BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9430, 2 January 1909, Page 4

BOXING.

» — ■ THE BURNS-JOHNSON FIGHT. United. Press Association — By Electric . Telegraph— Copyright (Received January 2, 9.35 a.m.) SYDNEY, January 2. As a result of the Johnson-Burns contest the - papers are flooded with correspondence for and against boxing displays. With regard to the recent BurnsJoHnson contest a well-known Wellington doctor gives a striking reason why a European boxer is always at a disadvantage against a negro in such a contest. The boxer, he explains, rivets his attention on his opponent's face, and from the play of its features, and especially of the eyes, adduces where the next blow will be aimCS, and is able to parry accordingly. The eye of a European' stands out clear against a light background, and its action is familiar and conducive to correct interpretation. The eye of the negro, on the other hand, is much darker, closely resembling its background, and it is much more difficult to keep a fixed gaze on the organ and interpret rightly its changes of expression. As the eye contains a larger proportion of dark pigment than the European organ, it is able to offer more resistance to the light, and consequently dilates in the excitement of a fight in a way which is misleading and almost uncanny. The racial peculiarities indicated were considered by this doctor quite sufficient; cause to justify the refusal of ft white man to meet a black antagonist in the ring. Heavy blows at basing wejre delivered by the Rev B. F. Rothwell, preaching at th© Wesleyan Church service in the Hutt Town Hall on Sunday evening, says the "Dominion." He referred to what he termed the Saturnalia of blood and brutality which had given place to the Christian festival, the dominant note of which was goodwill amongst, men. He stated that, as an evidence that the brute had not quite vanished from amongst us we had only to remember that, no sooner ,had a great sculler shown his manly prowess in an essentially manly sport, than there, were people so anxious that he should use/ it to pommel his fellow-man that they made the premature announcement that Arnst was making for the prize ring. It was a significant fact that a legalised " glove " contest had to be terminated by the intervention' of the police. It was time that these contests, which revive the worst features of the heathen Saturnalia, gave place to a higher civilifiatiOni i