BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8054, 5 July 1904, Page 1

BOXING.

NOTES.

;■'■■'■■ . /(By O33STUS.) Tjte members of the Masterton SubCentre of the Wairarapa Centre (says a local paper) are all very keen now, amd are all* training for the tournament to be held at the. end of the season.' The youths' class is now almost full and 'has already settled down to steady work. : ■ The Queensland and the New South Wales Amateur Championships take place next month. 1 The New Zealand Championships will be decided in Christchurch on August 19 and 20. . -The benefit to John L. Sullivan s at Boston on April' 2B,. realised 4000dol. In addition, a good sum was subscribed by friends of the ex-champion. . , The 'Frisco mail left on the eve of a con-, /test which was provoking a deal of attention, in* San Francisco. This was the meeting between Berger end Rodenbach, respectively heavy-weight champions of the West, and the "East. Rodenbach 1 is holder of both the middle-weight and' heavy-weight championships. . • \ James E. Sullivan, chief of the department of physical culture at. the St Louis Fair (says an American paper), has had so. many requests from all sections of the .country.for Olympic boxing championships that tljic i department has decided to devote one 1 -week in September to amateur boxing; in' orderto bring together the amateur boxers bf the world, so that the question of who ;is the real amateur champion can be v settled. '. ■.■■'■ ..; '■■ " „-■ , Referring to' knock-out blows, an American paper says: — The blow that' Fitzsiminohs used on Corbett— a gleeful short arm idig just at the upper lineof the stomachdrives all the; wind' out of the lungs, and yit: will be, on an average, twenty seconds ■before the victim can pull himself together. Its effects are nil, :so far as causing any 8 j damage are concerned^ ", What' man in all j . tiie world is there who has not ' at some time or other ran slapbang into some, ob-, ject that caught him in the waist and. made irim lose his breath for a distressing jferiod, yet did not, eren ' leave a blue bruise beihind? The knock-out to the jaw, for ■which all. boxers strive, causes insensibility. . Aiter the knpckee regains his feet he often las a headache. Otherwise the jolt causes aoevil effects— -physically. Before George Gardner met Bob Fitzsim-

mons for the light heavy-weight champion?¥p> there was a general impression that he was a possible candidate for heavyweight honours, as, in addition to pluck fistic abilities, h© promised to fill out into a- genuine heavy-weight. Since his defeat by Fitzsimmons (says an American ■frrifer, once hi 3 most enthusiastic supporter), there has been little ambition in Gardner. He has moped into the ring in a perfunctory sort of way, and at Boston, against Marvin Hart, : he went into the ring with a hair cut and a shave to cony etitute '..baa training,! While -he has "never taken to booze to any great extent, still there are other excesses that are more de^ trimental to physical prowess than drinks Sng. It will not' surprise me to learn th'atj third-rate acraopers will beat Geor«e Gard-'j

ner. He has come to that stage where he does not need advice, and the finish of fighters of that description is always sharp and sweet. Our people insist in estimating fighters, as they do not with other performers in sport, that " a loser is no good " (writes

| William A. Pierce in the Boston "Police News ")i Their worship is all for -winners. Once a fighter is whipped it is a hard thing to afrgue into Americans that he is any ,good, or that he ever" could fight. Conditions of the size of gloves, of security of foothold, of an inch or half an inch of difference in reach or in the place of landing a telling blow — a great variety of circumstances tha,t are accidental and purely "fluke 'V- all have to do with the decision of fights and are often controlling factors. The public simply takeß into consideration that one man lost and the other man won. Ido not know of any such snap judgment in respect to the performances of men or animals in other lines of sport. It is admitted, for instance, that theYbest of great racehorses can lose a race. It is recognised that there are solid reasons why he may not flash past the post in front in every contest where he is engaged. Nobody expects a runner to lead and last and win out every time. Why should public expectations of a pugilist be so exacting, so intolerant and unforgiving? A. great contest was fought in San Francisco, on May 27, between the twro Eastern hght-weighfcsy" Battling "Nelson (who has recently' come to the front) and Martin Ganole, the lad who not very many months back Almost put a stop to Britt's victorious career. Both Eastern and Western writers agree that Canole possesses science of a remarkable order, that he is a lightning performer with the left hand, and has a variety of blows which he seems capable of landing at will. But he lacks punching power. .Against Nelson his cleverness was so marked, and he made his opponent look so cheap in the earlier rounds, that he appeared to b& winning in a canter. Nelson took his .hiding with grim pluck. He kept swinging his right, and though he only got home a blow now and then, they did considerable damage and in the ninth round he had a turn in his favour for three rounds. Then Canole went in front again for a couple of rounds, only to give place to his opponent. In the •seventeenth Canole hammered Nelson all over the ring, but in the eighteenth he caught a right hander which sent him staggering, and Nelson, seizing his opportunity, got in another which ended the .battle. .Mr W. W. Naughton, the wellknown, authority^ remarks : — We know now, why they, dubbed him "Battling" Nelson. . There is something suggestive of cannons' mouths and fighting up hill about the same|s;and of a certainty the Chicago light-weight showed in his grinding, jarring contest with Martin Canole that ha is thoroughly imbued with the never-say-die spirit. He took a terril||e drubbing without murmuring; • stood to .his guns manfully through rounds and rounds when he didn't appear to have a ghost of, a chance, and finally encompassed Candle's defeat by a clean knock-out in the eighth eentli round.