BOXING

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18008, 19 November 1926, Page 10

BOXING

NOTES AND COMMENTS BY

“CESTUS."

As the result of a discussion between ! an Otago representative recently in Christchurch and local supporters of the. amateur movement, I am led to believe that the executive of the New Zealand Amateur Boxing Union will meet at an early date for the purpose of drawing up a course of action. This will be submitted to the various affiliated bodies, and, when finally approved, will be put into operation. The present feeling is to commence active public activities early i;i the New Year. If there are any persons in the Dominion still holding-the view that the union does not mean business, there is every prospect of that view being dissipated in the near future. _Mr G. P. Aldridge, secretary of the New Zealand Boxing Association, was in Christchurch last week. I understand he has been deputed by the council to tour the Dominion, and while T am unacquainted with the object of. the tour, I am perfectly satisfied it is not for the purpose of advancing the interests of the New Zealand Amateur Boxing Association. The Christchurch Garrison Sports Association, recently revived after a somnolence extending over several years, will kick oil this evening with an amateur boxing competition at the King Edward Barracks. The association has shown enterprise in getting down to practical work so soon after reorganisation, and all things considered the entries received for the competition are very satisfactory. They will increase year by year, as they have done in Auckland, and there is no doubt whatever, when the military sports movement in the Dominion gets thoroughly into its stride, that many of the best amateurs will come from this quarter. And this also will be the case case in respect to athletics, if Wellington, Canterbury and Otago earnestly back up the splendid course of action laid down by those in charge of affairs in Auckland. With the advent of the Territorials and Cadets into the sports arena, I see a great impetus to those branches with which they are associated. The boxing competition which commences to-night and finishes tomorrow will, I sincerely trust, attract a large attendance of the public. The committee entrusted with the arrangements have fixed the admission charge at the flat rate of Is, the object being to encourage the public to patronise these events. It is to be hoped the committee's object will be realised to the fullest extent. That Dempsey is not the “shell of his former self.” as some writers declared, after his defeat by Tunnev, was clearly proved by Tunney’s condition. In two or three days he felt the battering about the arms and body he had received, and was unable to speak clearly owing to the effects of a terrific blow on the Adam’s apple, all this showing that Dempsey had not lost his punch. Tunney won, not because Dempsey was a worn-out warrior, but because Tunney possessed the science which enabled him to withstand the ferocity of Dempsey’s attack, the ability' to absorb a punch without wilting under it, and the power to punch hard enough to hurt his opponent.

Those who remembered Jim Griffin in his best days will have a good idea of what Dempsey really was as a fighter, .allowing, of course, for the difference in weights. Both were swift and sudden in action, instantly putting an opponent on his defence; both were courageous, capable of standing punishment, and terrific hitters with

either hand, but both fell to the same type of opponent—the boxer-fighter—-as the purely fighter always will sooner or later. Jim Griffin met his master in Arthur Cripps and Jack Dempsey in Eugene Tunney. While Dempsey may have been a few points below what he was three years ago, it is very evident from what the experts wrote of him right' up to within a week of the fight, that there were little signs of deterioration in him, and the conclusion is that if Tunney had met him two years ago he would have beaten him, simply because he is Dempsey’s equal in strength, speed, and powers of resistance, and greatly his superior in boxing skill. And that is all there is to the battle for the championship on September 23. The suggestion of. a man of 31 years of age, clean living and in physical condition by months of systematic training, was a mere shell of his former self is arrant rubbish. That Dempsey should have fallen off somewhat was only to be expected, for while an athlete may maintain good physical condition for an extended period by close attention to details,

he must lose something from lack of competition. It is competition that keeps a man keyed up to his best form. Physically, Dempsey was quite Al, but in timing punches, in quickness to see an opening, and in the judging of distance, he was some degrees short of what he had been. But. there are other factors which aided in his defeat. His fights against Brennan and Tom Gibbons were sufficient to indicate what would eventually happen when he met a man armed at so many points as Tunney was. Against slowmoving opponents he was able to smash his way to victory by his ferocity in attack and his powerful punching. But against a shifting opponent it was quite a different thing, as the records show. Dempsey was no superman, but by his spectacular action he caught the public fancy; he gave them value for their money by providing thrills; he was the greatest box-office attraction ever known in the history of the prize-ring, and he was the champion “prize” fighter of all times. From the promoters* point of view Tunney probably will never be the money attraction that Dempsey was. He lacks the elan of the ex-cham-pion, fighting his battles along quite different lines. The New South Wales Parliament has been asked by Mr S. Hickey, M.P., to abolish the twenty-round boxing contests. “Three years ago," writes “Solar Plexus” in the “Referee,” “this matter was sent to the police to report on. I had stated that so many boys had been damaged by fighting over the Marathon journey, and the severe

training to enable boxers to traverse so long a course. The police report stated that there was no trace of any lad being the sufferer. Thus the cruel, and not spectacular, practice has been allowed to continue, with the death of one unfortunate lad as a result, besides others having had their fighting powers burnt out at a comparatively early age. With this and other reforms, Australian boxers might soon again prove equal to the best of other countries.” At the Melbourne Stadium on October 30, Billy Grime possessed too much speed and ringcraft for Joe Hall, an American negro, in a twenty-round bout. “The contest vfas unique, inasmuch as the referee was never needed to break the men during the whole 20 rounds” (writes Frank Brown in the “Sporting Globe”). “I believe that Grime is at the peak of his ring prowess at the present moment. He has it in his mind to seek adventures abroad, and if this is so he should not delay too long. He is seasoned enough to tackle anything or anyone now. Two more years may find him slowed down. I consider his decisive victory over Hall a great achievement. The negro is a really good boy, just failing to make the championship grade in his own country. There are a dozen or more like him abroad, and a few better, but there are not many who could have outsparkled him in the. way Grime did on Saturday night. Do not overlook the fact that Grime is a real featherweight, and Hall is a real lightweight. If ever Grime goes abroad I feel confident that he will uphold Australia’s name in international rings.” a Germany has made great progress in boxing during the last two or three years, but no German boxers have competed in England, owing to the ban imposed against German athletes in all classes of sport. A recent cable announces that the Home Office has now consented to German boxers appearing in Great Britain. A later cable from Paris reports that France also has lifted the ban. On Wednesday last, for the first time since the war, German boxers competed in Paris. Five bouts were contested, the Frenchmen winning four of them. The official receipts from the Dcmp-sey-Tunney championship bout were 1,895,733 dollars. The Sesquicentennial profits 170,000 dollars. The State’s portion is 86,150 dollars, and the Federal Government takes a tax of 172,339.40 dollars. It was estimated the promoters would have a profit of about 500,000 dollars. The total paid admissions were 118,736. In addition, 25,732 were admitted on passes, which made the total attendance 144,468. The paid admissions were distributed as follow; 27.50 dollar tickets, 28,903; 22 dollar, 12,805; 16.50 dollars, 23,014; 11 dollars, 19,589; 7.70 dollars, 15,747; 5.50 dollars, 18,678. Dempsey’s end of the receipts amounted to approximately 700,000 dollars and Tunney’s to about 200,000 dollars. Georges Carpentier, who has gradually descended in the boxing scale since his defeat by Jack Dempsey, has at last decided to retire and devote all his attention to the films (says London “Sporting Life”). Like his former rival, Carpentier has decided to repair the damage caused his once classic features by a visit to a beauty doctor. Carpentier is another example of a once champion boxer finding his powers of resistance to heavy punishment lessened in succeeding bouts. After his hammering by Dempsey, he was but a shadow of his former brilliant self, and never again showed that wonderful vitality and speed he once possessed.

THE DEMPSEYTUNNEY FIGHT. A SUMMING UP. Of the dozen or so reports of the championship fight written by pressmen known throughout the United States as specialists in reporting. boxing contests, the best I have come across is that from the pen of Thomas S. Rice, that is as regards a general summing up of what took place inside the ring. Some reports say that Dempsey really lost the fight in the first round, when, just before the bell rang, Tunney landed a right to the jaw which had his opponent in sore distress and in such a groggy condition that, but for the bell, he might have been knocked out. In view of this it

is indeed surprising to read quite a number of opinions that Dempsey lost because his speed and punch had vanished. If Tunney’s blow was as nerve shattering as it is stated to have been, is there any wonder that, thereafter, Dempsey’s blows lacked their old sting, and that his speed was affected? Before the contest experts who visited Dempsey’s camp daily and supplied their respective papers with their views as to the then champion’s condition, were unanimous that, while he might be a trifle slower than of old, he was in magnificent physical condition, and could punch as hard and as accurately as he had done in previous contests. As one of these writers aptly put it: “So far as could be seen from practical demonstration Dempsey was as

RECORD RECEIPTS AT BOXING BOUTS. Date. Winner, Loser. Place. Receipts. Dollars. Sept. 23, 1926 Tunney Dempsey Philadelphia 1,895,733 July 2, 1921 Dempsey Oarpentier Jersey City 1,626,580 Sept. 14, 1 923 Dempsey Firpo New York 1,188,S22 Sept. 11, 1924 Wills Firpo Jersey City 700,000 July 23, 1923 Leonard Tendler New York 452,648 July 4, 1919 Dempsey Willard Toledo 452,522 July 16, 1926 Delaney Berlenbach. Brooklyn 450,000 July 12, 1923 Willard Jersey City 390,837 July 2, 1925 Italian Hospital Fund New York 375,000 July 27, 1922 Leonard Tendler Jersey City 367,862 May 12, 1923 Milk Fund Show New York 365,000 J illy 4, 1910 Johnson Jeffries Reno, Nev. 270,755 J une 26, 1924 Milk Fund Show New York 250,000 July 4, 1923 Dempsey Gibbons Shelby, Mont. 201,485 Dec. 14, 1920 Dempsey Brennan New York 200,000