Boxing

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 33, 2 September 1949, Page 5

Boxing

INTERESTING UNCOMMON POINTS (By “Canvas”) ' Boxing is a hard sport and those who take it up and hope for success, have to be equally as hard. There are several prominent boxers in the Bay of Plenty but few go further than this province. Perhaps it is that they have no desire to climb any higher but whatever is the reason it is certainly not through lack of ability. In boxing itself, as in other sports, there are many technicalities, which are usually unfamiliar to the layman and sometimes unknown to the boxer. For .example, how many people know that there is no such decision as a technical knockout? This term was .invented by sports writers and appears to have come to stay. There are many ways in which a boxer may lose a fight, beside a decision against .him on points or a knockout. If a second considers his man is being too severely punished he may end the bout by tossing in the towel as a token of submission. But the decision still rests with the referee, who may throw the towel out again and order the contestants to “box on.” A classic example of this was when Max Schmeling’s second threw the towel in. when' he met Joe Louis for the second time. The referee refused to let the'bout finish and it was not until Louis had hammered Schmeling into oblivion that the fight eventually ended. One case is recalled where a boxer actually lost a Pout after he had been fouled—on a technicality. When he received a low punch the boxer fell to the canvas where he squirmed in pain. The referee was

confused; he began to count then decided to help the boxer to his'feet and send him to be examined by a doctor.

The boxer decided, after being examined, to continue the bout but when he returned to the ring, he was immediately disqualified for leaving it. The proper course would have been for the referee to count hip out, then have him examined to verify or refute his claim of a foul. A situation, which is believed to be unique in New Zealand boxing, occurred when Clarrie Rayner fought Delaney at Hastings. Rayner always wore a knee bandage and when this slipped during the bopt his knee gave way. The referee stopped the bout and allowed Rayner’s second to adjust the bandage, for although Rayner was down, it was not as a result of a blow from his opponent and there was no question of counting him out.