“PULLING A PUNCH”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 673, 27 May 1929, Page 11

“PULLING A PUNCH”

JUDGE AS FIGHT EXPERT LONDON LIBEL CASE Mr. Justice MeCardie showed that j he is an authority on boxing' in the j King’s Bench Division, when he defined the phrase “pulling a punch.’' Leonard Austen Harvey, of Tottingham Park, N., professionally known as “Lea Harvey,’’ the noted boxer, was the plaintiff in an action in which lie contended that he had been libelled in statements relating to a fight which he had at The Ring, Blackfriars, with a Frenchman named Lengagne, published in a weekly newspaper called “Boxing, Racing and Football.’’ He claimed damages against the publishers, the Athletic Publications, Ltd., of Greville Street, E.C., and the printers, the Globe Rotary Press, Ltd. The defendants denied that the words complained of were libellous, and said that in so far as the words consisted of allegations of fact they were true, and in so far as they consisted of expressions of opinion they 1 were fair comments. Mr. J. D. Cassels, K.C., for Harvey, said his client came to London some five or six years ago, and he had appeared in more than 200 contests and been beaten only twice —and then on points. Speaking of Harvey’s fight with Lengagne, Mr. Cassels said that the Frenchman was a boxer of peculiar methods. When pressed he was apt : to present to his opponent nothing but j the top of his head. Mr. Cassels then read the following passages of the article which was the subject of the action: . “If Len is anything like the champion he has been cracked up to be, he would or could have terminated the affair inside a couple of rounds at the outside. “Len wasn’t even trying to knock his opponent out. He actually pulled his punches, bestowing ‘love pats’ on Lengagne, who either could not or would not infuse any suggestion of reality into the business.” Harvey, giving evidence, said he found the Frenchman a dangerous man, very strong and a hard puncher. “If I had found it possible to knock him out in the first round I should have done so,” said Harvey. “From first to last it was a perfectly bona fide contest.” Mr. M. O’Connor: Do you know what “pulling” a punch means?—l should imagine it means that when you see an opportunity of striking your opponent a hard blow you don’t do so. Mr. Justice MeCardie: No, no, it means more than that. It really

means you hit one without following through. A Proud Parent Mr. G. Beyfus (for the defence) read a number of extracts from the defendants’ publication in which Harvey’s work as a. boxer was praised. “It is part of the defence,” he said, “that this (the alleged libel) was a castigation administered in the same way that a proud parent administers it to a favourite son.” The hearing was adjourned.