BOXING.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16096, 20 September 1924, Page 17 (Supplement)

BOXING.

(By " Left Lead.") Answers to Queries. "Bilg Hit". —Fred Fulton and Jack Dempsey have met. Dcmpscy mode Fulton cold pic in one round. "Identity."—Tom Gibbons is a younger brother of the better known Mike Gibbons; the kilter being designated as "Ihr N''\v York phantom." George Chip, who fought Los Darcy in Australia, was twice numbered among Tom Gibbons' victims. A Bout for October 25! nr Intf I have hoard several suggestions dial Ih* 1 arrangement of ;> contest at Frankton for the evening o!' Saturday. October 25, would prove a draw. II certainly does seem a suitable occasion as being the dale sel down for the sculling race there ore sure to lie a large number of visitors to the town. However one can h< certain that the local executive have been ?ivins attention to the point. Clarrlo Blackburn's Success. As recorded in these columns lasl week, I expected Clarrie Blackburn to make u great bid for the welter-

weight crown and those anticipations have been more than fulfilled as the Franktonite succeeded in lifting the mantle from Harry May on Monday evening at Wellington. There were no half measures about Blackburn's showing as he is credited with downing the Aucklander in very convincing fashion. Blackburn has other engagements near at hand which will keep him fully occupied during the coming weeks. , "Left Lead" extends his congratulations to the new champion while he also has received a wire from M. .1. O'Brien, now domiciled in Chrisichurch, asking that felicitations to Blackburn on his success be passed forward.

Jack Johnson. We have had mention lately that Jack Johnson is to essay a come' back to the game. Born in 1878 at Galveston, Texas. Johnson was without a doubt one of the best fighters the world has ever seen, and his lengthy record chronicles victories over many of the really great old-timers who were at the top of their form when they met Johnson, and one after another was toppled over by ' that worthy. Johnson's fighting weight was in the region of 15 stone i 0 pounds, he stood half an inch over six feet, and his general physical makeup left very little to be desired. He was twenty-one years of age before he knew what it was like to fight in a ring, though admittedly he had attained some, reputation as a pugilist among the dockers with whom he worked. In his initial appearance in 1899, he was beaten in five rounds by one, Klondyke, and then for two years he appeared to have given up all idea of earning his living as a boxer. In 1901, however, he knocked out three men in a row, was awarded three points decisions, and drew with his previous conqueror, Klondyke, over twenty rounds. Then came a real disappointment, for he was matched with Joe Choyinski, a powerful puncher, who knocked him out in the third *round. In 1902 he was well on the way to pugilistic fame, arid about this time he began to beat the good men. He won two points decisions over Sam M'Vey in 1903, and the following year .stopped the aforementioned Samuel in twenty rounds. Young Peter Jackson lost a points decision to Johnson in 1905, but in this the latter was beaten over twenty rounds by Marvin Hart, and lost on a fbul to Joe Jeannette, another negro.. He met the then great Sam Langford for the first time in 1906, and outpointed him oyer fifteen rounds, while in 1907 he stopped big Peter Felix in the first round, and disposed of the great Bob Fitzsimmons in two rounds. Jim Flynn managed to reach the eleventh round, and Sailor Burke fought a six-round contest with Johnson, but lost the decision. On Boxing Day, 1909. he met Tommy Burns in that memorable contest at Sydney, the police stopping the affair in the fourteenth round, and in the same year he knocked out Stanley Ketchel in twelve- rounds at Colma. Nevada. It Was on 4th July, 191.0, that he gave A. G. Hales, the author of "M'Glusky," the material for his equally attractive novel, "Nut Brown Maid and Nut Brown Mare," for it was on this date that James J. Jeffries, dragged out from retirement and hailed as the pugilistic "hope" of the white race, was cheered to the echo as he climbed through the ropes at Reno to do battle with Johnson. What happened for the fifteen rounds that the European was able to stand up to the Ethiopian champion is remarkably well told by "Smiler" Hales in the novel previously mentioned, which also deals with the subsequent happenings as the result of a white man having been unmercifully thrashed and finally knocked out by a negro. People who have read this story are more easily able to understand why the white population of America lias.for so long been opposed to Jack Dempsey trying conclusions with the negro fighter, Harry Wills. At Havana, Cuba, on sth April, 1915, Johnson was knocked out in the twenty-sixth round by Jess Willard, and since then the dethroned champion has wandered all over the Continent, occasionally appearing in unimportant fixtures. Despite his forty-six years, Johnson still avers that he is good enough to beat any of the present-day and being of a rase of feople well known for the remarkable manner in which they defy Father Time, he may be able to make a showing against many a promising young husky. But his fighting days are over, and it will only be a matter of months, even should he survive the contest, and be on his feet at the final gong, before he is once more relegated to the pugilistic scrap-heap, from which he has been recovered.