A GOOD FIGHT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 46, 31 March 1914, Page 5

A GOOD FIGHT.

WELLS BEATS M'CORMICK. There seems to have been some fighting at the Sydney Stadium in the contest between Matt Wells and Torii M'Cormick for the welterweight championship of the Empire. This is how the "Bulletin" describes the affair: —

When Matthew Wells, of Old Jewry, passed the welterweight division, he requested to be allowed to bash Tom M'Cormick, who had wrested the championship of the British Empire from the hard-fighting and prayerful Johnny Summers. M'Cormick, or somebody on his behalf, replied scornfully that Wells had better first prove himself able to fight a welterweight. Wells took it quietly, and put it all over.Ray Bronson, and then caniQ forward and reiterated his request, tio they met last Saturday night at Sydney Stadium; and, in spite of the deluge, the huge place was comfortably packed to. see what everybody knew would be a stirring scrap. For Mac, when he does fight, fights with all his heart and soul, both fists, and his brain. The first two rounds quickly convinced M'Cormick that at long-range fighting he was no, match for the polished Hebrew glove artist; so he abandoned long range for close work. He crowded in on Wells like a railway collision. Wells, who didn't want to be telescoped, blew across the ring like a fleeting shadow, trying to get room to swing, and M 'Cormick leaped, bounded and flapped after him. Wells turned and drove a left of some importance into M 'Cormick's face. Mac reeled, but as he did he smote three times with both hands, and slogged occasionally with the. right; arid then he got. hold of Wells, who tugged to get away. • It was a mad scene,-in which blows flew so fast they could not be seen. But they could be heard, and the grunt with which M 'Cormick let them fly. A voice said from the back: "This is A FIGHT!" Determined to accomr plish a victory with the same shortarm jolt that had proved so disastrous to Johnny Summers, M'Cormick bored in all the time. But he had no hope* The quick-brained Hebrew anticipated him every time. He knew exactly what M'Cormick was after, and knew how to prevent him getting it. They went rcund and round the ring together, bent down, head to head, each smiting, guarding, smashing, lpoking for a chance for a knock-out —a chance which never came. The first five rounds Nvere fought ,at a terrific pace, wnicn, had it been maintained,* meant that they would both drop dead inside 16 rounds. But in the sixth commenced to slow down. Ma : ny' thought his strength was beginning to go, and that M'Cormick would wear him right out and then do a great act of obliteration. M 'Cormick looked as if he had already selected the house he would buy with the prize-money. This head-to-head fighting was interesting to those could see it, but it was so close that only those in the near seats/saw anything, and at the back the crowd howled to the new referee to "break the cows!" Still there was a good deal of wrestling, which detracted from the spectacular effect; although it was wild and fierce enough to satisfy any glutton.

During the fight there was a terrific downpour of rain, accompanied by flashes of lightning that filled the Stadium with a blue glare. The roaring of the crowd, the crash of the rain on the roof, and the booming of the thunder made pandemonium. " The fighters became hasty,- disordered, and inconsiderate. ' Sometimes they were even previous. Harold Baker had to tear them apart, and immediately he ripped one off the other they mixed again in a malignant fashion. Up to the 12th round it had been a fairly level riot, but in the thirteenth Wells began to attack with systematic fury. He kept out of clinches when he coulcj, and smote M'Cormick with all the books of the major and minor prophets. He had slowed down a lot, and was fighting far more scientifically than Mac, whose one desire seemed to be to catch him; but when he did catch the Hebrew he could do nothing with him. Wells was obviously saving himself for i a final blizzard. The eighteenth found M'Cormick on top of the elusive Jew in bulldog fashion. In close fighting he rained showers of short, righthand slaps on to Well's neck and cheek; but they apparently produced' no effect, except that one of Wells's ears began to swell like a balloon. M'Cormick's nose was cut, and both ..were bleeding slightly from the mouth. But although M'Cormick was always on top, it was Wells who scored in the break-away. In the nineteenth Wells unfolded his blizzard. He bashed with the right and followed it up with the left; and, driving M'Cormick across the ring with a regular bombardment, landed twice with the left and once with the right. M 'Cormick tried to get hold of him, to force him into 'some, desirable position, but Wells poured him off and handed him several more that Mac could easily have done without. Then came the twentieth. The wallops that Matthew let fly were fearful to see. He climbed over M'Cormick and him look a regular novice. He smote till he seemed almost as numerous as the Public Debt, M'Cormick was in no danger of a knock-out, but he was getting a considerable depreciation, and a lot was being written off for wear and tear. When the gong went the sombre-looking Harold Baker placed his hand on the head of Wells, and the thunders of applause drowned the storm. It has been described as an uninteresting fight. Writer found it wildly exciting, and the way Wells guarded his jaw in the close battling was wonderful. The more one sees this shaggy Hebrew fight, the greater becomes the admiration of his cleverness. He has now quite abandoned the galloping style of Parthian conflict that he showed against Hughie Mehegan. He goes right in with all the delight of a vainglorious chicken charging a mud puddle. He hits a harder blow than M'Cormick, whose fighting is spoilt by his overeagerness. Mac was net satisfied with the verdict, and his manager felt he had been outraged or disembowelled or something. So there is going to be another scrap between them, and it should draw a vast house. Meanwhile Matthew Wells is welterweight champion of the British Empire.