BOXING AND BOXERS

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1933, Page 3

BOXING AND BOXERS

THE SPORT IN ENGLAND. HONOURS TO REGGIE MEEN. (By Eugene Corri.) London, December 15. The honours of the week must surely be awarded to Reggie Meen for his completely successful come-back against Charlie Smith, his old and worthy opponent. Frankly, I did not believe that he-would be equal to the task which he set himself. And I feel that my doubt was shared • by most of his own folk, whom he had so often rather grievously disappointed. It is not possible to appreciate what it has cost Meen to confound his critics. I admire him enormously. You can well imagine what he felt, when the very people who were once with him to a man almost lost faith. It was bad enough to be beaten by George Cook. It was worse to have the title taken him by Jack Petersen. It was cruel to be hooted and booed because he lost to Donald McCorkindale. And, if I had then been in Meen’s shoes, I would have there and then thrown in my hand.

But, evidently, and happily, Meen knows no sensitiveness, at least not of the kind to destroy his belief in himself. I would warmly congratulate him upon having won through against what appeared to be unnameable odds. There is. something that hurts harder than the heaviest blow that may ever be sent along. And that is ridicule, and I am sure that Meen was hurt in a way that he may never describe. Whether he will now proceed to win back the kingdom that was his, until he engaged in the disastrous war at Wimbledon last July, may only be conjectured. Perhaps it is enough that for the moment he has taken on a new lease of life, and has recaptured much of the popularity that was once his. I am assured by my good Leicester friends that he fought with greater spirit and purpose than ever before; that he shaped like a winner from the first sound of the gong; and that there was never a question that he would carry the day. I would not have Meen labour under any false notions. There remains much for him to do before he may be said to have put to every profit his immense physical qualities and splendid youth. But, if he holds to the spirit he showed against Smith, he most decidedly must be reckoned with. Let there be no mistake. Smith is anything but a pugilistic chump. On the contrary, he is a very efficient boxer, and as game as they make them. With the least luck he might have been of the champions. I will even venture to say that, in matching himself once more against Smith, Meen took on the most difficult proposition next to Petersen. It was common knowledge that the Deptford man was more than confident, and from all accounts was never in better fighting shape. But, like the good sportsman that he is, he will now confess that Meen was his master. And I am afraid that he will have to banish whatever hope he had of a second contest with Petersen. For such a fight he has simply lived and ached since he was knocked out by the young Welshman last Easter Monday at Cardiff. Now he must be wondering where his next job will come from. I am sorry for Smith, but there must always be a winner as well as a loser; and we should be wanting in fairness if we did not award Meen the highest commendation.

It is too early to speculate upon the immediate plans and prospects of Meen, but it may be taken for granted that, he will ask Jack Petersen “What about it”? I divulge no secret when I state that Petersen has always allowed for the probability of a return bout with Meen. For the time being, however, the champion has got more than his hands full, what with Schonrath on January 2, and his pending match with Pettifer, which, if tentative arrangements are carried through, will be staged at the Olympia Circus towards the end of the same month. News of Petersen is that he is thriving on his training, and that he will

be near to the cruiser limit when he takes the ring against Schonrath. If it is found that he can do list. 71b., without in the least impairing his stamina,, we may take it that when called upon to do so he will defend the light-heavyweight title. But, if I had the piloting of Petersen, I should not trouble my head about the cruiser championship. Rather would I concentrate wholly on the heavies. Even a mild attempt to arrest his physical development might 1 do incalculable harm. Most kudos and most money are to be won by fighting as an outsize. The cruiser title might well become a burden to him. If it be his fixed intention to defend it, he will incur the danger of falling between two stools.

Lord Tweedmouth returned te/London from Newcastle, pleased to put it on record that the fight between Harvey and Casey was one of the best he had seen. And I, too, was delighted. It is all too terrible when we have to confess disappointment over any championship. Harvey may disagree, but I will have it that his defeat of Casey last Monday night was about the best performance he has yet accomplished. Casey is not remarkable for such skill as the champion may claim to have, but as an honest-to-goodness fighter he surely ranks with the best. I very much doubt whether there ’is a heavier puncher. It is to his infinite credit that he lost only on points, and that there was a period when he had Harvey more than guessing. I am glad to know that even an excusably partisan crowd approved the verdict, which, to my thinking, goes to prove that Harvey was at his very best. Harvey and everybody have nothing but praise for the stout-heartedness of Casey. He fought with the stamina of many men rolled into one. But, then, that was to be expected of Casey. He is bred that way. He might never get to the top, but we shall always say of him that a braver fellow never put on a glove. I wonder what will be Harvey’s next move? There is a widespread notion that, having once again successfully defended the middle-weight title, there is nothing he would so relish as a fight with Petersen for the light-heavy-weight honours.

But would he not be more profitably employed if he harkened to Jock McAvoy? I. think so. It will be agreed that the Rochdale young man was unlucky to lose against Casey for the right to fight Harvey, and there is no doubt that ,in Lancashire there are many people who believe McAvoy would have more than an outside chance of heating Harvey, if and when they met a second time. I would suggest to Harvey that he should once again set out to prove that he is incomparably the best middleweight in the country.

To me, McAvoy is the best opponent that could be found for him. If he beat McAvoy, then he would be wholeheartedly supported in a claim to a second match with Marcel Thil for the world’s title. I am fairly sure that, in a return contest, Harvey would beat the Frenchman. He would the more likely defeat Thil than McAvoy, whom Jeff Dickson is credited with an intention of matching against the world’s title-holder in the not distant future. Much though we may regret that the open heavyweight competition, which was brought to a close at the Crystal Palace at the beginning of the week, gave no promise of a real champion, it must be said that the fighting in ’ its heartiness gave every satisfaction. Seaman Rowles, a much-fancied competitor, was the ultimate winner. In the final he’ beat a Manchester youth, named Bennett. But, make no mistake,- in my opinion Bennett has- it- in -him to go further than the Seaman. If he had not had such a terrific fight as he had in the semi-final with Arthur Holsgrove, a Birkenhead warehouse. worker, he would not have been knocked out by. the sailor. He was dreadfully worn and tired when he took his stand in the last battle of all. Old timers predict that, if Bennett is brought along the right lines, he will some day soon put the cat among the pigeons. And I shall follow the doings cf Holsgrove with a fatherly interest. He, too, put up a most gallant show, ~ '