BOXING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 1006, 17 June 1909, Page 10

BOXING.

GISBORNE BOXING TOURNAMENT. THE PROMOTER FINED. OTHERS FOUND GUILTY OF TECHNICAL BREACH. In regard to the recent boxing tournament at Gisborne which was stopped by the police, and the names of those present taken, the following judgment has been delivered by Mr. W. A. Barton, S.M.:— Section 92 of the Justice of the Peace Act reads: “If on the hearing of a charge for an offence punishable on summary conviction the Justices think that though the charge is proved, the offence was in the particular case of so trifling a nature that it is expedient to inflict any punishment or any other than a nominal punishment, the Justice may dismiss the case. " Police v. Crawford, Dixie and Healy, and Marks, charged with being engaged in a boxing contest for which a permit had not been obtained. The police v. Crawford and Healy, charged with holding a boxing contest for which a permit had not been obtained. “ The police v. Crawlord charged with promoting a boxing contest for which a permit had not been obtained. “ The police v. Briscoe and others, charged with being present at a boxing contest for which a permit had not been obtained. “The facts of these cases are not in dispute. It is contended by counsel for the defence that the defendant cannot be convicted in the absence of proof of mens rea. After carefully considering the evidence and the authorities quoted, I have come to the conclusion that mens rea is not necessary in order to constitute an offence tinder the statute, upon which the informations in these cases are drawn. The question of the existence of a guilty mind is in my opinion only relevant for the purpose of determining the question of punishment. I am of opinion that all the defendants have brought themselves within the provisions of the statute. In the case against Crawford, Healy, Dixie, and Marks, it is clear from the evidence that they were ail engaged in a boxing contest for which a permit had not been obtained.

“ In reference to the charges against the other defendants for being present at a boxing contest, for which a permit had not been obtained, the evidence shows that in consequence of an advertisement appearing in the public press and signed by Crawford, which stated that admission was to be free to the boxing exhibition, the defendants went to the room indicated by the advertisement, and after several contests had taken place, a towel was laid upon the floor by a man named Hyland, who was one of the spectators, and money was permitted to be thrown into the ring, whereupon Detective Rawle, who had been present during the contests, went forward and told Crawford that he had committed a breach of the Act, which he read to him, and after some discussion, Crawford stepped forward to where the towel had been placed, and bowing to the audience, said “ Thank you, gentlemen.” It is true that the contest was advertised to be free, that is, that no charge would be made for admission to the room in which the boxing was to take place, but it is usually understood in such cases that some form of voluntary contribution would be expected, and the spectators were in fact permitted to throw money into the ring, and by so doing a breach of the Act had been committed.

“ Boxing is a very good and manly exercise if not abused, and to prevent

abuse the Legislature has thought fit to place certain restrictions upon public boxing contests, and it is necessary that the law relative thereto - should be strictly observed. In the present case the contests appear to have been conducted in a most orderly manner, and there was nothing objectionable apart from the fact that the promoter failed to obtain the necessary permit, as required by section 58 of ‘ The Police Offence Act, 1908-’ 1 shall record a conviction against defendant Crawford, who was promoter of the contest, and he will be fined in the sum of five shillings without costs. “In reference to the. other cases 1 think it is inexpedient under all the circumstances to inflict any punishment, and therefore dismiss them under the provision of section 92 of “ The Justice of the Peace Act, 1908.” “In my opinion the police acted rightly in bringing these cases before the Court, which has the effect of fully publishing the law relative to boxing contests, and therefore if similar cases are brought before me after this warning I shall deem it my duty to inflict substantial penalties upon offenders.” The morning after his defeat by “ Iron ” Hague at the National Sporting Club, London, “ Gunner ” Moir spoke as follows: —-“ I do not wish in any way to decry Hague,” said the “ Gunner,” “ nor to attempt to take away any of the credit that is due to him, but I must assert that he was very fortunate, and could never repeat his Monday night’s performanceI wish to challenge Hague to another match for from £lOO to £5OO aside to be fought out as early as ever Hague likes—the sooner the better. I can box at once. I shall be pleased to hear from Hague through the ‘ Sporting Life ’ if he will accept this challenge.” In reference to the visit of Bob Fitzsimmons to Australia, the Melbourne “Argus” states that “although Fitzsimmons is a decidedly waning star in the heavy-weight firmament, he will probably easily defeat Australia’s best man in this class. Those most likely to be matched against him will be Bill Squires, Bill Lang, and probably Mike Williams. None of these should prove dangerous to him,” whereat Bill Lang and Mike Williams have waxed wrathful. Fancy the grand old man of the ring, who celebrated his 47th birthday last Friday, being equal to beating the present Australian champion. If there is any fear of him doing that, we had better quietly retire Lang, and to save us from any further humiliation in this direction. * * * It is reported that Bill Squires intends getting into action again, and announces that he will be ready to fight once more for the Australian championship in November. * * * * Since Jack Johnson so decisively whipped Burns, the color line against such men as Johnson and Sam Langford is gradually fading away. The three toughest propositions in the heavy-weight firmament to-day are Jack Johnson, Joe Jeannette, and Sam Lang 1 ord. Johnson has met both Langford and Jeannette, but as he has never beaten either man in convincing style, both will receive a good deal of backing to their claim to meet Johnson before he can finally proclaim himself champion of the world. jfc ik # When in his prime, Coffroth made many attempts to bring the black and white together, but Jeffries simply side-stepped every offer that was made,

and the terms were surely liberal enough, as Coffroth guaranteed the men 80 per cent, of the gate. Rather than fight Johnson, Jeffries retired, bought a farm and a saloon. Johnson was soon forgotten, and now that h: is in the limelight again, and Jeffries has come out of his retirement, there is still a great fear that, after Jeffries has cleaned up all the easy money in the show business, he will again find some pretence to get out of the game Tommy Burns stated in Brisbane the other day that he had his mind fixed on making Australia his home, and if he and Ketchel were matched he wanted the contest to take place there. * $ * * All arrangements in connection with the forthcoming boxing tournament to be held at the Opera House, Palmerston North, on June 29, are now complete, when lovers of the art will be able to witness the best display of boxing seen there (says the Manawatu Standard). The articles of agreement for the professional contest between Jack Griffin and Tim Tracey for £64 and the light-weight championship of New Zealand have been signed by Griffin, and they have been forwarded to Tracey for his signature. Griffin, who is being trained for this particular contest by his brother Jim, champion middle-weight of Australia, has been offered the use of the Manawatu Boxing Association’s splendidly equipped gymnasium for training purposes, which he has accepted. Jack Griffin’s methods of training are entirely different to any thing yet attempted locally, consequently he expects to be in such a state of perfection as to give Tracey the battle of his life. Tracey, when interviewed last week, admitted that he will have a hard task to dispose of his opponent, and wishing to retain the championship in view of matches with two Australians during the com ing season, will be in the pink of condition. All local competitors taking part at the same tournament are training at the association’s gymnasium four nights each week. * * * * Alf. Gault the Auckland boxer, was matched to fight Ray Williams at the Sydney Gaiety on Saturday night last. George Johns, of Sydney, has stated that he is willing to accept Mr. Martin Taylor's challenge to back Bob Fitzsimmons’ nephew, a young native of Timaru, in a six rounds’ contest for £5O oi £lOO aside. Should the contest take place it will be interesting to see how the relative of the veteran “ Fob ” fares with an Australian boxer, as he already holds a good reputation as a fighter in South Canterbury. ♦ ♦ * # The New Zealand boxing championships will be held at His Majesty’s Theatre, Dunedin, on July 22 and 23. « * * As showing the great interest taken in the pictures of the Buras-John son contest Mr. H. D. M’lntosh informed the London “ Sporting Life ” that the p-ctures were being shown in Mexico, Chili Panama, Havana, by ten comp. nice in the United States, three companies in Canada, in Siam, Portugal, India. Manila, Japan, China, South Africa and the United Kingdom and negotiations were proceeding for Russia and Germany. -K * * * When Jeffries drew the color line there were quite a number of American writers who stated that the exchampion did so because he had such a holy respect for Johnson after witnessing the big negro defeat the Californian’s brother Jack in five rounds. Since his return to America Johnson is alleged to have stated that the position as set forth was correct, in fact, that Jeffries only drew the colour line

because he (Jeffries) feared to meet Johnson. This appears to have hurt Jeffries, and one of his newspaper friends took up the cudgels on his behalf, and stated that when Jeffries attained the championship he definite.y decided to cut out all negroes; that it was not from any fear of the result of meeting Johnson that led to this decision, but simply and solely the prejudice the average American citizen has against the negro. The writer then states that Jeffries was offered £15,500 if he would meet Johnson, but turned down the offer for the reason stated. In all probability a Napier Boxing Association will be formed shortly. It is stated that Tracy has been matched against Murphy for January next. On his showing at Hastings Murphy should give a better account of himself than on his last match with Tim.