HARD AS NAILS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 122, 16 October 1914, Page 7

HARD AS NAILS.

BOXHRB JOIN QQUOIifi. Am English writer taloee hia tat off to the 'boxer who has "swapped" the glove* for the rifle:— "From Garpentier, of IVance, among 1 the heavyweights, down to Seaman llayea, of London, among tiki fealilierweights t!here has been a good response from the ranks of the iboxiii'* mui. Ah I taid l.u>t nsk, the boxing men «re one of the as-iets of the nation. The bo.wi- i» n trained man, and his physical training fits him in an e«pt»ial way to join liha ranks of i'X> voJunteers at 6iit«h a critical moment in the history of !iis country. Yoiir boxer i« a nr.in who has roughed it from the cradle, and he i«, to my mind, on that iU'eoii&t well fitted ;o fall in and shoulder the rilk! for his country. Some of your eirjliatfa do not know what it, is to rough it. The £oxer in invanaaMy a. ma n who Inn come through every of discipline, i«rt excluding the period of liardship wliioh moat ol ail fits a. man for a trying experience. I have just seen a number of the ■hox(jrs who are training in their various camps, and 1 for one would sooner meet the (Jermau »oldiers in lime of tuiitle tlmn some of the men ■whoso splendid fitness leave thein ready to meet any soil of foe—wither ai. froorje or abroad. Napoleon once na.id that au arraf.i nuiTehed on its stomaiih. That iif the tViite moLto of the average boxer.

The t<ox*r fights on lis Klomach. I'ntaa h e lias that timed up ti> lighting pitch tie boxer Ixvojnh ;i nngifsjiWo quantity. 1 remember Chat "a middle-weight eTianipions'hip of Ureai. Jirilaio, one of the fo-st fights that toi>k pla<'e for the Lonsdale belts, was decided on Uhie crucial point some f.-vY yeans luck. Belli of the eotriiataJiU fire now out of the reckoning, K o fu* as atretics are eonecrneA One was Charley Wilson, a iiScfal middle-weight, ji ml the other title late lamented Tom Thomas, of Wales, wiose untimely d<uth all f-portonen mourned a't a time when Thomas looked good enough to go far in his elasa.

j Thomas aiwl Wilson were meeting for I the belt of ttlowiiddle-weigiht clans, now worn by Pa>t O'Keefe. Thomas won tli's fisH because, so it was said', that Wilson's stomaeli went lwck on him diiriaij; ■the test few days of training. If you (knew iow much depends on tlie comlition of your stomacJi you would be ' more careful of that oTgajj. Some misn are chronic grumblers about their stomach.