BOXING

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17699, 20 November 1925, Page 3

BOXING

NOTES AND COMMENTS BY

“CESTUS.”

A s Jamito, the Filipino, is expected in New Zealand next month. the Christchurch Sports Club should endeavour to get him to appear here against Les .Murray, but if rumours concerning the club arc any way near correct, there is no prospect of the present committee promoting a professional, fight. There arc also rumours of internal dissensions, coming resignations, and u general reconstruction. The trouble appears to have arisen largely from the fact that certain promotions were not successful financially, leading to criticism of thc> committee’s abilities as administrators of the club’s affairs h> some members, who suhscpien Ily took in hand the promotion of the' two recent amateur contests at the Caledonian llall. The first was well canvassed and on the principle that a new broom sweeps clean, turned out quite a success. but the second# was a failure, from the points of vf w of public interest. the quality of boxing, and general management. The outcome of all thi> appears to he grave internal trouble' with the possibility that the level-headed and more experienced mpmbers will step in between the two parties and bring about a working agreement with the' amateur club. 'I hat is destined to eventually come and the opportunity is there to be? gripped by anyone capable of looking a. little distance ahead, and possessing the imagination to see what is due in the near fut lire. ] Ice-tor Macdonald, the Australian light-weight. proved no match for Lcs Murra’* when the pair met at Dunedin on Wednesday evening. The contest was so one-sided that the referee intervened at the end of the sixth round. A fortnight previously Macdonald had been defeated on points at Timaru by. Tommy Griffiths, who had been substituted at the last moment for 11. Gunn, incapacitated through an injured hand. The result of that contest should have been an indication to the Otago Association to cancel the Murray-Alacdonald bout, for if the latter could not win against a lighter and less experienced boxer, what hope had jhe against a man of Murray’s calibre? The match, on paper, whan made, may have had the appearance of being a good one, but the intervening contest showed it to be palpably bad, and it ■would have been better in the interests'of the sport had it been dropped immediately after the Grifliths-Maedon-alcl bout. J. If. Mcrrie, secretary of the Christchurch Sports Club, appeared at court on Wednesday in answer to a charge of displaying posters in the city advertising a coming boxing contest without haying first obtained permission from the City Council. In answer to a* question the Chief City Inspector said that Mcrrie was prosecuted because he was secretary of the Christchurch Sports Club, which was responsible for the posters. The defendant's legal representative said that Mcrrie knew nothing about the posting of the bills. The court granted an adjournment until December 2. The incident, very likely, arose through a clash of interests which is said to exist in the chib, the secretary apparently having been ignored in respect to a matter which surely, comes within the scope of a. secretary's duties. The Wellington “ Post ” writer in referring to Tommy Griffiths, who recently turned professional, says the Dunedin lad was the “undefeated n mat cur light weight champion of Australasia. ” My Wellington friend is in error. Griffiths never competed for the Australasia n lightweight championships. He competed only once in the Australasian championships. That was at .Melbourne in 19213, in the bantam class. bos Murray and Trowern will decide their third match at Wellington on November 23. Murray won the first at Wellington, and the second at Grcyfinmlh was drawn, though public opinion was strongly in favour of TrowernThe- Northern (Auckland) Association arranged for Jamito to come over and meet Charley Purdy on November 30. but the Filipino found the date unsuitable and Harry Casey, a Queensland light-weight, will till the breachIt. is expected that Jamito will he along about the middle of next month. Although past his best he should be aide to secure matches, and I .•should hay he would prove a- good draw. Jim Tracey, the elongated Australian heavy-weight: who met Lloyd Pooley and Jimmy Clubby when previously located in New Zealand, is back again after a lengthy visit to America. During bis travels he had a number of contests, amongst bis opponents being the herculean Firpo. the late bill Brennan, who was the stiffest proposition Jack Dempsey *;u-ed in the ring, and Tom Gibbons. Ife thinks be. still has some good tights in him. *nd expresses a desire to got a match fr matches al Dunedin during the currency of the Inhibition. Just where | envy-weights of any consequence are fco be found is a problem. Tn the olrl days of the prize ring a champion was compelled to meet a challenger or forfeit his title. But ) hen America commercialised the sport a new era began, and a world’s championship nowadays is simply regarded *.s a medium for making money. The *vstem is only tolerated because thefe is no international body to govern the j rofcssional side of the sport. True, there is a so-called International Board which meets in Paris, but it is not recognised by either England or America, and consequently its rulings have ncj influence outside its membership. In America immediately a man gains i* world’s championship he aims to Jiang to it as long 1 as lie possibly can, dodging any opponents who have a

chance to depose him, and picking 1 only easy marks until public opinion demands his acceptance of a challenge. Lately Dempsey has been a target for the strongest condemnation by the press writers, and in his case it must be said that the criticism has hardly been fair, for Dempsey said "Bring along your man and I'll meet him.” The trouble was to find the man. The only one in sight was Wills, and in some influential centres there is a strong objection against a negro being allowed to contend for the championship. the prejudice having arisen from the feeling created by Jack Johnson’s defeat of Jim Jeffries. The American press and public countenanced the action of champions in utilising their stain-- in make, money, and it surely is somewhat inconsistent to now continually howl at holders of titles for following the coniinercia 1 line they were .assured was their privilege. Possibly the attitude of the New York Commission is responsible for the change of view that appears to have come about in certain sections of the press. One of the most persistent advocates of a change of conditions is the New York “Tribune,” which, in a recent reference to championships, concluded as follows: - ‘ Any champion who refuses to defend his title when a real contender comes along isn’t a champion at heart and there should be some national board with authority to enforce a showdown." Efforts have been made to form a real International Board, but they have failed, for the very good reason that America wanted to have the controlling influence. The work of the various commissions, however, backed, by certain influential sec tions of the press, is causing a healthier a.: pect on the proposal. A £IOOO tourney commenced at Szarka’s Marrickville Stadium on November 11, the classes being fly, bantam, feather, light. welter. middle and heavy. A suit of clothes is promised to the cleverest boxer in the competition—this, of course, in addition to any prize he may win. The New f'ommission has put its foot down op. what is known in boxing as ” clinching.'' The chairman rccently issued the following statement : ” l shall instruct the referee to notify the fightefs that prolonged clinching will not be sanctioned. If boxers fail to heed the warning, a referee may in his discretion order the boxers out of the ring and declare it no contest. Furthermore. if, in th'c referee’s judgment, the fighters have been deliberately stalling he will recommend that their purses be held up, and we will conduct an investigation.” In reviewing “My Sporting Memories.'’ by Mr 13. J. Angle, the veteran English referee, a London writer says: "No one should be better able to name the causes of the decay in British fisticuffs than the referee. So that when Mr Angle condemns the system of the referee being in the ring as a ‘ rank bad ’ one, holding as a ‘ most reprehensible practice ” the custom of [ a principal having six seconds and an * adviser ’ in his corner as an k absurd arrangement,’ and the business of throwing in the towel from the ringside as opening the gate to all sorts of trickery and abuse, he may be presumed to know what he is talking about.” Up to the time of tbe adoption of the revised rules of the New Zealand Boxng Association (1923) in. amateur bouts it was not permissible for the referee to officiate from inside the ring. Under the new rules lie has the option of being in or out of tbe ring. The late Colonel Chaffer was adamant on the point. **’ A referee.” lie said, “ is out of place in the ring. If he can’t act from outride the ropes he's not fitted for tlie job.” “ This business of being a champion,” remarked Jack Dempsey in a recent interview with n “ Collier’s Weekly ” representative, “is a continual game of comparisons. I thnk of what I was before I knocked out Willard. and speculate what I’ll be after somebody knocks me out. They call you a difffer before you get to be champion; they call you a.duffer after somebody slaps you out of the title: and even while you're champion you're called a duffer. I can stand all the rough stuff that goes with my profession -that's part of the week’s work. The fight game may be as bad as some people say it is—or it may not be much better. It’s got its parasites and its -crooks. In my climb to the championship I got to know a lot of them, and I've met new ones since. . y Now, at thirty, with only a limited time to. make money. I’m going after it. The movies don't begin to make the money for me a fight does. With all the drawbacks in the fight business,” he concluded. “it's made me rich. If I had a son and he had the physique, I’d put him into the ring.” Dempsey has pointed his career to a day when he’ll quit the ring. “ I’m going into the brokerage business. We’ll start a firm a.s Jack Dcmpscv and Co. before I’m through. I’ve already drawn up a partnership with a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and in a few years I'll be permanently trading 1 onds and stocks instead of jabs and hooks.” Mr Brown (“Count” of the Melbourne “Sporting Globe”), who recently went to America on' behalf of Stadiums. Ltd., to engage suitable boxers for Australia, in a letter to the Sydney “Referee.” -gives his views of boxing and boxers in the States. ”1 have seen a lot of fights since coining this way s " he writes, "and up to date l haven’t .seen any real champions, that is, men who handle themselves in the ring like boxing champions should. The best I have seen are Fidel la Barba, flyweight cliampion. and Pinkie Mitchell, junior welter-weight, champion. Both arc well trained boxers, v, h* possess other needful natural quai-

ities. Dempsey, of course, looks a supernatural fighting demon, and no doubt he is singularly gifted: but 1 cannot but think that the old heavyweight. of class would have mutilated him. lie shows no defence, and apparently can fight only one way--go-ing up. Everyone he has met has hit him with a right hand on the right spot. AVhat would have happened had ‘Ruby’ Bob or Jim Jeffries leaned one against his chin? Tough as he undoubtedly is, he would have gone down. There are plenty of rugged boys in this country, but boxing is not judged as we judge in Australia. If a man is aggressive, and looks strong at the finish, you can pretty near bet he will be declared the winner. I considered Shade beat Walker by a mile, and Mitchell beat Joe Dundee, but the judges thought otherwise, because of the reasons that I have mentioned. Our boys at home are better than they are given credit for being, and I think Collins and Grime might have a great chance.against the.foremost fighters of tlicir weight on this side of the world.”