BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9955, 17 September 1910, Page 5

BOXING.

Judging by the reports in the Auckland papers, the spectators expressed great dissatisfaction at the judges disagreeing in the bout for the featherweight Australasian amateur championship between Hegarty (New Zealand), the holder, and Read, of New South Wales. The general opinion was that Hegarty won. An extra round was ordered, and in this, the report states, Read had the advantage. The correspondent of a. Wellington paper says that Hegarty had "bad luck in losing the honour," and "the two judges failed to agree and Referee Burke declared for a fifth round of two minutes to decide the match, rather than give the fight to the rightful winner on points, which was undoubtedly Hegarty." The same correspondent, in referring to the final between Shields and Read, says that in the extra round that was ordered "the New Zealander was bested, but he should have got the decision on the four rounds. When Dr O'Brien pronounced Read the winner there was loud dissent from the crowd." Altogether it seems that R,ead was particularly lucky in securing the championship. A gentleman who was present at the competition informed me that according to his view Hegarty won with a good bit in hand in the four rounds, but last the fifth, and that Shields undoubtedly defeated Read ill the final bout. The refereeing at the Australasian championships seems to have been about as bad. as it was at .the New Zealand championships. The Auckland papers refer to the weakness of the referee in. ordering an extra round on so many occasions instead of giving his decision when the judges disagreed, and mention is made or his inability to control the competitors. If the reports I have read and the statements that have been made to me are correct, then the referee was utterly incompetent to handle such an important event. The muddling at Palmerston North I witnessed myself, and the two affairs have caused a deal of unpleasantness amongst both competitors and onlookers. It is very evident that the New Zealand Council will have to put an end to this custom of allowing men to act just because they happen to be on the spot, and will have to do . as other sports bodies do, that is, appoint the three responsible officials. lam told that one of the Australian visitors spoke his mind frankly and freely at the presentation of medals, and unless published reports are absolutely false ho had good grounds for complaint. We have competent officials *in New Zealand, and for the future the Council must see that they are appointed irrespective of what local opinion may be. At the Napier Association's tournament on September 7, R. Simpson, winner of the light-weight championship of New Zealand, was knocked out in the fourth round by W. Rogers, of Auckland.

W. Wenand, who won the Australasian amateur bantam-weight championship last year, made his first appearance as a professional at the Napier Association's tournament on September 7. His opponent was H. O'Ralloran, and Wenand, who scaled Bst 111b, won on points. The New Zealand Council should call upon Ellis for an explanation as to why he could not make the bantam-weight at Auckland. He must, surely, have known his weight before leaving Wellington, and yet he allowed the Council to incur a fairly heavy expenditure in sending him- up, he knowing all the time—or if he did not know he should have known—that he would be unable to compete. As the New Zealand second string was indisposed, New Zealand was without a representative in the class.

It is reported that a brother of Wells, the English heavy-weight, who is regarded as the best man in his class that England has produced for many years, is residing in Christchurch. He Is an amateur welter-weight, and is rery highly spoken of as a boxer. At last week's meeting of the New Zealand Boxing Council, a letter, received from the secretary of Pearson's Fresh Air Fund acknowledging the receipt of a donation forwarded by the Council on behalf of the affiliated bodies, concluded as follows : —" I think it very generous of the New Zealand Boxing Council to help as largely as it has. 1 would ask you to convey my best thanks to the Council."

J. M. Griffin, the well-known' light heavy-weight, who has been in the dominion for several months, recruiting after his strenuous campaign in Australia, expected to make his reappearance after his long spell last week at Hastings, against Rudd, the Wellington ex-amateur heavy-weight. Griffin had undergone a thorough examination by three Greyruoutli medical men and had been declared fit to re-enter the ring, but the Hawke's Bay Association's medical examiner advised a further spell. On returning to Christchurch Griffin underwent another examination by one of the medical examiners of the Christchurch Sports Club, who pronounced him physically sound in every respect, but, like the Hastings medical examiner, expressed the opinion that Griffin would be well advised to stand off a little longer from matchmailing. This Griffin has decided to do, and to fill in the time he proposes to have several weeks of hard physical labour in the West Coast hush. "When he called on me, Griffin looked in, splendid condition, and declared that he had not felt so well for very many months.

The contest between J Mitchell, of Millerton, and W. Rudd, of Wellington, for the heavy-weight professional championship of New Zealand took place at Hastings on September 9, under the auspices of the Hawke's Bay Association. Mitchell weighed 12st 41ib and Rudd list Blb. When the pair shaped up (says the "Dominions" special report) Rudd immediately assumed the aggressive. He opened w i+ -h a, vigorous right to the heart, whicn made Mitchell look serious. Rudd promptly followed up bis success with a left-Hook, which dropped his man for five seconds. As soon as Mitchell regained his feet, Rudd got home a right cross and all was over—Mitchell was counted out. Rudd was proclaimed champion after an encounter which lasted onlly ninety seconds, and without being hit. Some, weeks back the Wellington Association sought to engage two Australian professionals, offering a purse and £'2o each as expenses, and tho selection of the men and their engagement was left with the representative of the Sydney "Referee." In commenting on the great difficulty he had to secure two men of repute, the "Referee" writer says: Some boxers were approached personally, while others were communicated with by wire, etc., and mention was made in these columns of the subject. I have no desire to see the boxers' pay reduced. I would like every man in the game to make sufficient to enable him to live on when his days of usefulness in the ring end; but I am annoyed to think that such a good offer for a city like Wellington was not rushed at a time when boxing is practically out of season.

The cable reports that I.ang, the Australian heavy-weight champjon who went to America, with Tommy Burns and H. D. M'lntosh, has had his first contest in the States, his opponent being Kaufman, the young San Franciscan. Owing to the public agitation against boxing contests which arose out of tho Johnson-Jeffries fiasco, tho managers of Lang and Kaufman found it impossible to place the contest in a State which permitted bouts of any length and referees' decisions, and finally agreed to its being decided in

Philadelphia, where bouts are limited by law to six rounds,, and where, while a referee is appointed to see that the rules are observed, by the contestants, he is not allowed to give a decision. This does not prevent a free indulgence in betting, for the representatives of the sporting Press select the winner; that is to say, each sporting reporter present at a contest in liis report names whom he considers the winner, and bets are paid on his selection. Lang and Kaufman are very evenly matched physically, but the latter is „ several years the younger man. Some four years ago he forsook the amateur ranks, in which he was a notable figure, and. at one time leading "Western authorities did not. hesitate to proclaim him as the future heavy-weight champion of the world. , In a tour through the Eastern States, however, while he defeated all whom he met, his style was not satisfactory to Eastern critics. He was declared to be too slow altogether ever to achieve high honours, and this now appears to be the ruling opinion in the States. He was one of Johnson's sparring partners while the big negro was training for his match with Jeffries, and, if reports from the camp are to be believed, Kaufman has improved out of all knowledge as a result of daily hard and fast work with the negro. As Kaufman is only about twentythree years of age, strong, and sound, and is an improving boxer, it may be that the early predictions respecting his ultimate position in the boxing world will vet be realised. Despite the adverse criticisms of Eastern critics, it must be said that Kaufman has only one defeat against him, that being by Jack O'Brien, when the latter was at the top of his career, and Kaufman had just left the amateur ranks. Of American heavies, Kaufman to-day undoubtedly ranks next to Johnson. When Lang left Australia for America it was the intention of his manager, Mr H. D. M'Jntosh, to send him against several of the lesser lights in the heavy-weight class, and let him gradually work upwards, as it was recognised that the Australian would require some little time to get accustomed to American methods of milling. On putting him against Kaufman right away, one is led to the conclusion that the lian party decided after observation that Lang's form was good enough for the best that was in sight. If this is correct, their views were rudely upset by Kaufman, who appears to have outclassed. the Australian.

A cable message to Australian papers reports that Bums and Langford have been definitely matched for a purse of £SOOO, of which Burns is to receive £3000..

Mr H. D. M'lntosh, the Australian promoter, has announced that he has engaged several Americans for an Australian tour, amongst them being two well-known men, Papke and M'Farland. The latter will be sent against Douglas, Summers and TJnholz, and. should he win, M'lntosh will take him to England for another match with the English light-weight champion, Fred Welsh." " Cestus" writes as follows in the London " Sportsma.n ": - I recently hinted that there would be "developments" regarding the great championship, and already we have had some, corroborating a great deal I have written in these columns since last December. We now know that most of the stories from the coast x regardmg the magnificent condition Jeffries' and his training were bogus, and were paid for to advertise the fight. The excuses of "stage fright" and "dope" are only on a par with the other tales—the fishing and loafing anecdotes were true. now absolutely know, what we .. suspicious of before, that all the proceedings at Hoboken, where the bids were " considered " and the " articles " were drawn up, were farcical, and only carried through to fool the public. Rickard had the men tied hand and foot before the bids were opened. He admits this, and says he had. Jeffries and Johnson believing they were double crossing each other. When he appointed himself referee he still owned the fighters financially. It is not a very far-fetched question to ask: "Did he control their action in the ring?" He says he knew that Johnson would win, and was prepared to bet £3OOO oil the negro but. far refereeing. How did he know that? A\as it because of tho stories sent out as to "Jeff's" great work and Johnson's recklessness? Again, Johnson's statement that he could have made £75.000 by losing, and that he was ,asked to "throw" the fight, will be accepted in every nook in the country. We had all heard of such a deal, aiid that the break between Little and Johnson alone prevented its culmination. We have yet to hear more regarding the heavy-weight championships, the principals, seconds _ and promoters, but enough has been said. MOTORING. On the Brooklands track on July 27 the British Motor Cycle Racing Club's programme was marked by the firstrate quality of the performances, both C. E. Coilier and H. V. Colver on Matchless machines playing skittles with world's records. Both mile and kilometre officially recognised figures went by the board, but the speed attained was not quite equal to that alleged to have been put up in America in the case of the mile. However, American records are weird affairs which are not. taken very seriously in England, for the reason that practically no information as to the methods adopted for timing in the States is. obtainable, and the proceedings always "are shrouded in the most objectionable mystery. Collier's kilometre was covered from a flying start in 27.88& ec and his mile in 45.895 ec, his engine being a twin-cylinder (85.5 mm. x 85mm.) J.A.P., and Colver's kilometre occupied 31.26ne0, while his mile was covered in 50.96fe ec, with a twin-cylinder J.A.P., of which the bore was 85.5 mm. and the stroke 53mm. One of the most thrilling ©vents of tho afternoon was tho sidecar handicap' over a onelap course. Tho _entrants were W. H. Wells on an Indian and M. Geiger on a V.S. First of all the two machines were sent a trial lap to decide the handicap, and afterwards the race proper was run with Wells heavily penalised. The finish was thrilling in the extreme, Geiger winning by about five lengths from Wells, who would have shot ahead had the course been fifty yards longer. The Indian's average speed with passenger from a standing start was m.p.h. for the 2| miles, and the highest speed attained must have been quite Ou m.p.h. The passengers were most amusing; they coiled themselves up like dormice in their little batli chair arrangements, and their addition to the windage was a negligible quantity. The July senior and junior handicaps went somewhat easily to H. Y. Colver on his recordbreaking Matchless and to F. M'Nab on "his Trump J.A.P.

Another insidious causa of coarse l'ulining of good engines is in the clutch cone. We say good engines advisedly. .If a man owns an engine by a good maker he naturally assumes that it is "well balanced, and his confidence is justified, in the majority of cases. If, however, he find more vibration than should reasonably be expected at high or fairly high engine speeds, it is quite worth while to look to the balancing of the clutch cone. It may be noticed on examining the fly-wheel that it has one or more holes drilled in its rim and sometimes in its disc. These holes have been drilled to balance the wheel, so that- any slight inequalities of density in the flywheel ks a muss or irregularities due to imperfect casting may be removed, after it has been carefully tested and ascertained from which part of the wheel the unbalanced weight should be taken. On the other hand, the clutch. cone—that is, the male portion of the clutch which carnes the clutch leather —is not always attended, to by otherwise. careful makers. They may balance their flywheels very carefully and yet forget that the. clutch cone also requires similar treatment. The disturbing effect of an unbalanced flywheel is of course likely to bo much more serious than that of an unbalanced clutch, owing to its greater mass. At the same time trifling differences in the weights of the clutch cone

arms or sections of the rim will and do upset the balance of modern high • speed, engines, nnd unquestionably provide one of the obscure causes of the ooarse running at the higher engine: speeds which must be frequently employed with a smaH engined and therefore necessarily low geared, car. W<* do not suggest titfS" desirability of immediately taking out the clutch to - ascertain if it be properly balanced, but rather when overhauling the car ' at any time it should be regarded as"• an investigation worth making if the " engine do not run quite so smoothly as it should, or as might be expected. Some engines which run smoothly and quietly at low and medium speeds become coarse at higher speeds. Some- , times it is due to defect in design or v manufacture of the engine, but there are other cases in which the owner has good reason to believe that it is not ' necessarily an engine defect, because he,. knows of sister cars which run quite nicely at speeds where his engine begins to make itself unduly apparent. As a rule, the objectionable sensation, is 'a combination of very small but very noticeable vibrations communicated ' through the footboard and accompanied by a- good deal of noise—more.than the.: speed of the car seems to warrant. In cases of this sort the trouble is very often due to a slight slipping of the-... clutch. It is more likely to occur with a plate clutch than with a leather, cone clutch, but it may, and does, happen with both. When the engine is '.Tinning fast, and, of course, developing high power, it may develop just a littlo more than the clutch can transmit without slipping.-* The engine does net race as it would do if the clutch wero. much too lightly adjusted, but a venr : ' ; small amount of slip takes place at eacni ; . impulse, thus setting up this insidious ~ and penetrating vibration. The remedy 2 ' for this is to tighten the clutch spring slightly. At first, sight it . may seem' improbable that any but a negligent driver could have the clutch slipping in this way, because one is apt to affile that as the clutch does not slip notioeably uphill it is extremely improbable that it will slip upon the level. Two points are forgotten, however. One is that on the -level the engine may ; running faster and therefore giving more power, so that it. is quite possible " to have no sensible slip uphill; and yet to have the small degree we have men - tioned on the level when the engine is exerting something approaching to its. full power. Nowadays, with stnall high speed engines, the m.-tter assumes some importance, as a large number of - cars , are low-geared, if not actually undergeared, so that when a little., sprint is attempted the engine is developing a ;' higher power than at any other time, : except when it is hill-climbing on a lovr gear; that is, on the second or first' speed. But on the low gear no direct - signs of slip may be detected, because' ; of the noise and vibration, but of course it may be occurring then if the engine speed, and consequently' power,. be sufficiently high to produce it. The other point which is often forgotten is • that the irregularities of road surface ; are always tending to set up slight distortions of the frame of the chassis, and this ? taken in conjunction with the high; engine speed giving full power, and a slightly weak clutch 6pring, will en- . courage the partial slipping we have referred to by the ever-present ten.dency of the driving and driven portions of many clutches to become out of alignment with .one another.. The presence of an efficient universally-: jointed shaft between the engine and ' fear box of course eliminates this ten-.-. encv to malalignment. . ■ " George "Wiley, or Syracuse, will file claim to a new world's record for on® hour paced by a motor-cycle "(says a: message from Passaic, N.J., published in the "Denver Post" on June 28)." In a race with Elmer Collins, the American pace following champion, he • rode forty-one miles throe laps in sixty ' minutes. liv. the oourse of the race Collins set a new mark for one mile over a six-lap track, covering the dis-':' tance in 1.18. He also smashed his own twenty-.mil© record by twenty ee- I conds. Wiley took the lead after the 3 thirty-sixth mile, defeating Collins by two laps. Wiley's record must be undor some special conditions., about which the message is silent. The world's hour paced record, of course, ' is Paul Guignard's 63m 255 yds, and the American is R. Caldwell's' 50m, 3yds. Wiley is a well-known profes- ' sional, following the Eastern circuit in v the United States this year. Doubtless many car manufacturers., do not estimate the genuine value of .. instruction books, which are the . en- 1 cyclopaedia of the owner for his. parr . ticular car. Whatever is worth doing; is worth doing well, and if an instruc- : tion-book is for the car-buyer it should be written so that it can be understood, and it should tell the story of the car with those illustrations which are needed to thoroughly explain the text. There are many instruction-books -• which are not worthy of the name, wheih are of little value to the owner and are very poor advertisements .to the car maker. There is an art of y writing instruction-books, just as there is a science of car designs; and it is as impossible to turn out a good logical . instruction-book without a knowledge v of the laws of the mind as it is to build a motor without a knowledge of engineering principles. The car makers should realise this, and get out real in-struction-books. By making them in-struction-books in reality, as well a.». name, they will be accomplishing much :: good. The motoring beginner gener-... ally is a seeker after information regarding his car, and where should he get it but in the iustruction-book. WHEELING. The coming racing season of th® Christchurch Cycling and Motor Club . will be a particularly active one, and will provide for a hill-climbing competition, firms' championship team road race, youths' Derby road race, relay roadrace, iifty-milo road race, cyclists' !■ point-to-point steeplechase, and members' road race. There will also be at - least two wheel race meetings, in cost-' nection with which an effort is to made to induce riders from other countries to compete. It is the intention of the club to seek the 00-operation of the cycle trade and racing men, with a view to giving the sport a big lift this season, and already very encouraging assistance has been volunteered. Tom Larcombe failed on August' 27 - in his attempt on the English hundred miles load record for the trophy offered by the'Dunlop Company. The road was not too good in places, and ther® were a oouple of hills. The Braidwood road was selected. Larcombe did the first 20 miles in 58£min, 26 miles 74 min, 30 miles 89min. From this out the rider began to lose, every five miles showing him dropping behind the record He covered nearly 00 miles in 3hr omin. He then retired, seeing he had no chance of beating the record.

Charles Moss, the well-known Birmingham cyclist, made an attempt on the Midland fifty miles recojrd on July 18. The weatlier'was favourable at the start, but, a heavy dew coming on, Moss was completely drenched at the end of his journey. He covered the fifty miles in 2hr 22min 47sec, which is practically 4niin inside the previous record. Moss now holds both the 50 and 100 miles records for the Midlands, both of which previously stood to' the credit of Tom Peck. Moss rode a B.S.A. bicvcle

E. A. Pye, the Australian, made an unsuccessful attempt last month ■at Salt Lake to lower the world's record for two-thirds of a mile, established by W. Sanger, thirteen years ago. at litiin 14 l-ssec. Pye did lmiii losec.