SQUARED RING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 245, 28 July 1937, Page 2

SQUARED RING

PETE SARRON DISQUALIFIED.

THEN DEPARTS FOR AFRICA.

(By “Referee.”)

Wherever Pete Sarron, the world’s feather-weight boxing champion, goes, he succeeds in breaking into the news in no uncertain fashion, though some of the memorable features of his career, such as his defeats at the hands of Tommy Donovan in this country, seem to have been thrown into the discard. Sarron may prefer not to include the details in his published records; but his visit to England and his bout with Dave Crowlejr will not soon be forgotten by quite a number of people at Home (says an exchange). In short, what happened was that Sarron was disqualified in the ninth round of a ten-round contest at the Harringay Stadium on the same night as that on which Buddy Baer proved too big and strong for Jimmy Wilde, the Swansea heavy-weight. Under the rules of the British Boxing Board of Control, Sarron’s disqualification involved the withholding of his share of the purse; but Saivron, with his customary shrewdness, had had his guarantee—a mere £l2oo—paid over to him before the bout, and had his passage booked to leave for South Africa the next morning.

Sarron’s disqualification was brought upon his head by his refusal to desist from hitting with the heel of his glove —and thereby hangs a tale . . .

When Sarron had his fame and fortune yet to make and was occupying himself mainly in fighting preliminaries in Australia, Will Lawless, probably the greatest boxing authority Australia has known, detected this flaw in Sarron’s style and when the “Alabama Wildcat” decided to come to New Zealand, Lawless expressed the opinion he would have to eradicate the fault or “Mick Stewart would disqualify him.”

However, Mr Earl £>lewart, who is nothing if not a sympathetic friend of the boys he controls in the ring, had a word with Sarron when he arrived and toldi him what 'he could expect if he offended in the manner indicated. Possibly because of faulty grounding in his ring work, Sarron has always been a boxer with a natural failing in the direction of fighting with his gloves open. In New Zealand he heeded the warning given him to such an extent that he never lost a bout from that cause. Nevertheless those who watched him closely detected a tendency to connect with the heel of his hand when swinging in punches in his characteristic style. Sarron has gone far since that stage of his career, hut that "the fault has persisted is shown by the following comments on his fight with Dave Crowley, by Trevor Wignall, in the “Daily Express.” When Sarron was ordered to his corner by Mr C. H. Douglas, the referee, for punching with the butt of his hand he looked crestfallen and highly astonished.

Hie had probably forgotten that in every round he had been repeatedly cautioned, that at the close of the fifth round Mr Douglas walked to the corner and spoke to him earnestly, and that in the eighth round he was very loudly told that he was being cautioned for the last time. Spectators Demonstrate. The intervention did not please the spectators, who demonstrated in very noisy fashion. They continued their booing and shouting after other bouts were started. . . According to the rules of the British Boxing Board of Control, the purse guaranteed to Sarron —I believe it was £l2oo—was bound to be withheld. Notification to this effect was sent to those responsible, but when I questioned Mr Syd Hulls, the promoter, he informed me that Sarron had been paid the whole of his money before ho entered the ring and that he was sailing far South Africa the next morning. This raises a new problem that the British Boxing Board of Control may find difficult to solve. Not Much of a Fight. There is no likelihood that Sarron will return the money that has been handed to him, hut it is possible that the board will request the rulers of boxing in South Africa, and perhaps also in America, to take action that will he proposed to them. It was not much of a fight. Sarron seems to ho incapable of punching with closed gloves, and as all his blow's are hooks from wide ,angles, he accentuates an infringement that has always been frowned on in this country. Wrestling in England. “London Wrestling,” a magazine devoted to the grappling sport, is conducting a tournament to find the best wrestler in England. The promoters according to the publication, will proclaim a winner, then pairing him with Jack Sherry, the winner of that one to meet world’s heavy-weight wrestling champion Dean Detton at Wembley Stadium in July. The stadium is ’already negotiating with Dean Detton and thus far lias offered the world’s champion one thousand pounds with a privilege of 30 per cent. Since Detton is due in this Dominion in July it looks as if the English promoters will have to make other arrangements concerning a championship match.