BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9323, 25 August 1908, Page 1

BOXING.

■ ♦ BURNS v. SQUIRES. United Press Association— By Eleofcrio Telegraph— Copyright. SYDNEY, August 24. Burns -won after a desperate fight Squires was counted out in the thirteenth, round. The fight Has the topic to-day. H overshadowed the great White Armada and the great review of the nava; and military forces. The stadium, s huge structure erected specially for the occasion at Rushcutter's Bay, capable of seating 18,000 persons, presented a remarkable scene. It was constructed in the form of an amphitheatre, with a twenty-four feet ring in the centre, and was crowded to its utmost capacity. The seats, ranged in terraces round the : fighting platform, were peopled with an excited audience. Trains filled with Newcastle people, miners predominating, to see their townsman. Squires, face '" the invincible Burns, created the impression that Coalopolis must be a deserted city this day. The weather was perfect, and the stadium was bathed in sunlight. Burns Avon the choice of positiono. In the first round Squires shaped !» very fairly, and frequently went for Burns's. head, but that portion of the American's anatomy seemed least vulnerable. The men clinched frequently, three times in rapid succession, and the referee had to separate them. Squires was leading most, and sent his left to the head four or five times, whilst Burns was making principally for his opponent's body., Squires was now fighting really well, and appeared to have 6lightly the best of the round, landing Burns solidly three times on the ribs. In the second round Squires again started attacking with a straight left to the head. Burns got his -right on Squires' s ribs. The Australian responded, bringing blood from the American's nose. The Australian went at his opponent willingly, and had ali together the best of it. Burns brought his footwork into play, but even then Squires continued to keep blows off and be the aggressor. In the third round the men \were at clinches early. Squires got one in that sent Burns' head back with a click. Burns, however, displayed extreme cleverness in dodging blows. Burns clinched, and landed Squires a heavy right upper-cut to the chin. Squires, however, got in several heavy head blows. In in-fighting Burns was much the better man. As the round closed, 5 Squires drew blood from the Amerif can's mouth. l> In the fourth round Burns went to 3 close quarters, and gave the Australian a very bad time, bringing blood from - nose and mouth. The men were now i fighting at a terrific pace. In a couple of mix-ups Squires got a left on his opI ponent's ribs and a right on to . the * jaw, staggering him, both men display- - ing trouble on their faces. Squires appeared the fresher of the two. In the fifth round, spurred by his 1 success, the Australian went in and got > a left on to Burns's jaw. Despite his > punishment . the American kept right up to his man. Squires dodged round, the ring, with his opponent after him,' the latter doing the attacking. As the round closed Squires landed a heavy right ta the jaw, and the crowd was delirious with delight. * In the sixth round both weakened, i Squires had narrow escapes of being , knocked out. Squires got several on to Burns's neck, but the champion \ was ' fighting with more success. Both men : were bleeding freely. In the seventh round Squires had Burns dodging round the arena. They then clinched, Squires getting a blow in which rattled Burns, who was having a rather bad time, but displayed great capacity for receiving punish- j ment. Tho round ended in Squires's favour. In the eighth round Burns received a terrific blow in the face, Squires having more success in clinches. Squires continued aggressive in the ninth round, 'then suddenly Burns hooked his left to his opponent's chest , and, getting to close quarters, pummelled him viciously. Burns hooked his | 1 left on Squires's jaw, followed with one > right on the chin, and the fighting was terrific. The referee had all his work cut out to get them apart. In clinches Burns demonstrated his superiority and punished Squires's body, the latter' s ribs showing up scarlet from heavy punching. Despite the fact that Burns was bleeding from several points on the face, he seemed to regain his strength and fought strongly. In the tenth round Squires fetched Burns a powerful blow on the side of the head, but Burns compelled Squires to break ground and landed him a terrific right swing, that sent the Australian back a few feet. He then attacked the body with great vigour, and had his opponent in sore straits. Squires's left eye was blackened. The Australian sent in a dozen fast blows, j which somewhat dazed Burns, but the I Australian could not shift him off his feet. In the eleventh round Squires got in three staggering blows on the neck and his chances seemed better. - In the twelfth round Sqnires's blowe lost their force, but with a blow in in-fighting the Australian evened matters a bit. The thirteenth round opened quietly. BUrns livened matters by drawing blood from Sqnires's cheek., and in a rally the American landed the Australian a right on the chin, and Squires went down in a sitting posture and remained there nine seconds. He could have got up but availed himself of the rules. On his feet again he rushed after Burns and punched him hard on the cheek. Burns replied with his right, and Squires went down for eiprht seconds. Burns now had him at his mercy, struck him heavily on the cheek, brought his right hard on the Australian's neck, and before Squires , had time to fall a left got him on the J Bide of the eye. Squires sank and failed to rise again. He ultimately made an effort to get up but was counted out as he rose. The Superintendent of Police stopped the proceedings. -,

saying just uhat is the solid truth," re joined the world's champion. "I be lieve there really is nobody around wh is more peacefully inclined than I air I hate trouble, and my constant en deavour is to avoid it in any shape. A a matter of fact, I never have an trouble. The nearest approach that ever have is when my wife says, ' Ton: did you mail the letter I wrote horn this morning?' That scares me t t death, because I know I will have to d - all sorts of finnicky sidestepping t 1 dodge letting out that it's right saf i there in my coat pocket and the mai 3 gone. Of course, I lose on a foul ever, s time, but I'm getting better on the let l ter box business. It's a serious thinj I to miss a mail to America in this coun i try. 1 "What's that? May basing bo con . sidered peaceful? Sure! What eke } Look here, now, listen to rue, and rui i your pencil right, underneath this — i have never hurt a man in my life h - a boxing match, and I have beei > mixed up in more than half a hundred - I No, sir, I have never hurt a man • Ask* any man I ever signed up witl if Tommy Burns ever hurt him. As! ! any one of 'em if Tommy Burns evei i marked him Ask any of my gooc opponents if he ain't willing to. shuk< t Tommy Burns by the right hand an< ■ say, 'Good luck to you, Tom; yoi \ whipped it in before I could, and yoi • won fair and square.' Why, the besi friends I have are the men who mci me in the ring. Here, ask my sparring partner "—(looking towards Pal O'Keefe, and encountering the indignant glance of Mrs Burns, who happened tobe right in the line. ("I beg 1 your pardon, my dear") — Pat usuallj manages to get out of the way when 1 want to hand him one. No, 6ir ! Honestly, I never did hurt a man in the ring, and honestly no boxer has ever hurt me. ' A little tap on the right spot, a temporary concussion, and the contest is won. So far it has been just like that. I have always happened to get to the other man's chin first. The old style of distributing blood and bruises all over your adversary is out of date — that's war, not scientific boxing. Ah, you have noticed the little mark on the bridge of my nose. Well, you're wrong; nearly every pressman falls in over that. A dear little pet pup did that while I was fooling with him on my hands arid knees when I was a boy. And that long scar from my left eye to my ear ? That's lacrosse — the tack in a fellow's racket did that. Lacrosse is a real daisy game to get beaten to a pulp in. If it's served up hot, boxing is nowhere by comparison. I've had my arm , broken in lacrosse, and what you see on my face, and all the surface scraped off my shin bone, with bruises and cuts by the score, and lost enough blood to paint a town red at that game, but I don't hear anybody calling lacrosse brutal, and imploring the Legislature to stop it— What? No, and it's not brutal; it's a jolly good game, equal to boxing and wrestling and football and baseball, and they ail make good men and better friends. No game's brutal where there's no malice, and there's no malice in any of them if played fairly, and least of all in boxing, for a bad temper is a dead sure thing to lose a man a boxing match And to play any game well a man wants a big heart and a strong arm, and how can any man get either unless- he plays the gacie? Why, some fellow told me what your poet Gordon said, and I got it fixed in my head:— , No game was ever yet worth a rap for a rational man io play Into whicH no accident, no mishap, could possibly find its way. Well, sir, I play this boxing game fair and square and honest. I played it as an amateur for nothing and fun, and now I play it for money and fun, and I am going to keep right on getting as much of both of them as health and strength and } good condition will allow me. Afterwards I will butt into chicken raising or farming on ,a big scale, the former preferably, because my wife is stuck on it. She raised forty-eight chickens out of one hundred and fifty eggs away back at our home, with an incubator, but she destroyed more'n half of those feathered infants by her uncontrollable desire to watch 'em buttin' their way out o' the shells. Let the cold air in on 'em, and' they died. Well, what'ye think of that? Ain't that more cruel than prize fiethtinjr ? Why, my blood boils when I think of it. But my wife and T have agreed to farm chickens on scientific lines in future. " Oh, yes,' I'm confident of winning. T always am confident, but, I tell you what, I respect Bill Squires, because be fights for keeps, same as T do, and he's got a short cut to the chin, too. "Rill wants to keet) the championship here. I want to take it away wi+h me. Come alono: and see it. It's going to be a top-notch battle."