BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8667, 6 July 1906, Page 1

BOXING.

NOTES. (By OESTUS.) A correspondent writes from Briisbane that the sport is making splendid progress there, and that a large number of new faces will be seen in the ring at the annual championship competitions. Of the older competitors, ■ Brown (who competed in Christchurch in 1904 in the Australasian cbampionshipe), Spanlon, Munro and Roughedge will compete again, but Bagley -and Dowridge intend to stand down. Referring to the coming 'conference in connection with the Australasian championships, he. writes: — "I think there is one rule that can be altered with advantage, and that is, make the number of the rounds six or eight of two minutes each, instead of three twominute rounds -and one pf three minutes, as at present. You would get better boxing, and there would not bethe bustling and roughing tihat is now noticeable. Under the existing conditions a strong, rushing boxer has all the best of matters, but if the bouts were extended to six or eight rounds a clever man would have a chance to size things up, and sufficient time left to enable him to do his best work. As it is he has to get going right from the jump." • A. J. Abbott, who came over, from Sydney a few weeks ago, and intended competing in the middle-weight championship of New Zealand, met wi€h a distressing accident recently. While working on a contract in the North Island he had the misfortune to get his left hand crushed, with the result that four fingers had to be amputated. t Abbott writes that lie received treatment at the Wellington Hospital. I very much regret his bad luck, and hope that he will make a speedy recovery. The Northern Association (says the Auckland "Weekly News") has in view the matter of securing a suitable site for building purposes, and running the Association on h-n.es similar to the clubs in Australia. The secretary, Mr Keenan, has received instructions to obtain full information on the proposal. A New Zealander who saw the go between Griffin and Thorn writes that the former was beaten before he got going, but in such a businesslike manner that he regards Thorn as a class above the

New Zealander. The correspondent writes that while Griffin hit in his customary vigorous' but vrild manner. Thorn's blows were delivered with such precision and effect that there .could be only one ending. As reported last week, Charley Griffin was defeated at the National Sportin^ Club, Sydney, on June 15, by Frank : Thorn, of West Australia, in less than a round. " Amateur," of the Sydney "Referee," has the following about the winner : — We only ©aw Thorn in action less than two minutes, but there wasn't a moment of that brief period wJien he eeemed at fault. Every move was made with an end in view; ; having done something, Thorn had in his mind what the situation required nest. When Griffin bumped the boards first there wasn t a cooler or more collected- man- m the town than Thorn; he stood, not the, least bit excited, ready with the weapon and the method of attack that would beat fit the occasion. When Griffin fell to evade, his foeman. was handy and on the alert, and when that knock-out punch landed the Westredian bided the count and heard "Out" as soon as anyone. Then be turned on his heel to receive the congratulationis of genuine friends and these others whom the" victor may always find, and whpse demonstrations are the ; showiest and noisiest. Dan Greedon's last fight has a pathetic little story attached to it (says the " Bulletin "). Dan's mother kept a pub., but things went down of late, and she had to sell out at a • ridiculously low figure. For some time she had been hard-up — very hardup—and Dan's .heart emote him. .He resolved that it was up to him to find enough money to set the "old woman " up again, and Dan knows only one way of earning money. So. the old fellow went into training and' got on 1 , that match with Bill Smith in the hopfe that he might pull it off fix tip the "old woman." Dan was . all out of condition, and it is awful work taking two 6tone off when you're close on forty, and feel like fifty. But the thought of the "old woman" kept him at it, and Dan lived a pure,, righteous and sober life for a couple of jnoriths.' He wemfc into the ring full of the hope that, having won the worst fight— against •Jumeelf— -and -got rid two etone of flesh;' fortune would not desert him against Smith. He knew that one lucky jolt of the old sort would win the fight and the "old woman " the purse. But Smith knew it too, and his long, brown left never gave the "old woman" a chance. When poor old Dan threw in the towel a whole mountain of hope tumbled with, it. : ' . ' • • : At the Taxedo Club, Essington, Pennsylvania, on May 17, Hock Keys, the clever Australian light-weight, met and defeated M' Garry in a twenty-round bout. The report of the contest contains the following : — Keys is a master mechanic with the mitts. There are few boxers around here who can compare with tlhe Australian for speed, cleverness and coolness. He is rather tall, and has a left-hand hook that would i break your heart-. He just jabbed M' Garry last night until one eye j was closed, his lips puffed and one side of his face swollen as though, he , was blistered. > From the New York "Police Gazette " : — Whenever tfoose .so-called reformers, who see nothing but what is pernicious in the boxing gam©, begin to prate, to you about the evil influence which they claim is attached to the ring, don't fail to call their attention to the fact that when the necessity arose for accumulating funds for the relief of the afflicted people of San Francisco, among tihe first to respond bo the cry for aid were the athletes — the fighters, the wrestlers and other rugged mortals who are noted more for their physical ' prowess than, for their mental attainments. Not only have they offered their services gratis, but many of the more prosperous members of the rough professions have handed out their hard-earne-d cash to the victims of the earthquakes. Among those who are ignorant of the true conditions that nowadays exist in the ranks of the pugilists and othear devotees of rough sports the opinion seems to be held that boxers and all others of that class are the lowest type of ruffians, ready to perform deeds of violence on the ehorteet notice, and utterly lacking in all the qualities of manhood and decency. In fact, [ they are the " abysmal brutes^ [as one critic of the class put it. It has been asserted that the associations and environments of an athlete were of such a character as to brutalise the man and smother all his better feelings. It is true that Battling Nelson, Robert Fitasinimons, and other fighters experience a fierce joy when in the heat of conflict with a worthy foe, but it does not follow that because on the occasion of a combat the fighter is imbued with tthe gladiatorial spirit that he loses all the better attributes of man. . Young Corbett, who has for Beveral years been one of the foremost figures in the Queensberry realm' (says an American paper), was relegated to obsourity when he waa practically knocked out in the fifth round of a bout -with l Fighting Dick Hyland, of San Francisco. The interference of the police prevented the Denver boy being sent to the land of nod, as he waa barely able to stand on his feet when the bout was stopped by the officers of the law. This, defeat practically ends the fighting career of a man whose achievements were nothing lees than sensational. After a career of hard but not financially productive fighting in the West, Corbett got the match with ! Terry M'Govern that shot the Denyerite into the feather- weight championship in a eingle bound, and brought to I him all the -notoriety and all the temptations that finally resulted in his undoing. When Corbett stepped into the ring at Hartford on the afternoon of I November 28, 1901, he was as rugged a I specimen of physical vigour as ever was seen, in the roped square* He fought

the .formidable M } Govern off his feet and put him to sleep in the second round with a tremendous clip on the j&w that sent Terry eprawling and unconscious. Then began a system of high living that gradually sapped tho youngster's vitality, and in five years has made the Denver boy a wreok of his former self. Corbett is to-day but, twenty-seven years of age, and was blessed with as strong a constitution as anyone could desire. It can readily be understood that he 1 must have travelled at a terrific pace 'to have deetroyed the fine vitality • he - showed ' when he sent, M' Govern to dreamland. New York and its fascinations, were new to the boy who had spent all his life in the unobtrusive portions of Colorado, and the pugilist flung himself dnto the rushing stream of pleasure with the greatest abandon. Wiser men counselled him to check his speed, but he went along until he* has conic to the turning point in life, and whei-e lie will no longer be a drawing card in the game of which he was but a few years ago the most attractive figure. Of all the prodigals of pugilism, Corbett has gone down the road to ruin in the quickest time, and with that wreckage goes the knowledge that he was one of the bestnatured, most generous and companionable of all the men of the ring.