NERVOUS PUGILISTS OFTEN WIN PRESTIGE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1245, 26 February 1914, Page 28

NERVOUS PUGILISTS OFTEN WIN PRESTIGE.

BOMBARDIER WELLS AN EXCEPTION. There have been many really great boxers who suffered from nervousness to a certain extent, yet were not handicapped on that account when going into action. Jim Corbett was very high-strung and fretted and chafed a good deal as the time drew near for his entrance into the ring. But nobody ever accused Jim of being afraid. His courage w<as of a firstclass brand whether in victory or defeat, as his record shows. Frank Erne was another clever boxer whose nerves vibrated like tightly-drawn violin strings, but Erne never lost a battle through over anxiety or fear of consequences. Tommy White, the veteran featherweight, was of a naturally nervous disposition, but possessed wonderful self-control and piled up one of the longest records of hardfought battles in the anna’s of fistiania.

It is noticeable that the purely scientific glove artists are generally of the high-strung variety, the slugging types of lesser brain capacity don’t know the meaning of “noives” and seldom fall victims to mental worry of any kind. > Bombardier Wells, the British heavyweight, who was twice knocked out by Georges Carpentier in quick time, seems to be the worst specimen of nerve failure in a boxer that the

ring has furnished in a decade. It only took Carpentier a few seconds to fix Wells with “his glittering eye,” and hammer him down and out. When he fought Al Palzer in New York, the Bombardier made a brill ant and winning fight of it until he received a hard poke in the stomach. Then his courage ebbed swiftly and he went down and took the final count, the general opinion being that he could have regained his feet had he been so inclined. He went to pieces in precisely the same fashion when he lost to “ Gunboat ” Smith. Nature gave the Bombardier a fine physique, endowed him with a terrific punch and unerring eye, but she neglected to furnish him with the right sort of a heart, without which all the otter qualities are useless. Harlem Tommy Murphy is showing at a theatre in Vancouver. He expresses anxiety to meet the champion. If he gets the decision over Ritchie, he says, he will give Freddy Welsh first chance to„win the world’s title on May 24.