PRESENT BOXERS LACK SCIENCE.

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

PRESENT BOXERS LACK SCIENCE.

CAULIFLOWER EARS AND MUSHROOM NOSES MEAN INEFFICIENCY. Jack Root, the one-time famous New York boxer, who is now in the theatrical profession, believes that there will be a new period that will develop a better class of boxers than there is to-day. Root, who is without a blemish on his face, believes that cauliflower ears and mushroom noses are only badges of boxing inefficiency. “A boxer who knows how to box need not go around with a battered face after he leaves the ring. Go to most any boxing show these days and you will readily understand why the cauliflower and mushroom crops are so abundant on the faces of the participants,” he says. “The average fighter of to-day pays absolutely no attention to the scientific end of boxing. All he knows is to get in close and whale away. With two such men opposed to each other somebody’s nose is bound to get smashed.” The veteran told how little George Dixon used to catch the punches of an opponent in his open glove and divert them into the air. He remarked about how Tommy Ryan avoided knock-out punches by a mere twist of his head. And he dwelt on the cleverness of Kid McCoy in side-stepping a rushing

fellow and stabbing him as he went by. “But those fellows were all great boxers/’ he said. “They studied the game from its scientific standpoint. Any of them could time a blow to the fraction of an inch. “That is what our present boxers lack —abfiity to time blows. How many of them are at all certain where their glove will land when they let it fly? And how many of them can avoid a blow by a slight movement of the head or body? “But it will all come fca-k,” declared Root. “We’ll have another period of great fighters. All we need is time to develop them. We must first overcome the idea that s'ugging is boxing. When we do this, and those boys with ta’ent are willing to undergo proper instruction, we will experience a revival of the old order of things when science was a more valuable asset in the ring than mere brute force"