BOXING.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15864, 8 December 1923, Page 19 (Supplement)

BOXING.

Answers to Queries. (By "Left Lead.") "Corner."—Bill Squires went to America in search of world's heavyweight honours but Tommy Burns quickly silenced him. Pars from the Ring. "Hop Harry" Stone showed Clarrie Blackburn up badly at Napier on December 1. After seeing Volaire in action against Stewart Smith at Auckland I expected Blackburn to do much better against Stone as he has given Volaire three really hard fights. Still Stone is a beautiful boxer who loves his man to show fight.

Fred Smith, who meets Blackburn at Taumaranui on December 15. is a much better boxer than he has shown here in New Zealand. Smith gave Eddie Butcher a great go at the Melbourne Stadium a few months ago and Butcher just managed to win. Jock Graham, welterweight champion of New Zealand and Larry Lasher of Queensland, both challenged the winner of the.Smith-Volaire bout. Harry Stone and Les Murray arc the two boxers who will beat Volaire as they both box and fight. Smith made a mistake in trying to rush Volaire; had he boxed him maybe lie would have done belter. The Belgian boxer, Pices, stopped the run of Eddie Butcher at the Sydney Stadium on Saturday, November 24. Butcher has had over GO contests and had never beep beaten until Plees knocked him out. Demsky !,was Plees' first opponent and the Belgian won and now he has stopped Butcher he must be a great draw for Stadiums. Ltd.

Syd Godfrey, ex-lightweight cham-1 pion of Australia, will meet Plees if | Stadiums, Ltd., will give him 30 p.c. I of the gross takings. Should this j match take place I expect a great house as Godfrey is the greatest draw in Australia. |

"Temperament! Yes, we know, that ft is th e name given to a nerve attack brought about by intense excitement or anxiousness, But, just why the brave, strong-willed fighter allows 'nerves' to mar his work is peculiar. To the average man the fighter should posses sufficient self-confidence to overcome temperament. Hence, rarely is the temperament excuse swallowed in this country." says the Sydney "Sportsman." "The athletically, highly-strung, finely-trained man is a strange animal. The normal thing for him to do after a lengthy period of intense conditioning is to develop a desire to bite the heads off everyone near him. Jimmy de Forest, the man who trained Jack Dempsey for the Willard match, and who had a deal to do with Firpo's tuition In America, maybe, is one who knows more of boxers' peevish ways than any other. He goes as far as to saythat some scrappers, ordinarily decent, get so restless at the restraint, discipline, and monotony of training work that, by the time the fight pears, most of them feel mean enough to crack a cripple on the jaw. The desire to fight, get th e thing over and done is naturally keen when a man is perfectly fit. The anxiousness of it causes the temperament that sometimes steps in and spoils a man's work utterly. To us it seems simply the result of taking things altogether too seriously and over training." Filipino Macaro Villon is a fighter. In the ring he crouches befor e his opponent like a tiger ready to spring. His black hair bristles, and his dark eyes are like twin slits of flame. Little wonder the opponents who have faced him have become nervous, a state which has changed to flurry when a hail of vicious blows descended upon them. But Billy Grime bore the "thou shalt not pass" sign on his glove when he met the dark-skinned wild man at Melbourne, and by brilliant boxing and superior ringcraft h c kept the Filipino at bay ond won victory at the end of 20 rounds. It was a great battle —the hardest, Grime declares, in all his career —and both men were exhausted at the finish. Grime fought half the battle with a damaged paw, and then it was that h e had to make great use of his feet, for Villon, tough and vimful, came at him like a Nemesis, scornful of the whaling he was receiving. Grime, whether pressing or retreating, scored heavily, but at the finish Villon was the stronger of the two. Grime's points-victory was clear cut, however. Villon's defeat was the first he had received in Australia. He met another on Saturday when Bert Spargo k.o'd. him.

Quite recently, Jack Dunstan, who in the war served on 11.M.A.5. Australia, and who was boxing champion i of the Grand Fleet, received one of | the most remarkable ovations ever givun at the Melbourne Stadium to a j successful boxer. This was when he punched Jim Roland Dwyer, ex-Aus-tralian heavyweight champion, to defeat, although Dwyer was the heavier by nearly three stone. Two weeks later, Dunstan was carried from the I ring at the end of 18 rounds, boxed | with Max Gornik, a hard-hitting Kuro- : pean, and he died in hospital aflen an j operation for concussion. Dunstan | took a great deal of punishment from j Gornik. who, besides being a boxer, ji s a wrestler of note, and a pt'ofcs- ! sional strong man, and early in the I fatal round h c was very groggy. When j Gornik delivered the knock-out blow j on the point, Dunstan fell heavily, his head striking the floor with considerable force. Th c contest was fair and i clean, and fought in a sportsmanlike ! spirit. Flrpo and his Country. “Ten million dollars spent in publicity could not have given to the Argentine the advertisement that Firpo, by his fight with Dempsey, has given it,” says a New York writer in referring to a royal welcome home to thc Wild Bull of thc Pampas. Ten years ago, when Firpo first began to self-train hemself for the prize ring by long jaunts over the hills and down the valleys, and when he swung ponderous fists at a sandbag, or performed shadow boxing stuff, those who viewed the strange pro-, oeeding§ did not view for long before they tapped their own heads in significant fashion—and then pointed to the silent, hairy giant before them. Early in 1922 Luis Angel Firpo decided to embark for these shores, and to fight his way up the ladder to the pugiislic heights. A ' half-dozen folks were at the pier to say good-bye to him, as he sailed away in steerage —and those whe wished him God speed and good luck were relatives. For friends were few in those days, and admirers none. What happened afterward is written indelibly in the pages of fistic history. Firpo nearly starved before he got his first fight—and a purse of 125d01. He won, not spectacularly, but in convincing fashion. He fought a tougher foeman next time—and once more his iron fists pounded along to trivmph. He fought a third fight, and scored a third knockout. By that time the sporting folks in this country began to sit up and take notice of Dead Pan Loole. They wondered whether he was as good as he seemed—or just a lucky false alarm. They wanted him to light some more—and to fight immediately. But Luis Firpo sailed away for his home land, to be met by a nation of people become almost hysterical in its gladness that a native son had gone to an alien land, fought alien warriors—and won in brilliant fashion. Firpo came back in 1923. In rapid succession he fought Bill Brennan, Jack McAuliffe, and half a dozen others. One victory followed another. Then they sent him against the gigantic Jess Willard —and Jess Willard fell, or, rather flopped, before the Argentine’s attack. Then came the cJimax Firpo was matched with Jack Dempsey.