BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 526, 5 June 1909, Page 12

BOXING.

'■''>: ~:.,\. ißt Meisotot.) ', A : .-,- : '- ■ . . ■'FIXTTJBES. '<: ...'..'■ '■■.-,•■.-. June 8' and 9.—Wellington Provincial ' Cham- •• pionships, Town Hall. :.'/■ J,:,. June 9.-Jaok Griffin v. B. Murphy, Hastings: June 23.-Horowhenua B.C. Tourney, i/evin.. June 29.-Traoy v. Jack' Griffin,i'Palmcreton -.: North. .. '■'• ■ ■' -. ':, '„ . :.. ■■■ July 28,-Tracy. v. Bob. Turner, Hashnee.: ; The' result of'.the battle. between Thorn and Douglas for ;tho Australian lightweight supremacy was anxiously awaited in Wellington, and great was the disappointment when:it■ wne found, on arrival-of the Sydney mail, that.: owing to a postponement on. aooount of bad weather, the contest was not reported.; The daily'filcß,- ,, however, provide the much-looked-for intelligence, and the following somewhat meagre account" is taken from the ,' Sydney Morning Herald" of May 27^—Between MOO and COCO persons-gathered' at .the Stadium • lnet night to witness. J?rank Thorn (9st. 21b.). meet Arthur Douglas (9st. 41b.), for the lightweight championship, of Australasia,-- Douglas,had the advantage in height, weight; and reach, and forced matters from the outset, Thora contented himself with" defensive taotics. During the first eight rounds Douglas scored best, L but from therice till :the fourteenth there was little,to ohoosa beyeen the men. Thorn did. all the scoring in the In the sutcenth both men, as a roeult of their exertions in'.the previous round, we're inolined to take things easily. Thorn livened up in the last three rounds, and quite outbbxed his opponent. At the conclusion of the :twentieth round' Mr.■ ArthurS6ott(tho referee) gavo his d<)cision in favour of-J)onglns. It met with < a.mixed.reception, the .general opinion being' that,, although Thorn had not 'scored a" win,'- he was 'entitled ;to a ' The .list of "'fixtures, above: show .that-. the .various associations 'are growing busy -: with tho ■coming season's engagements;':: Tim :Tracy, as usual, is in demand, and has. two matches, on hand—with Jack Griffin,; whom he recently defeated in Auokland, at Palmerston North, on June 29, for a .£SO purse, and with, hie old friend Bob Turner at Hastings, on .July, 25, for a purse of £U. The latter of these two battles will bo of peculiar-interest on acoonnt of tho previous moetinKs of the' men—one ...in' Christchurch, when the Sydnoyite scored a win by 'a.vcty' , narrow margin, and the second in Wellington, when a draw resulted. 1 . :-■, ■ Entries for the Wellington '{ ohampionehips in the Town Hall, next Tuesday and Wednesday, closed on Thursday last. All .the events have, filled' very. ;-well—especially.' so in : tho lighter .divisions-^and-patrons can rely on two nights' good cntcrtainmefat." •:■, '■-■ . Jimmy Britt, v of San Francisco, ■ world's; exohampion lightweight, and Johnny Summers, of London, who have already met twice (with disastrous results'to tho American), are again to clash in the<ring.: Artiolcs to box at catch ■weights ■ (tfrenty \ronnda for,. USIOO a-side, and 'the best purse offered in London), have > been signed, and the men are': to meet early this month. \ . V■ ■ ■ !■•'..-', ; '.''.' , '. : : ■.•■'.- '•■■ ■':■■■'•

■'.-.When the last American' mail left, three world's championship matches were: scheduled for. May and June,'. as 'under:—May 15, Papke v. Hugo Kelly (middle-weights); May 29, Battling .Nelson v.' Diok Hyland, (light-weights)! and Monte Astoll -v: Johnnie; Conlon (bantams). Then,. on. July 5, the winner of the -NelsonHyland combat will meet MaoFarland for tho light-weight title. The Papke-Kelly matoh has - been',rendered possible by the classing of'Ket-ohellj-.i present .holder of the /middle-weight, .-title,, among the heavy division. ■'.'■■ /Billy, Elliott and ■.'•Tommy, Hanley -meet "in Sydney on Juno 8. ■:■ • . .■'■' ■'■ ' Says the '"Referee":—"Mr/ Martin , Taylor, the .well-known .Maoriland coursing enthusiast, whowill. bo in Sydney, bowling and otherwise onjoyirig'-hunself, ; for the next six weeks, desiroa:to say.that he: is prepared to' back, in a six-rounds contest,' a nephew of Bob Pitzsimmons—a young'native of Timaru (N.Z.), seventeen : years of:'■ age, sft. -. llin.' hieh, andi weighing lOst. 101b., against anyone, his poundage in Australia,- for -GSO W aside. As it was , ' Mr. Martin Taylor who introduced the. li'te 'Otto; Cribb 1 to the b'oiing world, it ; might very'reasbriably be inferred' that he knows what 'ho l is about in' taking ; up the latest 'Simmons', development." ■ ■■■•.-■ . ■■•.'■ MTea, the big. negro, who has been tho idol of the Parisian sporting publio for a long while past, has been. pushed off his pedestal by. a, "brother' coon after'a terrifio combat, de-! soribed by Reufcer in the London "Sportsman" of April 18, as.follows:—An exoiting encounter took place last .evening between Sam M'.Vea and Joe .Je'annetto, the contest lasting three hours and'a half. At tho 49th round M'Vca gave up' tho fight; and Jennnfette was deolarod the winner, but he bought his victory dearly: Ho was knooked down-four times in tho'course of the fight, on eaoh occasion only rising just bt'oretho oall.of time. It had been arranged that'the'matoh: should be a fight to a. finish, and- was to deoide who should challengo Jack Johnson for the Championship.of the World. Aucklander Alt. Qault and Frank O'GradVj mot last Saturday at the Gaiety, Sydney,'but no result ie yet to'hand. v ; .'. ' .- . -,j Jim Jeffries has nt last definitely stated that, in* deference to ; public sentiment,'-he w.ill nicot Johnsons • : The announcement was mado 'from the' stage , of the American Theatre,- New York, bv the '.'big fellow" himself at-.thij conclusion of his sparring turn, nnd>it:wns received' with frantic.enthusiasm by a packed audienne. Tho onthusiasm subsided-greatly,, howove'r,' when Jeffries procgeded ' .to- qualify his ultimatum with conditions, the first of which wae ■ that. Johnson must defeat Stanley Kctchcll, with ■whom he is matched, in' October, Thenj'nftcr that, Jeffries must be nllowed-plenty of time, maybe a yoar, to, train, ;Which would ■ menu that the.. best > putt, of'eighteen months. miis,t elapse before' tlio . bdttlo can - como off. ; ,So, really things aro not much "forrnrder". than they havo been. As for Johnson, the "Ijitj coon" .has got the American sports fairly guessing, as to his intentions, In tho first place, he professes to consider Jcffries's declaration no moro than α-big bluff, and sums it up thus: "If ho will cover tho 5000 dollars I have put up I'll believo ho means it; otherwieo; I .think he is after n littlo free advertising. I will gladly throw Ketcholl over for a.chonce at' Jeff,' oven .if 1 havo to forfeit 5000 dollilre to Kotohcll." Only ono thing seems certain, and that is Johnson's willingness to throw over anybody at-n moment's notice,. His proolivities. in'this dircotiou.' are set forth by the "FofcroeV Amcricnn '.-correspondent;--"lri a nutshell, Johnson arranged a match with Young Kotchel i ncross the Henrst-leascd wire 'from Chicago.to Now York. Next dny he snid noj , , charging that Kotchell wns only using him for; advertising purposes. Then ho. agreed lo box Jim Covbett, and after that ho nnnouncml that Al Kaufman was to be his next opponent. A few days Inter he met tho representatives ol Ketohcll, Kaufman,- and Langford in tho New York "Journal", offloe tad, after hearing - what

each had h> e»y, toH them to go and fight It out. Pressed to decide upon an opponent, bo said: TJet it go until Thursday.' This ma on a Monday, and on the felhrwing Wednesday he signed articles b> bos Kotoholl before Coffroth'e Mission Street arena during the Portola Festival in October. A few daye later camo the now* that Johnson was about to depart for England, and that he had arranged to fight Kaufman .on his return." .

Then tho same authority, on this evidence, calls Johnson a "flirt and a 6huttlecock," which seems disrespectful language to address to the world's champion heavyweight pngiliet. Johnson, according to Ms. M'lntosh, ie only getting from -£50 to .£6O a weok for hie show turns in the American vaudeville plnces—he got JJ2OO weekiy in Sydney while Tommy Burni was receiving £225. . •;.'•'.,■