BOXING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1149, 18 April 1912, Page 14

BOXING.

LANGFORD BEATS McVEA. A SURPRISE VICTORY. COLOURED MEN’S FINE COMBAT. BOSTONIAN’S POPULAR WIN. With the afternoon’s racing at Randwick over on Easter Monday, the attention of Sydney sportsmen immediately turned to the LangfordMcVea fight which was fixed to take place at the Rushcutter’s Bay Stadium the same evening. The seating accommodation at the huge open-air boxing arena was well filled when MiW. Kelly came forward and introduced Sam Langford, light heavyweight champion of the world, and Sam McVea champion heavyweight of Europe, while general satisfaction was expressed at Arthur Scott being elected referee. In view of the victory over Langford on Boxing Day, McVea was made a hot favourite in the betting, two and three to one being laid on him. The contest, as is generally known, enabled Langford to reverse the verdict so decisively gained by McVea on the occasion of their former meeting; in fact, the Bostonian displayed such marked superiority over McVea in Easter Monday’s battle that it is hard to understand how the latter outpointed him in their -first match. Langford’s victory is certain to be accepted as proof that he is McVea’s master at the fighting game, and will bring the “Boston Tar Baby” into prominence as the man likely to step into Johnson’s shoes when the champion quits the ring forever. The Langford-McVea fight was all that an expectant public could desire; both men were in the pink of condition, and they fought hard through twenty exciting rounds, which were characterised by the clean and skilful methods adopted by the contestants. In describing the great contest the “Sportsman” says: The gong finally clashed. McVea naturally, as men know, looked, and was, the taller, heavier, and having all the physical advantages. At the start they both in turn lashed at each other, then fell into clinches, and stabbed away. McVea’s straight left was frequently apparent before the clinch came. In the main, though, they evaded each other’s leads, and fell into clinches. Before the termination of the round, Langford smashed a left home to the body and a brace to the face. But there was little in the round.

The second found them at it hotly, Langford pressing all the time and scoring. Time after time he scored, driving McVea back. But McVea came home with his straight left now and then. Undaunted, though, Langford kept attacking and scoring. Once he drove his opponent on to the ropes, punishing him. Later McVea broke ground, and fled from his attack. Again Langford drove McVea on to the ropes, serving out indiscriminate socco.

The third found McVea waking up. Using his footwork, he repeatedly scored with a straight left. Arthur Scott was kept busily breaking them. As McVea would score with his left jolt to the jaw (or miss), Langford would score to the body. The battle was never exciting so far. -Langford was the aggressor in the main, but the calm McVea kept going with him well all the time. In the next McVea scored to the head in a fashion which must have made bells ring in Langford’s listeners. Then came a period in which he completely outboxed him, and Langford expended a deal of energy in writhing in clinches and poking in short jolts. But Langford all the time was full of fighting devil. He consistently followed while McVea backpedalled. He scored with rights to the body in the open during the latter parts of the round.

In the fifth he won a storm of applause by scoring a succession of short stinging stabs to the face. Then McVea came with his great straight left. Once he slipped dowm for a second. Langford went to help him up. McVea sprang up, grinning widely. Hard give and take fighting followed. McVea’s straight left, landing to the face, was again noticeable and insistent at this stage, and Langford seemed to be trying to get in close to bombard to the body. McVea cleverly scored with a light left to the jaw in the sixth. Then

Langford, boring in, scored repeatedly to the ribs. Langford slipped down rather heavily, and McVea assisted him to rise, amidst cheers. Then give and take battling went on. Very seldom sensational, but all the time fairly attracive. It was not one of those beautiful, open, bang for bang contests, so far, which stir the blood of ringsiders. There was too much b.ack meat in clinches for that. The next opened with the Boston Tar Baby bogging in at close quarters, and delivering passionate half-arm jolts. He forced so hard and punched so often that he knocked the smile clean off McVea’s countenance. Sam backpedalled, and occasionally came in with a straight left to the face and a rip to the body, but the feverish fighting energy of the Little Sam made him paramount all through. Matters began to look a bit serious for Sambo McVea.

The eighth found Langford pressing, and packing up points, but now and again McVea would come in with his half-arm jolts to the jaw, which sent Langford’s head back with a jerk. All through the round was hard contested. Nothing of a sensational nature occurred, though neither coon stood out prominently at the termination. But the ninth found Langford bustling McVea all round the ring. McVea would occasionally dart his straight left in, but as soon as he landed he invariably clinched and hung on like a limpet until separated. There was little in the round. Summed up more-than half of the time both men were in clinches. McVea was the greatest offender in this respect. Certainly Langford was all the lime attempting to make the fighting. The tenth: Langford came in like a tiger, scoring a hard brace to the body, and McVea clinched. A deal of clinch and exchanges of punches followed. The eleventh round was disputed in lively fashion, both mixing it freely. McVea then commenced to use straight lefts effectively, Langford retaliating with fierce body punches. McVea had all the best of the round. Repeatedly he drove his straight left home. When he punched during the section he invariably landed cleanly, whereas Langford’s was . all choppy work, in close. The twelfth round again found McVea’s clever boxing putting him on top. Langford was still bustling fiercely, but plop! plop! in McVea’s clean punches kept going. He was fighting with great caution all the time, and paying great respect to the man dancing about in front of him.

The thirteenth still found McVea retreating and Langford following him like a copper-coloured Nemesis. McVea was generally on the backpedal, with Langford all the time in not pursuit, with the crowd whooping him on. At long range McVea invariably scored, but so swiftly did Langford get in, there was frequently no “long range,” and then the “Tar Baby” got in his half-arm jolts (when he didn’t miss) and McVea clinched until Arthur Scott cried, “Break!” It was a wildly enthusiastic crowd that watched the fight. Whenever a clean blow was struck an uproarious yell went up to the stars, and at the termination of every round both men were vociferously applauded as they went to their corners. The firteenth found thm battling- away at the same bat. It was evident that the crowd were mad to see Langford—the smaller man —win and Langford at this stage kept landing three punches to McVea’s one. It was Langford’s round. Langford kept landing in the main. But when McVea got home it was generally with a beautifully timed well-directed blow. As a result of his straight lefts, a hen egg began to spring up over Langford’s right eye. McVea kept pushing dat dar straight left home. The seventeenth started with Langford giving an exhibition of spitting and nose-blowing. Later, the crowd hooted McVea for back-pedaling. Langford still continued to keep on top of, and force, him, and McVea was fleeing from him all the time. There' was very little doing in the round. The next opened with exchanges to the throat. Then Langford began to severely press the big man again. And he kept punching away at any old spot all the time. McVea, as formerly, flashed out with a clean punch occasionally. Once Arthur Scott, in separating them, almost became assassinated. And so, beneath the twinkling stars, and in the glow of the lighted ring, with a sea of faces around, and the roar of the multitude, the two celebrated negro pugilists —McVea in his purple trunks and Langford in his trunks of black with an American flag around his midriff,

battled on. The mob began to become wildly excited as the twentieth round was displayed, and the masses of fighting meat shook hands, and the pallid Arthur Scott, the referee, shouted “Fight on!” The last contained very little variety from its predecessors. Repeatedly McVea uppercut viciously, but missed. Again Langford kept on top of him ali the time. Loud shouts of “McVea! McVea! McVea!” followed by yells of "Langford! Langford! Langford!” It was easy to see that the sympathies of the crowd were with Langford, and a tremendous yell went up at the final call to corners, when the “Tar Baby,” was declared the winner. There could be no doubt regarding the justice of the decision.

“I’LL FIGHT McVEA 100 TIMES.” “Well, lam pleased,” said Sam Langford, on being approached by a “Sun” representative after the fight, with much joy and emphasis on the “am.” “Only ‘pleased’ ain’t the .word for it. I knew I was winning during the fight, the same as I knew I was winning on Boxing Day. The difference —which makes all the difference in the world —is that I didnt get the decision then, and I did get it tonight. All the same, I must admit I was in much better condition to-night than I was on Boxing Day. I was only here for three weeks’before December 26 last, and I didn’t have time to get properly acclimatised or property trained. This time it was different. I worked very hard to get in my best shape, and I can honestly say I have never entered a ring better fitted tor a stiff battle. Had McVea by any chance, defeated me, I could not possibly have made any excuse. But he didn’t beat me, any more than he did last time. And McVea hasn’t gone back, either. He’s as good as ever he was.

“Each of us has now got a decision over the other, and —eh? Will I meet him again in Sydney as a decider. Sure, sah. I’ll fight him again, and I’ll fight McVea 100 times if he likes. They won’t have any trouble in matching him and roe again. I won’t run away from - him as he fan away from me. All I want is a fair field and no favour.” McVEA PLEADS STALENESS. “We’re not going to make any excuses,” remarked Billy M’Cain, McVea’s manager, when interviewed in the defeated fighter’s dressing-room, “because there’s none to make. The only thing we can say is that McVea was stale. He has been in training a long time you know.- He spends eight or nine hours in the garage every day pottering about his motor cars, and then in the afternoon comes down to the Stadium here and trains. He’s been on his feet too much, that’s what it is, and has gone stale as a consequence. That follows naturally. Anybody who does too much work goes stale, and McVea has been doing too much work. “I am quite satisfied with the decision. Nobody can very well be otherwise, and be fair. I told Sam — McVea, of course—after the 16th round, that if he didn’t knock Langford out in the next four rounds he wouldn’t win, and he will tell you ■ nat himself. “But we’ll have another cut at Langford. We’ve not finished up yet. There’ll be a third match, you mark my words. I’m quite satisfied McVea can beat him. I put my money on him for the fight to-night, and I lost it. I’ve got nothing to say to anyone, only to pay out. But I’m quite willing to back him again against Langford, and I will.” Asked did he think Langford had come on since the last encounter, or since the fight in Paris, the big Californian black said: “I don’t think so. M’Clain has just about got it, and I have gone stale, and I don’t hesitate to say I fought bad. But that won’t prevent us meeting again. Next time I shall be more careful, and I think I will be the winner then, as I was last December.”

At the annual meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Amateur Boxing Association held at Hastings last week a very healthy state of affairs was revealed in connection with that body. At the commencement of the 191112 season the Association were faced with rather unfavourable prospects, having as a result of a loss of £2l- - 6d for the previous season had their credit balance reduced to £6710s. However, despite the many difficulties the Association had to contend with, it is pleasing to find the annual

balance sheet disclosed that they have £62 14s 4d on the right side of the ledger. This is all the more gratifying when it is considered that owing to unfortunate circumstances, the membership and donations fell from £ll7 to £ 90, while the prize money during the past season was increased from £331 Ils 6d to £394 8s 6d. The position of the Association, as will thus be seen, is one of which the energetic officials have every reason to feel proud, and boxing enthusiasts throughout the will join in wishing the Hawke’s Bay Association a continuation of their successful endeavours.

A brief review of the doings of the Hawkes Bay Boxing Association during the past season will be read with interest. Five meetings were held during the 1911-12 season, including' a two nights’ tournament and the amateur championships. Some exceedingly fine bouts were witnessed by patrons, the final in particular between Peter Thomas (a Maori boxer) and Barney Ireland resulting in a clean and clever display, the crowded house testifying their appreciation of the contest. That the Association are. always ready to recognise the skill and sportsmanlike qualities of a boxer is evidenced by the fact that one of their generous acts during the past season was to present Jack Griffin with a gold medal suitably inscribed in recognition of his plucky and clean showing in a match with A. Bromwich. Another praiseworthy action on the part of the Association was the presentation of a medal to Tim Tracey of Wellington, as a me mbento oh his eight years’ honourable boxing career in New Zealand. The Association are at present communicating with the various boxing Associations in the Dominion, soliciting donations towards a benefit fund for Jim Griffin, the one-time famous New Zealand middleweigiht, who as the result of broken health is prevented from taking further part in ring encounters. No further proof is needed to show that the Hawke’s Bay Association have the interests of boxers at heart, and their example may well be copied by other sports bodies in New. Zealand, for there can be no question that many cases still exist where athletes receive too little consideration at the hands of the governing bodies who would do well to remember that it is to the former that they in a large measure owe their support.

The following gentlemen have been elected officers of the Hawke’s Bay Boxing Association for the ensuing year: —Patron, Mr G. P. Donnelly (re-elected); president, Mr A. L. D. Fraser; vice-presidents, Messrs John Chambers (re-elected) and T. W. Lewis; committee, Messrs C. L. Maekersey, J. A. Miller, W. G. jaeger, A. W. Apperley, A. Gregory, J. Hiron, C. Cato, J. D. Donovan and A. J. Ellingham; treasurer, Mr. M. J. Johnson (re-elected); secretary, Mr A. Rosenberg (re-elected).

In the Langford-McVea fight on Easter Monday, Langford had the advantage in rounds 1,2, 6,7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, McVea pulling off rounds 3,4, 5, 13, 16, 19, 20, while round 14 was even. The contest was witnessed by 12,000 persons whose loud cheering of the referee, Arthur Scott, was in marked contrast to the mixed reception accorded “Snowy” Baker when he acted in a similar capacity during the first encounter between the two Sams on Boxing Day.

When world’s championship matters come to be discussed, the conversation is confined almost wholly to that celebrated trio of coloured fighters, Johnson, Langford and McVea. The doings of these three great glove artists practically obscure every other move on the pugilistic chessboard, and it is when contemplating this fact that a close follower of boxing is prompted to remark “But what of Jeannette?” Mention of that name immediately brings another famous negro aspirant for the world’s championship into the argument, but of this clever boxer little is known in this part of the world. Those, however, who have witnessed Joe Jeannette in his engagements, consider that he is

every bit as clever a boxer as Langford and McVea, and in support of their claim they can point to many sterling battles put up by this splendidly-built coloured fighter, who is fully entitled to be classed among the world’s best present day pugilists. Jeannette has been at the fightingbusiness longer than either Langford or McVea, and what is more enjoys the distinction of having met all three of the above mentioned pugilists during the past few years.

Taking Jeannette’s career since 1905 it is worthy of note that in that year he met Jack Johnson on three occasions, boxing two no-deci-sion contests with the present world’s champion and winning the ocher on a foul in the second round. He is thus able to lay claim to the honour of being the only black to secure a win over Johnson. Jeannette has also a win over Sam Langford to his credit. In 1906 he met Johnson on no less than four occasions—two 6-round no-decision, one draw in 10 rounds, and a loss on points in 15 rounds. In 1907 he drew with Langford in 12 rounds, and beat McVea in 10 rounds. In 19 0 8 he had two matches with Sam Langford —a draw after 12 rounds, and a no-decision of 6 rounds. In 1909 he lost to .McVea in 20 rounds, but beat him in 19 rounds, and then drew with him in 30 rounds. In 1910 he lost to Langford in 12 rounds.

Whereas Langford and McVea have been right in the public limelight during the past six months, Joe Jeanette has had to take a seat in the background, mainly as a result of his failure to put in an appearance in Australia as at first intended. During last week, however, a letter was received in Sydney from Dan M’Ketrick, manager for Jeannette, contradicting reports that have gained currency in Australia regarding his charge. M’Ketrick strongly resents statements circulated by Joe Woodman, Langford's manager, and as there is a probability of him visiting Australia with Jeannette it is only natural that he should wish to contravert Woodman’s statement about his champion. M’Ketrick openly declares that it is a clear fact that Woodman and Langford made a hurried and almost secret departure from America to evade a meeting in a long distance contest with Jeannette. The latter according to M’Ketrick, showed his utter superiority to Langford in Madison-Square Garden, New York, and although the law precludes a referee’s decision it was the unanimous opinion of th’e newspaper expert writers that Jeannette was the winner by a large majority. Woodman asked for another match. This was readily consented to, provided that a match for at least 20 rounds was entered into. This was agreed to, and manager James Cofforth, of San Francisco, secured M’Ketnck’s agieement for Jeannette, but Woodman (for Langford) baulked when it came down to signing articles.

M’Ketrick, Jeannette’s manager, in urging the claims of his charge, points in convincing fashion to the results of Jeannette’s engagements with both Langford and McVea. Langford and Jeannette have fought several times. In Lawrence Jeannette made Langford quit in nine rounds, and, with one exception, Langford has insisted on short contests. “He will never get over the last 10 rounds in Madison-Square Garden,” writes M’Ketrick. “As regards McVea, he was given a decision over Jeannette in 2 0 rounds in France, but four weeks later Jeannette gained a decisive victory by knocking him out in 4 9 rounds. A few months later they met for 30 rounds. McVea was put down six times, while he never scored a knockdown. The referee ordered a draw, and there was nearly a riot because of the decision.”

Continuing his line of argument. Jeannette’s manager says he despairs of getting Langford to meet Jeannette again, but he is hot on the trail Jack Johnson. All kinds of overtures have been mad’e for Johnson to meet Jeannette, but the champion not only evades but ignores all propositions. “He was offered a guarantee of £5OOO for 10 rounds with Jeannette,” remarks M’Ketrick, “and I offered to add <-£l2OO to that if at the end of the contest a majority of sporting writers

did not agree that Jeannette was the winner. Further, I was willing that Johnson should select the sporting writers who were to make the decision. No, Johnson wants no more of Jeannette. My man bested Johnson no less than six times in short bouts in Philadelphia; no-decision contests, but in one case Jeannette got a decision over Johnson. The best fistic experts in the States agree that Jeannette is the one logical opponent for Johnson, and some of them, notably Jim Corbett, Sam Fitzpatrick, Bob Edgron, Rob Roy Benton, and Bat Masterson, agree that Jeannette would surely beat Johnson in a 20-round battle.”

M’Ketrick’s statements regarding Langford and Woodman were not allowed to go unchallenged, the latter immediately making it known through the medium of the Sydney papers that Sam Langford is willing to fight Joe Jeannette when and where he likes, and for any sum he likes. Woodman denies tha? he made a hurr’ed exit from America, stating that he asked Mr H. D. Mclntosh (under whose engagement Langford sailed for Aus-

tralia) to postpone tne trip in order that Langford might meet Jeannette at Madison-Square Gardens. Langford s manager also intimates that in connection with the Langford-Jean-nette fight which took place in Madi-son-Square Gardens, the former was regarded by the majority of the newspapers as most entitled to the decision. Woodman also denies that his charge purposely sidestepped Jeannette, attributing the falling through of the proposed match to a disagreement regarding the venue of the match, he being under contract to M’Carey to have the fight take place in Los Angeles, whereas M’Ketrick wanted the pair to meet under Promoter Jim Cofforth at San Francisco.

Joe Woodman concludes his reply to the Jeannette party as follows: —

Jeannette never got a decision over champion Jack Johnson. If you turn up the record book I think you will find that they have fought four times, and that one of the bouts Johnson lost on a foul. It was a question as to whether Johnson hit low, and there were some funny things done in that fight. Jeannette is a wonderful fighter. I’ll admit, but in all the bouts with Langford my man has beaten him up terribly, and with the exception of the one last September they have been,very,one-sided. Anyhow, Langford will box Jeannette 10, or 20, or 25 rounds as soon as we get back to America. Or he will agree to box him on his arrival in Sydney.