not be so mean as to hit tt fellow boxer who was hanging on to him for ” protection,” As a matter .f f.i' t, under the rules, both his hands should he as busy as he could make them in punching his antagonist till he let go and stood up and mix'd il. or else ho should complete tie clinch by clasping in turn. Anoi hj a- - mistake Australian boxers made is in the brcak-away. In Australia it is considered the proper ■hiii, not to recommence hostilities till hoth men have each backed off from each other. There is nothing in the rules- to justify this. In H’Oaking away a man is free to hit the PiMmil his own and his opponent’s clasps are,ire''. Squires, it seems, was, hit out in a clinch. Burns probably knew nil there was to know about S.-pnres’ style, and studied his Australian weakness. Itith that knowledge, it would be a, simple mu tier for a man of Burns’ powerful physique to balk Squires into a clasp end. fell him in the act of breaking away. Had Squires studied the American method of in-fighting and hit ting instantly on the. break it is likelv enough the tables would have l /'cu, turned, for there is probably n<s man living able to hit quicker nr heavier than Squires. It '■■■■ probable enough that in Australia burns would have been fouled out for bbting a blow; in the brcak-away but Australia is never likely to produce a world’s champion until the art of in-lighting is studied and the constitution of the clinch and breakaway is fairly understood.