BOXING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10418, 23 March 1912, Page 5

BOXING.

-Mr H. D. M'lntosh expects to start on a stadium for Melbourne before the close of the year. Arthur Cripps having retired, Tim, Land has laid claim to the middleweight championship of Australia. Reg. Midwood, the Tasmanian mid-dle-weight, has gono over to Sydnoy and purposes taking up the ganio again, after the lengthy spell brought about by the illness which well-nigh proved fatal. Midwood will go into Sam. Langforcl's camp, and tjiore was talk of. his being matched against Clahby, hut Midwood preferred something less classy for his re-entri. "Porky" Flynn, the American heavy-weight, who some little time back defeated Bill Turner at the S'yd- ■ ney Statdium, and then went temporarily out of business, owing to an injury which subsequently cost him a met Pat Doran, the Victorian ex-ama-" - ' teur, at the Sydney Stadium on March 6, and won in eleven rounds. " Amateur " in the "Referee" expressed great disappointment over the snowing made by Flynn, and regards his poor _ form as possibly being due to his long*" absence from the ring. Flynn has two victories over Barry, and a win over Jeannettrt to his credit. He's a great lad, is Thompson (says "Fairplay'' in its report of the Thompson-Land contest at the Gaiety on March 2), and with due care will go far. He's so handsome that it seems '*' a pity lie should risk a thick ear, or a bent nose; but lie's so clever that Jib may be able to go through his career practically unmarked, as Davo Smith"* has so far done. His guard is really fine, nuick and cool, he back-moves liko a Grino, while he showed improvement in side-stepping on his form against Town send. Harry Beckett, whoso pro- '' tego hb ik, gives him a very high char™.»» acter for moderation in all things, and I shall expect, him to take Dave Smith's place in popular estimation, ~ when that Nature's gentleman goes ■- from us, as be shortly will do. Regular readers of my notes are aware that the sport in New York is under the control of two commission- - ers. Originally there were -three, but one of them, Mr J. E. Sullivan, secretary of the Amateur Athletic Union of America, who had been appointed,... chairman, resigned, and Governor Dix, who originally sanctioned', hut who now is- opposed- to tho Frawley*Law—under which boxing contests arcs held—refused to fill" his place. "Well, these commissioners not only grantpermits, but they have power to sus- , t pend competitors for breaches of tho'' regulations governing the sport. Recently, according to a cable, these commissioner." received a letter from Mr H.-I>. M'lntosh, "demanding the suspension of Jim Flynn in qu'ence of his having broken a contract to box in Svduev. It was decided that Mr M'lntosh he notified that the Commission is nnablo to act, as Flynn ' does not intend to box in New York'"' for an indefinite period, and the Commission is in control in the State of

Now York only. t ' Word Ims been received in Australia--"'* that M'Carey. the Los Angeles, Cali- " ■ forma, promoter, -rill promote a test for the. world's., light-weight eh am- '1 pionshi.T* between Wolgast, the bolder," and Mohegau. the Australian champion,' ■• if Wolgast will agree. If he doe's, the,' "* . contest will take place in July or r • August. Tho following New York cable is pub- ' lished in Australian papers:—"Tho 1 " State Boxing Commission has. definitely' '" banned the kidney punch. It is claim-'|" ed that investigation has shown that ': tho vast majority of cases of fatal and serious injuries sustained in the rind" have been due to the use of this blow.". . ■ A cable l'rom America reports that Klaus and Dillon have been'matched to meet for the middle-weight cham- u plonship on March 23. Klaus is well-' . known m the ring, but I doubt if Dil- _ lon's name has previously Jbcen mentioned in tho dominion. Yet he has ~'. a big reputation in the States. Quite recently Jom Covbett, who is a regular , contributor to the eastern Press, drew _ attention to the careful and systematic manner in which Dillon war. being side-stepped by all the candidates for _ • the middle-weight supremacy. ,J * One of the Parisian boxing halls, known as Premierland, was the so<me. of an extraordinary affair on the night ( of Jnnimrv 12, during a contest between Richard Cooner, an American,, , and Max And v. a French light-v. eight. _ In tho first round Cooper dashed at' his opponent with such' violence that ■_ the ring supports gave way under the , strain, "and"boxers and ring parapher- ' nalia were swevrt off tho boards into the spectators. This was not all. The' ,„' battle continued furiously _ among the' spectators, and an indescribable jjenne, j. of confusion reigned until the officials, 1U mid assistants "extricated the com-* ... bniants from the irate spectators, wh0.,,, bad niaved a part in the melee. When,., order had been restored Audy addressed .-«• the house, protesting that he had eomq Kl there to ' fa ire la boxn Anglai.se." and.' not to be mauled and kicked about nsavagely. Then he retired amid deaf-., eiiiug cat-calls. Eventually the ring was repaired and Audy was persuaded ~ to resume tho contest, and not having recovered from the shock and being tin-.. . able to check the American's furious, ... and at times dubious, methods ho was-i-t counted out in the seventh round. According to American exchanges,James J. Corbett has been fighting a, „ hard battle against the grim Reaneiv but by clever headwork "Pompadour,,, Jim" proved the victor. He was InicJ low with a dangerous complaint, and'.,, only just managed to avoid tho final , count.

Regularly, year after year, for the,;, past thirteen years, the London.National Sporting Club has lost money over the contests and eompe- - tition's that it has carried out. _ ~'.| Tho knock-out, as it is called (writes; ■ "Ci'stns" in the London man") may. coma at any time and; almost from any point. Do not we daily. read or see it at football, hunting, or - ( any game that has a bit of life and'',, go"in it? A blow in the wind or side, _ or almost any part of the body, may easily in on pa citato a man for the brief period of ten seconds, and this having ■.'■;'. been done ho is reported as knocked'' out. I havo sr-en a. man stopped: much longer than ten seconds by a blow on the back of the neck. How,,, often- too, is a man placed out of court __ - by receiving anything but a _ hard'", - tiiump while retreating, and falling, as ;; ;t result, on the floor on the back of ~ tho head. Such a tiling oceuired in my presence only recently. It went down, howeyer, as a. knock-out. Another critic suggests that instead of ten seconds' grace a competitor f-houkl'l ; bo allowed half a minute in which to*-" • get up and renew the bout. This car-...'. ' rien one back to the old days of the ■" ' P. 11., and would surely only prolong. ,', the agony, and cause a man to be sent '•' up for unnecessary punishment. Lw . never heard of a. more wild idea. Tho,.J. ten _ seconds is the humane rule in boxing. ~,