BOXING

Southland Times, Issue 19395, 8 November 1924, Page 15 (Supplement)

BOXING

(By

“Punch.”)

The Greymouth Association had a bumper house to witness the Demsky-Ern Baxter fight. The reports which have come to hand state that the contest was quite the best that has been seen on the Coast for a long time, and was very evenly fought with Demsky sufficiently in the lead to get the decision. In third round, as the result of a crashing of heads, Baxter received a nasty cut above the eye, and the flow of blood caused him a lot of trouble-.for the balance of the journey.

Eddie Eagan is the new boxing captain of Oxford, the first American to hold the position, and by the way of celebration intends to take a team of university boxere, to America during the Christmas vacation. He will have the help of his friend the Marquess of Clydesdale, last year’s captain, who has still 12 months to stay at the university. Dick Smith holds a very high opinion of Eagan, who is a good honest fighter, though perhaps lacking in the finer points of the game.

Propose a match to the average pug of Eugene Volaire’s class, and the first question never varies: “Who with?” Propose one to Eugene, and he would ask, “How much?” He is a gladiator for revenue only. His pilgrimage over the deserts, and the occasional oasis of pugdom have ended in his imprinting his footsteps in the resin of the ring of the Sydney Stadium. Not bad for a pug whose steps were considered to be faltering to thus reach his Mecca. Eugene was to meet Harry Casey in a re-union, but friend Casey hurried north. Then it was decided to match him with the stylish Billy Stanley. But that worthy fell sick. And so it came to pass that Stan, Sindel was passed into the abattoir of atouch. Eugene made meat of him, The story of the killing is soon told. Poor Sindel did not have a chance. His boxing was crude, and his glove-play resembled that made by a rooster about a crow. His only weapon appeared to be a random right, which he used without any preliminary baulk or subterfuge. Invariably Volaire retaliated with a beautifully-timed right-hand punch on the jaw. In the clinches, short, jarring drives to the stomach, and crisp jolty hooks to the head, slowly, but surely, sapped Sindel’s stamina. The slaughter ended in the 13th round.

Bert Ristuccia was a tired man when he faced the feather-weight champion, Billy Grime, in the 16th round of their scheduled 20-rounds contest at the Melbourne Stadium. The blood had been dripping steadily from his nose and mouth since the second session, and right hand body punches, and continual clouts across the jaw had weakened him greatly. A series of right uppercuts made his position even worse,and Grime, sensing the end, measured him with the left. Propping off Ristucca with this weapon he tattooed at the southpaw’s jaw with the right, and suddenly hauled off and swung hard for the same target. His blow landed, for Ristuccia was too tired to erect a defence. He crumpled quietly on to his knees and rolled over on his back, and Referee Quirk, seeing how utterly exhausted he was, crowned Grime before the count had ended.

Another reason for the mediocre display by Harry Wills in the bout with Firpo is suggested in "Boxing.” After Canon Chase had failed to have Firpo locked up on a charge under the “White Slave Act,” the reverend gentleman tried another method of interfering with the fight. He let it be known that if either man got a k.o. there would be an action brought against both for a breach of the State laws. Other men have been permitted to get knocked out without the affair being construed as a prize fight under New Jersey laws, but Canon Chase and his friends let it be known that they would play this card if they got half a chance. Both men, therefore, might have been hampered, firstly, by the fear of arrest, and, secondly, have been anxious to avoid all risk of getting Tex Rickard “in bad” with the Jersey Commission. Tex wants to keep Boyle’s Thirty Acres as a “standby” when he is unable to stage a contest in New York, and his prospects might be damped should any of his promotions get declared a prize fight. All the world is aware that Wills has long wanted Dempsey, but Harry knows that he might not be allowed to meet the champion in New York. This difficulty might be increaseded if he were libelled as a prize-fighter under New Jersey laws Firpo had consented to the holding and hitting clause, and Harry, having discovered that he could outpoint the Wild Bull, may have been content to win that way, without troubling to make a clear k.o. win of it Anyway, he wasn’t straining himself to win on that line. George Dawson many years ago the lightweight champion of Australia, was given a great reception by Sydney sporting men on his return to Sydney, after an absence in America for over thirty years. The Referee says:—The welcome home dinner to George Dawson at the Hotel Australia on October 20 was something to live in memory. Never, perhaps in the annals of Australian sport has there been such marked enthusiasm where a single individual was concerned. It was all the more remarkable because Dawson’s long absence might er cusably have made his name forgotten. The way his old friends clustered round him, and the manner in which men eager to make his acquaintance gathered near was a remarkable tribute to Dawson’s personality. This really wonderful reception to George Dawson should serve as an object lesson to other boxers and many ordinary citizens as well. Dawson’s deeds in the ring were not alone responsible for the whole-souled enthusiasm when the party drank the toast of his health. It was the sterling name he had made for himself as a citizen, after he had quit the ring. No wonder the ex-cham-pion found it impossible to articulate his thanks when called upon to respond. Many other men would have been affected similarly placed, but George has always been noted for his “modest stillness and gentle humility.” It was a great night, the memories of which George Dawson will carry to his grave, because it is given to few men to receive such an honour as was paid him.