ARE BOXERS PUNISHED IN TRAINING?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18496, 23 June 1928, Page 7

ARE BOXERS PUNISHED IN TRAINING?

DEMPSEY’S STATEMENT NOT GIVEN CREDENCE. (By TOMMY LOUGH RAX. for the “Star” and the North American Newspaper Alliance.) It seems to be Jack Dempsey’s idea, if he has been quoted correctly, that he suffers more by the day-after-day punching in training than he does by the punishment he takes in actual fights. This is true of the average slugger. Having no defence to speak of, he is punched around a lot in the daily workouts, and the effect, in the long run, is damaging. The boxer, of course, takes comparatively few blows in training. I think Jack has over-emphasised the danger, as far as he is concerned- fie has never had to take a lot of punishment in training. Even before he be r came champion his terrific hitdng was well known, and the sparring partners took no chances on getting a return wallop. Dempsey was never the one to spare his mates. When he has the gloves on he lets go with everything he has. If he is stung he becomes a tiger in action, so his employees don t throw their punches carelessly. After he became champion this fear grew greater. Then, take his regular sparring partner, Martin Burke, tne clever light-heavy-weight, and -Big Bill Tate They knew every move Dempsey made. They knew by the cock or his glove or the shifting of a shoulder just where a blow was coming# Hi

and they ducked and dodged and tied Jack up at every opportunity. They never did any real hitting on their own account. I know that. Any newspaperman who spent time at his tran - ing camp knows it, too. So Jack need not, and does not, bother about that daily punishment he has talked about. In the ring it is another matter. He has been thumped plenty, even in his winning fights, because he isn’t the hardest man in the world to hit. Bill Brennan had him badly cut up. Carpentier shook him to his heels with a right-hander. Firpo knocked him out of the ring. Even Tom Gibbons gashed his eye open, while Tunney did a lot of execution. His punishment has come in the ring, not in the training camp. I suppose the grind has become tiresome for him. Where another man wquld work a month, he worked two or three. When he was aiming at the championship he enjoyed it. I don’t think he enjoyed much of the work for the last three bouts. Tunney has never taken any punishment in training. No really good boxer does. Whether working with a boxer or a slugger, he knows how to take care of himself- Because of that he’ll probably last longer than Dempsey did, unless he retires voluntarily. Many a youngster is ruined in 'he gym. Boys are rushed through too strenuous periods of training. They fight, really fight, day after day in the gymnasiums, and they leave their fight there. They are tired and worn when they get into real action. Young boxers should be brought along slowly. Probably one of the reasons England has developed so few good men within recent years is because sixteen and seventeen-year-old boys are permitted to take on twenty-round fights. Nature won't stand it, and they break down at an age when they should just be getting started.