BOXING

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18014, 26 November 1926, Page 3

BOXING

| NOTES AND COMMENTS BT

“CESTUS.”

The Garrison Sports Association held a boxing competition at the Barracks on Friday and Saturday last, and is to be congratul. ted on the success of its venture. On the first night scratchings caused the officials a certain amount of worry through havipg to re-arrange the programme, but despite their inexperience in a promotion of i the kind they pulled through quite sati isfactorily, and on the second night handled the proceedings with all the sureness and confidence of old hands. That is as regards those concerned in looking after the competitors. There was one phase of the proceedings, however, which was by no means satisfactory. That was the control of the bouts. I have no desire \vh tever to criticise the actions of the referee because, for all I know, ho may have decided to allow competitors a fair amount of latitude, seeing that this was the association’s initial competition. All the same, if such were the case, I am compelled to say that his leniency went altogether too far in several of the bouts. Nervousness and the lack of knowledge of some essential rules may have been responsible for the lapses, but the pronounced breaches 1 of the rules which were noticeable are ! not what one expects to see in amateur bouts. The amateur side of the sport must be kept up to standard as regards observance of the rules by insisting that competitors study them thoroughly and by instructing the responsible j official to have them strictly adhered ! to. Another thing that is necessary in connection with amateur competitions is the referee must officiate from outside the ring. There is no need for his appearance in the ring except when something unusual arises, and that, as years of experience have shown, is seldom the case. Whatever may be found necessary for the control of professional fights is quite another m-tter. Amateur bouts most certainly must not be conducted on the lines governing professionalism; the two branches must be kept as far apart as possible, and no individual must be permitted to introduce any fancy ideas of his own into the conduct of bouts. :: The boxing ranged from very good in a few c. ses to crude in a number, but taken on the whole the form was not at all bad, and induced the opinion that the association is eventually going to play a very important part in local amateur boxing. There was one very bad decision, that in the final of the light-weight class, which Chester won by a big margin. The judges disagreed, why it is difficult to .see, and the referee gave his vote to the competitor who was well beaten, lie may have been influenced by the fact that when Chester missed his lead he invariably crooked his arm round his opponent’s neck. Undoubtedly the cleverest boxer in the tournament was Riley, in the bantam class. He did some very fine work and his two-hand-ed hitting was clean, well-timed and effective. A lad who was quite impressive during the very short period that ho was in the ring was Bailey, in the fly-weight class. He is a Southpaw, and he outed his opponent so cleanly and so quickly in the final that one was not afforded an opportunity to get a real idea as to his ability. Another who caught the eye was Diggs, in the welter-weight class, who boxed liko a tradesman. He has had a failamount of experience in loca l tournaments and this gave him additional confidence. e A northern p per states that the Napier Boxing Association lost approximately £296 on the three “pro” contests it promoted this year. 3 3 3 A southern paper states that word had been received that Les Murray had lost his first fight in New York, his opponent being Edkins, a welterweight. A cable published on Monday announced that Les had gained a points decision over Solly Seaman in a ten-round bout ir New York. In a recent letLer to a Dunedin friend the New Zealand champion stated that the climate in New York was not at all to his liking. The next programme to be put on by the Northern Association. Auckland, will be similar to that body's previous promotion. It will consist of two professioral contests of ten rounds each, with a purse of £75 for each. The selected contestants are Overend. of Auckland, versus Harry Gunn, of Timaru, and Alex Leckie, of Dunedin, versus Mussen, of Hastings. Referring to the promotion, the Auckland " Star ’’ says:—The Last double-headed carnival, with two feather-weight ten-rounders, was a fiasco from the point of attendance. On the night there was a substantial loss. It is now felt that unless the public displays more interest the match committee may have to curtail its activities, and contests may be promoted less frequently. A sequence of poor houses would quickly ruin the association. which might be compelled to wind up. Desperate efforts are being made to regaii. public confidence. ss George Cook, the Australian heavyweight was a passenger for Sydney by the Tahiti, which arrived at Wellington on Monday from San Francisco. In .he course of an interview he stated that his stay in Australia would be limited to about a month, as his manager has booked him for matches in England and elsewhere. During his five years’ absence Cook has taken part in some, fifty contests, and has had a fine run of successes. In the interview: at Wellington he expressed great dissatisfaction at his treatment in his fight in London with Carpentier. “ I had never tasted resin until 1922, when I met Carpentier in the Albert Hall," he said. In the fourth round he floored me, and the blow dazed me. As I was rising, I knelt, and wondered whether to get up or to hang on for a moment, as he might go at me again. Then he hit me, and they took him to the dress-ing-room and came back and announced the decision. I think that, had my secord jumped into the ring and clatmed a foul, I would have got it, but he did not. He let the opportunity pass, and it was too late. The referee was Carpentier s own man, Jack Smith, for Carpentier, had promoted the contest. I got a pretty rough deal in that fight.” Shortly before leaving San Francisco Cook fought a return match with the big negro John Lester Johnson, the first meeting resultirg in a draw. In the return Cook was knocked out in the seventh round. In reviewing the bout in his letter to the Sydney “ Referee,” Snowy Baker stated that Johnson was one of the best big men in the game, but he was in and out, one day fighting like a champion and the next like a second rater.

A full report of the Wills-Sharkey fiuht r me to hand this week hy the San Francisco mail, and is published ueiow. Wills was so well beaten by his much lighter opponent that anv hope he had of contesting the world’s championship has now vanished. It is interesting to recall that George Cook the Australian heavy-weight, who pasta! cd through Wellington on .Monday on

his way to Sydney, met Sharkey the ring, and though he lost the de

lon, the critics were pretty unanimous in declaring that Cook should have been returned the winner. Speaking of the bout in the course of an interview with our Wellington correspondent, Cook had the following to say:— One of my best fights in the States was gainst Jack Sharkey. I met him a year ago in Boston and he got the decision at the end of ten rounds, but I know that I won seven rounds in the ten, and I have never seen such a demonstration as there was at the end of the fight, when Sharkey was crowned winner. I was kept in the ring for half an hour while the crowd shouted “Who won?” Sharkey was meeting Jim Maloney, a Boston man, the following month, and they wanted him to get the decision. In the States they have two judges and a referee, and their decisions are pretty fair as a rule, but there are some hot verdicts at •times. The trouble is that there is such a lot of betting on matches.

The more I see of “Sunny" Williams (writes Jim Don. Id in “Smith’s Week- ! ly,” Sydney), the more am I impressed that right here in Sydney city we are housing a potential world middleweight champion. Sunny is 30 years old—a green old age, as boxers go—but he was well matured when he came into the game five years ago. Word has been received in Sydney that Phil Scott, the English heavyweight champion, is prepared to visit Australia if matches can be guaranteed. The Sydney “Referee” says it “should not be difficult to offer him terms that will induce him and his manager to come out,” and suggests George Cook, “Tiger” Payne, “Sunny” Williams and George Thompson as “fitting opponents.” Leaving out Cook, who is only on a flying visit to his native land, if reports are correct, Payne and Williams are middleweights and Thompson is practically a novice. Yet the Sydney “Referee” mentions them as “fitting opponents” for the English heavy-weight champion. Well, what do you think of that? A negro of immense height—6ft sin—-square-shouldered and erect, he wore a perennial smile alike through days of good fortune and those when frowns were thick. In silk belltopper and frock coat as he moved about the city, he made a striking figure. This (says the Sydney “Referee”) was Peter Felix, the old boxer, who mingled fisticuffs with many stars of this country, with varying fortune. On Tuesday last week (November 9), Felix visited the hospital. Ilis heart was weak, and he was sent home to his lodgings, preparatory to another examination next dy. But he died quietly that night. His funeral to Rookwood Qemetery on Thursday was largely attended, thus showing that the old man personally was highly regarded by many who knew him in his palmy fighting days, as well as those who only knew him later, when the years weaned him from the ring. Peter Felix, like Peter Jackson, was a West Indian. He was born at St. Croix in July, 1866, and was in his 61st year. He came to Australia as a seaman on a sailing vessel in 1894, and early the following year, at the Sydney Amateur Athletic Club, won his first fight, defeating a massive marine of the British Navy named Butt, knocking his man out in the fifth round. Amongst those Felix met in the ring were Mick Dooley, Bill Doherty, Jim Scanlon, George Ruenalf, Bill Squires, Arthur Csipps, Billy M'Call, Bill Lang and Jack Johnson. “Dempsey, through all his career, has taken excellent care of himself, but it is quite patent now that no athlete, no matter what his condition or how he protects himself physically, can stay away from competition for three years and hope to come back and do himself justice. On the outside he looked good, but he was slow in his judgment and a laggard in his co-ordination.” Ihus writes Arty Skinner. American correspondent of the Melbourne “Sporting Globe.” These views coincide with those expressed by me last week in reviewing the Dempsey-Tunney fight. Before leaving New York Dempsey declared he meant to attempt to fight buck to supremacy in the ring. 111 take on alhcomers. provided, after two or three months’ rigorous training I believe myself fit to return to the game and be as effective as I was beTf S r m / , th J ee years’ layoff.” he said. If I feel fit, I will start fighting I will make a tour, taking on all-comers, good or bad. I don’t expect to in ke money. I may lose some. But I want to test my fighting mettle and determine if I have the stuff left. I expect to fight myself into shape, to regain my judgment of distance and speed that I lacked at Philadelphia. I will not fight at all if my tr. ining period convinces me the old stuff is gone. I do not want to lose more money for my friends, and I do not want to d ol®i° experience I underwent at -Philadelphia a second time.”

THE PASSING GF WILLS. BIG NEGRO WELL BEATEN BY SHARKEY. NEW YORK, October 12 Jack Sharkey, a young Lithuanian fighter from the region of Boston, bombarded Harry Wills, the plaintive negro, for a dozen rounds to-night, and won in the thirteenth round when Patsy Haley, the referee, disqualified Wills and sent him to his corner, licked and a loser, for fou ling Sharkey in the clinches. Wills had taken a whipping all the way, but Sharkey is such a light puncher that he could not tumble the towering black man, although he did seem to be wearing Wills down after the sixth round was pacsed, and might have flattened him with a random swipe if they had been allowed to fight Thus Sharkey, whose square name is Joseph Paul Cokoschay, eliminated the dark shadow that had clouded the heavy - weight championship Jack Dempsey lost to Gene Tunnev. He gave Wills an advantage of twenty-six pounds in the tonnage and at least six inches in length, but slipped in, weaving and rolling beneath the long sinewy arms of the quondam cargo handler and plunked him freely on the chin with both pieces. When he closed in, Sharkey drummed airily on the negro’s middle, which flaps loose like a deflated drumhead, now that Wills has grown old, and, although Harry pretended to be amused by this agitation near his belt line in the first few rounds, he never smiled after the sixth. It was in the sixth that one of Sharkey’s overhand punches, coming out of the confusion of a sudden shift, caught Wills beneath the right eye and ripped the skin, blurring Wills’s vision. The

wound did not swell noticeably, but the eye became inflamed as though there had been a dab of resin powder or liniment on Sharkey’s glove, and Wills spent his intermissions thereafter burying his face in a towel. Wills’s left eye began to weep in the eighth, and, while it is possible that he was making the most of his troubles as an alibi for what was happening to him. Harry did not seem to be groping his way along If Wills had been allowed to follow his natural inclination and fight in his native dock-side manner, he might have cracked Sharkey's ribs and pounded the white man’s body out of shape, but Haley leaped in, grabbing and yanking the fighters apart, and told Wills that he would no* be allowed to hold and hit. It is Wills's practice to slide his left arm under his opponent’s right, or wrap his left glove around bis opponents neck, yank him forward with a mighty wrench and club him on the flank or the side of the head with his right wrist. A few times Wills got away with thus, but Haley was on him constantly, and, this being virtually the only style that Wills knows, he might as well have been handcuffed from the start. There was a liberal scattering of negro trade among the 40,000 customers arrayed in ' the darkness of the stadium and field benches at Ebbett’s Field, but they were not massed for moral effect, and their cheers for Wills were lost in the abusive clamour raised by some of the white folk, a number of whom were on their feet, snarling at Wills whenever he started a punch and calling him “ dog ” for fouling. Sharkey weighed 1881 b to 2141 b for Wills, and he shaped up as a runt before the big negro as they went out for the first round. “Wills was holding and hitting, and he was ripping his right glove up in a back-hand blow to Sharkey’s face in the clinches,” Haley explained, as he climbed down through Sharkey’s corner. “ I warned him fifteen times about hitting and holding and a dozen times about ripping that glove up in the clinches. In the twelfth I told him I would give him no more warnings, but I warned him three times more, then I tossed him out.” Sharkey began boxing as an enlisted man in the Atlantic fleet. He has done most of his scrapping in the region of Boston, but he has had only twentyfive fights thus far. lie is "fast in a clumsy way, and whips punches out of a shift in a manner vaguely reminiscent cf Dempsey at his best, although not with Dempsey’s force.