SPORT!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 11

SPORT!

The Gregg-Mullins match originally *as to have been decided in Seattle, but the authorities banned the affray, gallard, another Puget Sound city, would have none ol it. The smaller towns following suit, the match, it appeared, would: not eventuate. But when a crowd of fans determine to see a certain fight, it usually takes more than a set of by-laws to prevent them. A tug was hired, and a few hundred of the keenest of them escortad the pugs to an island in the Sound, where they were out of the jurisdiction of the Seattle police. Big Tim Gerrity went along to referee. There was a deserted village—a lumber camp—on the island, and the abandoned schoolhouse was chosen for the arena.

The fighters were each assigned an ante-room to dress in. The “ring” was in the middle of the floor.

The fight had not gone a full round before Gregg’s glove burst, and there was a shower of plaster over the ringside. AH eyes turned to the ceiling. It was intact. All eyes turned to where Gregg had been. Gregg was climbing through the window!

The pursuit started. Gregg was the more fittingly attired for running than were his pursuers. I }e fled to the beach. Having no time to search for a boat or raft, he waded into the water. The crowd, incensed by his outrageous deed, demanded that he return and finish the fight, and as obviously he couldn’t stay in the icy water all night, he waded, shivering, back to the shore. The "sports’’ were indignant. No wonder the authorities had banned the match! The rotters had deserved no consideration anyway! They marched Gregg back to the schoolhouse, where a summary indignation meeting was held, and a unanimous vote of censure was passed upon Gregg for his infamous action. Why, he might have killed Mullins! But that didn’t alter the fact that they had come all the way from Seattle, on a cold, stormy night, to see a fight, and had been disappointed.