GREAT LITTLE BOXER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 841, 9 December 1929, Page 13

GREAT LITTLE BOXER

ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY OF JOHNNY HILL THE INSEPARABLES Johnny Hill, the British fly-weight champion, died with startling suddenness a month or two ago at his home at Strathmiglo, Fife, where he was I undertaking training for his championship fight with Frankie Genaro. of America, in London. Hill contracted a chill early in the , week, but improved, and was allowed ■ out for a while. Luring the night. 1 however, he had a relapse, and burst ; a blood vessel in his lung. He died at six o’clock in the morning. News of Hill’s death will come as a shock to sportsmen not only in Brii tain, but throughout the world (says ; an English writer), for few more popu- . lar boxers have ever been in the game. ; Only a few days ago America recognised his outstanding merit by a decision which practically gave him recognition as the fly-weight champion of ' the world, and arranged a series of : contests between prominent little men, 5 with a view to matching the winner 1 with him for the world title. An exponent of the typically British style of boxing, the upright stance and the use of a straight left, Hill showed surpassing skill, even in his amateur days, and when he turned professional he went from triumph to triumph, until recent months, when he suffered a lapse of form, which everyone hoped was only temporary. Born in Edinburgh in 1905, he won • ; the amateur fly-weight championship, : j and ip 1926 he entered the profesi 1 sional ranks. His first contest, in which he beat Bill Huntley in five rounds, stamped him as a coming man, and the following year he rose to the top, winning the British fly-weight championship by beating Alf Barber. ! In 192 She won the fly-weight cham--1 | pionship of Europe by twice beating Emil Pladner, of France, on points, ' and established his claim to world honours later ip the season by soundly outpointing Newsboy Brown, of , America, in a memorable duel at tlie Clapton Stadium. In that contest his form was such as to establish him as the best fly- • weight in the game, but after that he | declined somewhat owing to indifi ferent health. “Not Without Dad” 1 There followed his tragic battle with ! Pladner in Paris, when he went into 1 the ring distinctly unwell, and was | knocked out. He defended his British title against Ernie Jarvis, and though he won, his showing was disappointing to those who remembered his wonderful exhibition against Newsboy Brown. A long rest was prescribed, and he so far recovered that he assented to a match against Frankie Genaro, of America, for the world title, and arj rangements were made to stage this at the Albert Hall on October 12. It was while fitting himself for this contest that he caught the chill which ended so tragically. British boxing is much poorer by the passing of Johnny Hill. A frail-looking young man, he was popular with everyone, if only for the fact that his success never turned his head. He was one of the few boxers who resolutely declined to “talk” before a contest, and who invariably went out of his way afterward to award all praise possible to liis opponents. His career was a romance if only for the way it emphasised the wonderful affection that existed between himself and his father. Boxing has no parallel. Father and son were inseparable. In training, in private life, even in actual contests, they were never > apart. The frail-looking young man and the grey-haired father l were as brothers. There were critics who believed that ■ when a certain stage had been passed in Hill’s career it would have been , wiser had some world-famous trainer 1 been engaged to prepare him for his ) contests, but tho champion would never listen to such a suggestion. R I can’t win a world title with I the help of my dad. X’]] never win one at all,” ho once declared, and there can be little doubt that the atmos- ’ phere of complete contentment which always prevailed in his training camps, > thanks to the care of his father, had - much to do with his triumphs.