THE WORLD OF BOXING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 2

THE WORLD OF BOXING.

RECENT EVENTS ABROAD.

Henri Demlen, the Belgian welterWeight, was defeated, on points, by Mick McGuire, the young Melbourne welterweight, in Brisbane re'contly. After 20 rounds of good, boxing. Demlen fought in his usual, aggressive style, and his strength and ruggedness made him always dangerous, but McGuire boxed •with fine skill; speed, and coolness, and showed an excellent variety in his work. In long range boxing McGuire was much the better. The Melbourne lad weighed lOst 441b and Demlen weighed lOst 91b.

For the World's Title. According to American papers, Jess ■Willard,* heavy-weight champion of the world, has signed an agreement to defend; his title, against a boxer to be selected, in New Orleans during the first week in March next. The promoters of the contest are Tommy Burns and Dominiek Tortorich, who run the Tulane Boxing Club in New Orleans. Tortorich has been a promoter of boxing contests in that city for some years past. Eecently Tommy Burns decided to break into the promoting game in the Louisiana capital, but he found it advisable to join forces with Tortorich. New Orleans is the only large city in the United States in which 20-round contests, with referees' decisions, are permitted now. At the time the agreement was drawn lip the prompters had no definite plans regarding Willard's opponent. The contract provides that Willard is to be guaranteed 32,500 dollars (£6500), of which 25,000 dollars was to .be paid when the challenger was chosen, 15,000 dollars deposited 10 days before the fight, ancl the balance, 15,000 dollars, deposited on the day of the contest. It is reported that while Tortorich and Burns drew up the agreement Willard- remained silent beyond' desiring to know how the 32,500 dollars was to be paid, and requesting that!no coloured man should be placed ill opposition to him. The promoters were dumb regarding the man they purposed choosing to face Willard. The whole company admitted that Frank Moran ought to have first claim through his recent successes,' and especially owitig to his sensational knocking out in three rounds of the Irish Giant, Jim Ooffey, a month or two back. Two other names were mentioned^—those of Fred Eulton and Coffey, and the former's right to be considered was so strongly *irged that it seemed not at all unlikely lie would be matched with Moran, the winner to face Willard.

; ; .:. ■' .-Ritchie) and tttuidee.; iQ M ; * Willie, Ritchie,*, former pght ; .w£ight champion of considerably, bothered by the eurldusstyle of iiglmng adopted by Jimmy Dundee, : the >'lt£},lianAmerican light-weight, in ' a recent 10jbund bout in New York,.' :ThGApopular decision was a draw, but' it" should not be overlooked that Ritchie weighed lOst well over the Aanerican and world's light-weight limit, . while Duntse scales 9st 6£lb, whiffh- is inside the mit « .■ 3 After remarking, 'tlj&t Ritfehie/hiad' to 4jxtend himself wih'e limit/'an Atiferl%an critic goes on to describe, , the ,hout,;as fjollows:— j "The bounding Italian's fast work early in the bout puzzled/Ritchie, and he missed repeatedly. It wasn't until the last few rounds that Ritchie got Dundee's measure, and then. he . gave him a severe lacing. The eighth round was a whirlwind, and while Dundee was dancing rapidly about his opponent Ritchie clipped him on the jaw, which took the little Italian off his feet and: shot him " against : the ropes.' l < 1 Ritchiej drove Dundee around the- ring ujnd<jr his; fierce attack, and when on the jbtheri Bide of the ring he again,.hit |iiaQ3ph thej jaw and almost, knocked him .off his feet. Although Ritchie : decidedly, more like the 'champion boxer that he is in the last three rounds, he was' plainly bewildered by Dundee's freakish boxing early in the bout. Johnny jabbed him repeatedly on the face and got away and hammered his body in: the clinches for the first five rounds. Ritchie easily boxed Dundee's advantage away in the last few rounds and left the honours about even It was almost 10.30 o'clock when the bout started. Dundee began to jab Ritchie at once, and the champion was unable to stave off the Italian's aggressive attack. Dundee ducked and feinted, while Ritchie's only means of landing to be a straight left jab. For the first five rounds Ritchie was unable to land his right on the Italian. "Ritchie did not wake up uiitil the fifth round, and then the boxers began to slug each other merrily. Both slipped -and fell to the ropes, but no damage was done. Dundee was so quick at times that he ran right under Ritchie's extended arms and got out of the way. There was repeated clinching, and the referee had to pry the boxers apart often. " Up to this time Ritchie showed nothing liko the form he exhibited against Freddie Welsh in his last bout in the same ring. In the seventh Ritchie became more aggressive, and his right arm became effective. He had solved Dundee's jumping-jack tactics, and hammered him repeatedly in the face and body. In the eighth the Italian's mouth and ear were cut by the severe punishment. Dundee, however, refused to be suppressed, and poked Ritchie with his left, and hammered the champion's ribs in the "clinches. In the ninth and tenth rounds Ritchie showed the style of boxing which made him champion. He struck out straight from the shoulder with his right and left, and his boxing looked superior and polished compared with Dundee's novel style. Two rights'to' the jaw staggered Dundee in the eighth, but he weathered the storm with rapid footwork. Both boys were slapping each other hard at the finish. Dundee refused to shake hands with Ritchie at the beginning of the tenth round, and Ritchie made him suffer for the breach of ring etiquette." It may be added that Ritchie, whose real name is Geary Steffen, is a GermanAmerican, and Dundee, real name Joseph Carrora, was born in Italy.

Colin Bell's "Jinx." A noted New York boxing critic, Sam C. Austin, made some interesting remarks recently regarding the American tour of Colin Bell, the well known Australian heavy-weight, who returned to the Commonwealth a few weeks ago. He wrote: —"If Colin Bell were asked if he believed in a 'jinx,' I'll bet he'd say 'Yes,' and. say it with all the emphasis at his command. No foreign fighter ever came to this coun-

fry with greater promise of success than this same Colin Bell. He is a man with brains and mentality far above that of the average pugilist; educated, clean-living, and a gentleman in every manner that the term implies. Boxing to him is only a profession, indulged in as a means to an end, that of earning enough money to enable him to embark in a business more congenial and to his liking. That he did not succeed here was due more to his associations than anything else.. George Lawrence, his manager, "was also a victim of this 'Jinx,' which attached himself like a sucking incubus to the outfit. The very presence of this parasite with a man of_Bell's type was enough to condemn the latter. This person's actions have always been so snake-like and treacherous that managers w;ere inclined to give him a wide berth and the antipathy to him was bound to be shared by everyone in whom he professed to have an interest. Bell proved his ability to fight and his services might have been in greater demand, but promoters and match-makers showed an inclination to shy off whenever the 'Jinx' injected himself into the managerial end of his affairs. Colin Bell can tell his Australian friends that a stinking mess Was made of his American tour, and he can well afford to advise any of his boxing countrymen coming to America, to steer away from the 'Jinx.' " American Appreciation of Darcy.

The same critic also made the following very interesting remarks concerning Australian's most prominent boxer of the present time: —-''In Les Darcy, the Australian, it looks as if we have a middle-weight at last who will ~ some day acceptably, wear the crown which once adorned the brow of the incompar'able DenVpsey and the lamented Ketch el. After an epidemic of mediocre aspirants like Chip, A 1 McCoy, Jeff ' Smith, and Clabby, it is good to contemplate the probability that we will • see a fighter ' capable of representing the class in a manner worthy of the illustrious men who have preceded him. Darcy knocked out Eddie McGooi'ty and .followed this up recently by defeating Jimmy Clabby, who,' although not technically an American titleholder, is unquestionably the "best middleweight in America. In his recent fight with Darcy, Clabby was on his feet at the end of the 20 rounds. But that Darcy was able to win the decision proves that he is 110 false alarm. Clabby Js an experienced veteran, and the cleverest and best ring general of the middle-weights who are not afraid to fight 20 'rounds. Australians have a great admiration- for his style of boxing, and Darcy must have displayed very good form in order to have gained the verdict. The match was announced as being for the middle-weight championship of the world, and in the eyes of his admiring fellow couhtrymen, at least, Darcy is supreme in that division. Americans, of course, will not accept him until he has disposed of Mike Gibbons, Young Ahearn, and A 1 McCoy. On the -form he lias shown, Darcy should prove equal to the task. He has now defeated McGoorty, CJlabby, and Jeff Smith,- all of whom were seasoned ringmen ''accustomed to fighting 20 rounds. . , ,

" Having accomplished that much', Darcy should be equally successful in disposing of the 'other three, provided he can lure them into 20 round battles. It is very doubtful whether Gibbons is capable of maintaining his form over 10 rounds, and it is probable that he will never care to dispute the honours with the Australian in anything more decisive than a 10 round skirmish. Young Ahearn now appears to be the most likely to check Darcy's march to the title, and his chances are not very promising. Ahearn's delicate chin makes him a poor risk in a long battle, for at some time he is sure to be punished more or less. According to his present plans, Darcy will come- to America as soon as. he has disposed of Eddie McGoorty for the second time. After that there will be nothing for him to do in Australia, but there will be a wide field for him over here. I see by reports from Australia that Les Darcy is fast putting on 'too solid flesh,' and will also find it laborious to get down to 160 pounds. And yet Le3 is not 20 years pf lige. His great ambi : tion is to become the middle-weight champion ,of the world. If this is the case, Darcy will have to make hay while the sun shines, for in another year the extra poundage will shut him out of this division, and he's too short, for the heavy class. So he'll be compelled to stick to the light heavies, which is not a generally recognised class the world over. If Darcy is wise he will lose no time in coming to this country, and contest the middle-weight supremacy with Mike Gibbons. If he can decisively defeat the latter he'll have to be recognised as king of his class, but we must wait first and see the outcome of the Darcy-McGoorty second battle. Maybe Eddie'may prove a stumbling block in his way to the much muddled up middle-weight crown. Who knows?"

Fast and Exciting. About 8000 of Melbourne's boxing enthusiasts were afforded a fistic treat a few days ago, in the meeting of Bert Spargo (Bst 121b) and Charlie Simpson (Bst 131b) for the feather-weight championship of "Victoria, which was held by Simpson. Spargo won a splendid contest by a narrow margin of points. Most of the experts agreed with the decision of the referee, Mr Yal Quirk. The Melbourne correspondent of the Sydney '' Referee'' nearly alway9 displays a < tendency to favour the aggressive fighter, in accordance with the American system, and, therefore, his opinions are subject to some discount when bouts are decided on the British method of allotting points for boxing. That the contest was a very line one is shown by the following extract from the "Australasian's" report: — "A few months ago when they met, Simpson gained tho verdict, but many good judges considered that Spargo should have been declared the winner. When the latter gave away weight to the Australian champion, Jimmy Hill, a few weeks ago and beat him pointless, the appetite of the boxing public was whetted for the contest between Simpson and Spargo for the championship. The fight has been talked of for weeks past, and, now that it is over, it will be discussed for months as a great contest. It was a splendid exhibition of fast, scientific boxing, with never a dull moment, and the large crowd was roused to a pitch of high excitement. It may be said that from first to last the two