BOXING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 834, 1 March 1906, Page 14

BOXING.

It is gratifying to find boxing on the up grade in the Black Country (says a London writer). Wednesbury, with its population of 27,000, may not be a very extensive place, but it is a sporting centre, and draws from Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and even from Brum. From Wolverhampton, close by, hailed the famous Joe Goss; and Brown, of Bridgnorth, was a prominent figure in the ring when fights in the old style were almost as numerous as are glove contests to-day. Latterly pedestrianism and dog racing have held sway, but, judging from the patronage given Harry Cullis, there is plenty of money for boxing when the same is properly arranged and decided.

The boxer of to-day (says the London “Sportsman”) is in many respects more favourably placed than was his predecessor of 15 or 20 years ago. In those times as much as £25 used to be paid out simply for the use of a room or club. Purses were almost unknown, and the “ gate” so limited, owing to the secrecy necessary, that at the finish there was little left beyond the stake, off which the backer invariably wanted a pretty big chunk.

Training expenses had also to be borne by the boxer or his friends, while now they frequently come out of the purse or the manager “ springs” a bit after the screw has been put on. True, now and again, when a sport happened to find the money, the winner got all the stakes; sometimes, indeed, what had been put down for himself as well, but in smaller affairs, with three or four finding the cash, the boxer’s share was small and very easily counted.

Big purses, however, are a thing of the past in England. The Corinthian, who used to come forward and throw his fifty or “ century” into the manager’s hat towards the “ inducement” is no more, and the National Sporting Club, with some 600 members, every man possessing a right to see the show for nothing, cannot afford to give away hundreds week after week on its own. And with cash so tight and times bad, even the gatemoney promoters are in a similar position.

It is told that on the night of the Jack Dempsey-Bob Fitzsimmons fight

in New Orleans for the middle-weight championship of the world, John L. Sullivan was portraying the character of the hero in “ Honest Hearts and Willing Hands” at a Chicago theatre. At the precise period when Sullivan was to perform a heroic deed he walked to the footlights and stood there staring vacantly at the audience. The prompter repeated the lines several times, in the hope that John L. would perform his part, but to no purpose. After several moments’ silence, Sullivan belched out in a deep guttural voice: “ Ladies and gentlemen, I was just thinking how our Jack is getting on with the Australian.” The announcement made a decided hit, and many moments passed before order could be restored, so amused was the audience at the big fellow’s explanation.