HIS GREATEST FIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12755, 26 September 1919, Page 2

HIS GREATEST FIGHT.

JIMMY WILDE BEATS “PAL” MOORE. [From Ora Correspondent.] LONDON, July 22. On Thursday evening last Jimmy Wilde, the famous little Welsh pugilist, beat “Pal” Moore, the American bantam-weight pugilist, on points at the end of a twenty-round battle. Twenty thousand people saw the bout, and it was indeed “a great fiebt,’' brimful of incident and tense moments when it seemed that only a miracle could stive the “Welsh Wizard’s” record i rom the stain of defeat. Seldom has a greater display been given by any boxer than Wilde s marvellous rally in the last four rounds, when with his nose badly damaged by contact with Moore's head, and his face smothered in blood, he fought his rival almost to a. standstill and scored a clear victory after being apparently reduced to something akin to a chopping block for his rival, it, was sheer gameness of spirit that turned the tide of victory’ in the little man’s favour, for Jimmy went very weak indeed, and the sixteenth and seventeenth rounds saw him badly outpointed by Moore, who was lighting at fully a stone heavier than the Welshman, and was as strong as a. bull. At times the American fought with terrific energy and seemed to be punishing Wilde heavily, but many of his blows were more or less open-handed slaps and cuffs, which no doubt hurt a bit, hut did not- do tiie damage that clean hits with the knuckle area of his gloved hands would have done. A less complaisant referee than Mr Corri might easily have done something more drastic than administer cautions to Moore to close his glove. Oncv, for example, he held on to the ropes and hit with his free hand!

Whon bp. did hit in orthodox fashion ho hurt 'Wilde, and at the end of t]ie fourteenth round Jimmy, though still in possession of a long points lead, did not look “all over a winner” bv any means. Possibly in view of that lead the Welshman had been “ talcing an easy.” Bo that ns it may. he certainly did very much hotter in the fifteenth round. "Wilde followed his man up and belted him freely, the American being very weak at the call of time. In the next round Wilde again attacked, but in a mix up he received a blow on the bridge of the nose, apparently from Moore's head. It was a nasty bang, and blood came copiously from the resulting gash. Jimmy’s appeal for a foul was ignored, and bothered by the wound, the little man had to cover and dodge to keep ont of harm’s way. In the seventeenth round Moore was very aggressive, and seemed on the high road to victory, but left and right hooks on the jaw from Wilde just at the end showed him that his course was not yet clear. Still Jimmy had been badly outpointed and most people present imagined that the beginning of the end was at hand. But the. Cymric firo in Wilde was far from quenched, and it blazed up furiously in the eighteenth round. He was indeed ultra-aggressive and though obviously bothered by the blood welling from his injured nose he “mixed if' with the American, and made the round lus by a good margin. And he fougnt just as well and cleverly in the next bout and scored almost at will. Bnt it was in the last round that Wilde sot himself to make his victory certain. He went for the American like a tiger and quite outclassed Moore, whom he belted from pillar to post. The American seemed qnite unable to go the pace set? by Wilde and'was fought to a standstill and all but knocked out in the last few seconds- He just—and only just—managed to hang on to the end. When the referee pointed to Wilde as the victor the whole audience went mad. It was an indescribable’ scene, and one that will live long in the memories of all present. It was Wilde’s greatest triumph. Meeting a man a stone heavier than himself he prayed once again that ho is in a class by himself. Moore showed himself to he an extraordinarily strong and tough fighter, but although his endurance and strength saved him from the ignominy of a knock-out yet he was well beaten on points.

And so Jimmy Wilde avenged his “ defeat ” by “ Pal ” Moore at the International Service competition at the Albert Hall, when to the utter astonishment of 999 men out of every thousand present the judges decided that the American had beaten the Welshman on points in their three-round “ scra.p,”

CRICKET REMINISCENCES. GREAT HITTERS. The correspondent of “The Times,” who writes “ Cricket Reminiscences,” has contributed the following: Opinions differ as to who is the greatest hitter the world has ever seen. C. I. Thornton, the Australians G. Bonnor and J. J. Lyon, W. H. Game, and G. L. Jessop all have their admirers, but the biggest measured hit is credited to the Rev W. Fellows, who, in 1856, at practice on the Christ Church ground at Oxford, drove a ball 1(5 yards from hit to pitch, Charles Rogers, the groundsman, being the bowler. This was an immense hit, especially when one remembers that in those days bats had not the wood they have to-day, but it was carefully measured by E. Martin, of the Kent XI. from 1845 to 1851, and there is no reason to doubt its authenticity In spite of this hit most cricketers, however, will, I fancy, award the palm for big hitting to Thornton, who, in an Eton and Harrow match, drove a ball over the pavilion at Lord’s into the secretary’s garden. This was in 1868, when the pavilion was much smaller than the present one, but it ii as none the less a mighty blow. A year or two later he scored twenty runs a four-ball over of David Buchanan’s, and once, in practice at Brighton, he hit a ball out of the Efovc ground and down the Western road. But perhaps Thornton’s most wonderful performance was for the Gentlemen of England v. I. Zingari, at Scarborough, when he scored ID7 in 29 strokes, hitting no fewer than seven 6’s. One hit Almost disappeared in the “central blue,’’ and went over a block of Wh bouses, and dropped in Trafalgar Another huge hit of his was off Tom Emmott. also at Scarborough, which Tom declared had gone into the sea! On the Oval, early in the sevenhe hit a ball of James Southerton’s so far that it caused Pooiey, the Surrey wicketkeeper, to exclaim, •“ So ’elp mo God, Jimmy, I believe it’s gone on to Bnxton Church!’’ After this hit Southerton used to lie awake at night wondering what would happen to him if Thornton drove the bail straight back at him. Southeiton, 'like David Buchanacn, did not play first-daEs cricket until he was well on in life, for lie was forty when he appeared in the Surrey XI. in 1867, hut between that year and 18/9 he took 1002 wickets.

BONNOR AND LYONS. G. J Bonnor was a magnificent specimen of a man, and a tremendous hitter, but on looking through “ Wisden” one finds that he had many failures and inconsistencies, and in general ability he was greatly surpassed by his fellowAustralian, J. J. Lyons, who used to go in first with Alec Bannermau who, by way of contrast, once took seven hours to score 91 runs in a test match at Sydney in 1892, thereby emulating of Scotton at the Oval in 1884. The catch and bowl with which George ulyett dismissed Bonnor in the test match at Lord’s in 1884 is still talked , a ?" Lyons once hit a ball so hard that it broke some of tho pickets that fence in the Adelaide ground. Game I never saw play, but from Je&sop’s

bat I have seen many ■wonderful hits. Jessop was never so long a driver as Thornton or Bonn or. hut he was hy far the best, bat of all the bitters, his consistency in scoring being little short, or marvellous. especially when one remembers that he took his life in both hands and went for the bowling at once.

-ALBERT TE.OTT. Albert Trott was a most original and enterprising bowler, a fine punishing bat. and a great slip fielder. As a bowler ho was a master of flight, pulling the ball back in the air, with the result that ho caught and bowled many a batsman, and be also made good nso of the curl-in-tbo-air ball, many an apparent full-pitch to leg landing on the batsman s toe, with a le.g-bcforc-wicket verdict as a result.

Trott had a wonderfully good fast yorker which, on occasions, he was apt to lorget. unless reminded of it. for hours at a time. Ho was n bowler who required supervision, and ho got it from MacGregor, the very able and astute captain of Middlesex in those days, lor if left to himself ho was apt to develop some stupid theories, a certain perversity, of genius being in his temperament. With the one exception ot A. D. Nourse, the South African, Trott ; had the biggest hands I have ever seen and ho could catch anything. To him falls the honour of making even a, bigger drive than Mr Fellows’s. Playing for M.C.C. v. the Australians at Lord’s on July 31, 1899, ho drove a ball ot Noble’s dean over the top of the pavilion. the ball pitching in the garden of Philip Need, the well-known and much-liked dressing-room attendant at Lord’s. In May of the same season Trott had made almost as big a hit off Tate, the Sussex bowler, the hall hitting the cornice on the right-hand top side of the pavilion on which “ M.C.C. ” is scored, the hall boundnp- back into the top balcony. Trott used to play with a bat which, if it did not weigh as ranch as William Ward’s, must have turned the scale, .at the very least, at 31b. and I fear this hit off Noble’s bowling spoilt his batting, for ever afterwards he went’ about trying to “ carry ” pavilions. But the best innings Trott ever played was 164 for Middlesex v. Yorkshire at Lord’s, in 1899. On that occasion, after a very quiet beginning, he hit with terrific power, one drive off Wainwright’s howling striking the pavilion rails with such force that the hall came back almost to mid-on, where F. S. Jackson picked it up and hand's? it to the bowler. Trott gave one chance late in his innings deep on the on side, and the explanation of the fieldsman for not catching him was amusing, for said he, “at first I didn’t see her np against that blackboard (the big scoring board), and then when I sees her np there and a-coming to mo. 1 says oh, it, and I leaves it!” Poor Alberti He was a good scnil He had a heart of gold, and was as simple as a child, and he was one ot those people who compel affection. He ought to have been playing still, as he possessed a wonderful physique. Possibly he had too many friends—if a man can have too many. He was a brother of Harrv Trott, the famous Australian captain, and why he was not selected for the. Australian team of 1896 wall always remain a mystery. When he was passed over he came to this country and qualified for Middlesex, and that county has had few, it any, greater all-round players.