BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 330, 17 October 1908, Page 9

BOXING.

(By Mercdiiy.) November 24. —-Tourney, Opera House (Gos-ling-Elliott match). £ December 24.—World's Championship (Burns 1 v. Johnston). . i ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. i J. Jolly, Moawhango, Taihape.—Tho boxer j you mention was born at Otautau, near -Invercargill. .He fights under his .proper , name and is of pure white extraction. The result of the Tracy-Rollo match at j Palmerston North came as a great, disap- , pointment to the local boxing public,, not so much, because Tim was beaten, as'it was ( generally expected that.he would have to go ] hard: for tho verdict, as because of tho ] manner thereof.. When they met before, -j Rollo's form let, him , down, nevertheless he kept Tracy very busy on account of his clever ] footwork. On this occasion he has been j training at Island Bay, with one Alex. Gro- ; gan, alleged to have been ex-heavyweight i champion of South Africa, and was reported to havo been in excellent fettle, so Tracy's ( friends wore in no way confident of the. resuit. At the timo of writing no detailed account of the contest is available, but from ; the meagre report to hand it appears that < the Wellingtonian had established a fair lead up to the fourth round, when happened : the deplorable incident that cost him the ; match. "Outed on a foul I!" It doesn't j sound nice, and it is a great pity that- a ; clean sportsmanlike boxer like Tim should < have, such a. decision against his: excellent ( record; and it is to be hoped that when ( particulars come to hand they mil show, as. . I believe they will,'that tho blow in ques- ; "tion ■ was not intentionally a foul one. This is Tracy's' first reverse since his notable ] contest with ..Hock Keys some seasons back. ; ■- Bill-Squires-was in town on Tuesday •; last. He arrived somewhat unexpectedly', j ,sc .was not met ,by the local association, and - as he left again for the South. that night nothing in the way of a reception could .be arranged. . - . , It is understood that owing to his decision , .in the. Rollo-Tracy contest having been sub- • jected to much adverse criticism, Mr. I. Fake . intends to resign from the position of referee to the Manawatu Boxing Association. ■■■ On October- 5 a-match took place between the Australian : heavy-weight, ; Georgo. -Stirling, who so far has done nothing, to win himself either fame or money as a .boxer, and tho American-Italian, pugilist, Joe Grimm, whoso - peculiar boast it is that he i> invulnerable, to a "knock, out,", hence bis . nom-de-guerre,' . "The Iron Man." The "Bulletin" has the following • entertaining account ; of the affair:I—"Joe1 —"Joe Grimm, the - 'iron man from Philadelphia,' met . George Stirling, the copper-covered individual' from ' Cobar, at Sydney Stadium on Monday night. Stirling is 'a magnificent specimen of Australian. manhood,. ■ beautiful' as a statue, strong as an elephant, and light on his feet as a bouncing ball; But he can't fight worth a cent. Ho is obviously too good-natured, too full of anxiety not .to hurt his enemy, and lie never; dreams of following up _an "d----vantage. He would be: an ugly individual roused,' and Joseph twice nearly succeeded in rousing him, and got thrown half-way across the ring for his pains. The Iron Man is a joke, a comedian of rare device, and as a draw should .be unrivalled. Writer would go to see him fight every week, even if lie had. to pay to.get .in —he is so funny.- He is of- the . wonderful. He bounded into the ring, and whirling . his toga from him disclosed: the factthat he'was hog fat.-. He sparred'at .an imaginary enemy,and';,dealt' the atmosphere sonio : crushing blows-in tho atmosphere's stomach. When the fight started,- he. sprang at Stirling, like 1 a tiger, and dealt him one, two, three, before the Cobar -man knew. what was the matter. Right through he was- aggressive, and always at his best when attack'ng. In clinches lie wriggled and twisted like an embittered eel, and-delivered a variety of. amazing upper-cuts. And . always he burlesqued the business. A humorous fighter is a bright, pleasing circumstanco, and as rare as he is pleasing. .Therefore, Jqe - Griinm should be encouraged, as an artist who has the genius to turn a battle into a farce." '. - " Stirling was about a stone and a halt heavier than Griinm, and the. difference, between. their condition was even greator. But for tho antics of. Grimm the scrap would have been a dreary business, and had Grimm not made the fight Stirling would probably, have sat down and had a smoke. He had no idea of attacking, and the only time ho put vim into it was when Grimm landed him a few.'. Then he'came out in the rallies sand smote Grimm sorely. '. Mr. Kelly, Tommy Burns's manager, refereed the fight,: and although the writer: hesitates to dissent from so famous- an exponent- of the art of st-oush, a strict regard, for-the truth as he sees it compels him to. remark that, in ,his humble opinion, Stirling should have been outed twice for a foul. On two occasions he took Grimm by the neck and slung him across the ring; and considering that Grimm did-all tho leading, and, although obviously out of condition, was at the finish, quite as fresh as Stirling, and had never been knocked down onco in tho wliolo twenty rounds, ho was, in writer's opinion, entitled "to a draw. Had . he known how to fight,-Stirling would have ended it in tho third round. But he didn t. And leaving the two fouls out of the question, on general principles this paper thinks that the decision' in Stirling's favour was uniust to Grimm." .Though it is not yet officially announced, it may be stated without' fear of contradiction that the locale of the Burns-Johnston disturbance on Boxing Day .will be. the Stadium, Sydney. As ■an '■ indication of this, Australian files to hand -this' week 'oontain'■'■ particulars' of the sale of'the dismantled stadium in Mel. bourne, where Burns and Lang settled their little difference. ' , • T . At the Gaiety, Sydney, on October 6, Jim Griffin and Joe Costa' fought their return battle; It will be remembered' that Costa got the verdict at their last cngagementsome months ago, but on this occasion the Maorilander. succeeded in turning the tables, obtaining a good win in the fifth round per medium of a right cross to the jaw. The attempt to bring ex-champon Jim Jeffries to Australia to referee in the BurnsJohnston- contest ,has failed. In answer to Mr. H. D. M'lntosh's cable of invitation, the big man replied that he would require a fee of £1000 and all expenses to mako the trip. ' This is outside the syndicate's limit by a ' good deal, so the matter now is all off;