BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 12

BOXING.

1 i: ißr Mrmctmr.)

FIXTURES. July 22 and 28.—Now Zealand Amateur - Championships (Dunedin). • ' • July .28.—Tracy y. Turner (Hastings). July 29.—W.8.A. Totirncy. Clarke v. Leckie ; ; v (Town Hall). '.' : -', "-V"..'-September.-—Hawko's Bay Championships.

The' heavy-weight jchampibnship '■ r contest (professional)—the' first: held in New' Zealand sinoe boime.wqs brought under its present.control—is described in the "Weekly Press'.' as under'• \•' '. ■< r,-'- '•' { " Pieton came,with 1 .cfltecbtT of "primo," ( while Maloiioj .'ranked -among; the •'"stores." r He'/tfaa as. paiiifulty'thiri ■ as-.his, vis-a-vis was pleasantly plump. V 1 When . the, men shaped up, lift loofced .a veritable: David confronting a Goliath. but A 'as -matters jfell'. out. he, brought, something Jurd in hifc slmgv" In the 'first:round"-both !rrioii'laid' offbririiis at", the" altar' of. Tefpischorei 1 'In vthe,second.. Moloney'- plaoed. several useful/'robukcs, aha Pieton ran- his craft' before the wnid for shelter. / In the third 'round/Pietoni issued several invitations: to Maloncy to pursue l him . with vigour,; but, the southerner was canny, and concerned - himself with' matters' of defence rather-than dabble in the .uncertainties of 'defiance.; ' The- toxins, whs it-rib- timo of a • high: order. .. Maloney s footwork arid cover •'wore\ oxcellefit,,; .while.. Pieton* relied principally upon-thd possibility of usine, his superior weight and strength to advantage; In the fourth round Mslonoy delivered some assorted 1 goods,-' and his, adversary . retorted by conferring two';.or three, straight, lefts ;dii. his keen grey eye.; jThe fortunes of-iwar ebbed 'and ftowcd,but'. there. , was ■ always somethinE' ; dointt, :and the excitement, .was sustaineu at concert pitch'-.throughout.'- ; The points wero with Maloney, ; and. the / only question was whether he could see the argument'through to a logical conclusion. . ;Maionoy accompanied his blows with a regretful sigh whioh ; made matters appear- woreo than they really wore., Several of, his telling upper-cuts were duly .received without thanks, and their contents:noted, but-Pieton was not at homo to moatiof them. From tho tenth round; Pieton freshened up. whilo Malbntiy seemed K; little shop-worn. / The twelfth' round provided a furious encounter.' Pioton's half-arni body punches ■ proving greatly effective. From - this staao onward ho hastened to close up thciiccouiit, but Maloiiby contrived to put plenty of voltaue into his right arm iswincs. Th<i shades of-.night wore, falling fast upon I'icion's-truculent.left eye! but with the other lie looked for a yeraict with- the 1 Utmost confidence. 'The esti'angoment grewmore pronounced at' tho, fourteenth'round, and it appeared that -Picton had deferred: his Spnut Uio' 10in:,., as Maloney. had - tired: markodlv as the result of his forcing the pace. ' The Duucdiii'man. however, kept up ! his end splendidly,' and he finished somewhat grogf", 'but still 1 .,tu1l of fight. He was awarded - a: vordict on points,'• albeit the marcin >of superiority- was very narrow indeed, !■ ■ The above is . Worth quoting. ' It t shows thatithe .long-defunot stylo or '"descriptive ' adopted in. "Bell's , Life" threatens to . rise again. Mixed metaphors, the accumulation of blinding "colour" words, the. piling > of Pelion upon • Ossa, ad it were—oh I will some ono just step .'round , with an original way ot describing these encounters; 1 1, | The Chriatchurch Sports Club is considering tho question of matching Alf Uault (tho Auckland light-weight: at {present, in Sydney) with any New Zealandcr in his class who may be considered a satisfactory oppouent... It ,is understood that Uault wants 'i racy, if terms can to arranged.' The club also contemplates re-matching ivlalohoy and Pieton (coiilcst der scribed above) as iioitller man considers that ho was in his proper form on that .occasion. Reports to hand, go to show that' M'Gib-> boil made a poor showing against Bob Turner in Sydney,; on . Juno 29. ! Turner was never roquired... to exert '.himsolf," ahd ( : after ' six rounds of ouo-sided boxing, M'Gibbou throw in the towol. , _ . Ori iJuly 14, Jack M'Gowan, and Bob Greenshields meet at Ballarat to dcoido tho light-weight championship of Australia. . Matters in connection with the world s championship havo, readied a definite stago as' far as Jelfries's intentions are concerned. According' to the "Kefercc," tlio ex-champion recently made his intentions public- in. tho following speech, delivered from the stage after his music-lvall turn:—"Ladies and. Gentlemen,—l' know,'.what you want to hear, so I-might as, well say it. . I'm satisfied after soveri weeks' , work that I can get- into just as good condition as I ever was,' and I'll fight Mr. Johnson. There's no need, of Johnson getting -.ull-.ilarcd up over the fact that I've announced my- willingness to light. Ho has an 'engagement' with Ketehel that ho,'d better attend to. 'l ean't bo in a position to talk fight,; with him or any one else, for . 21 week's r and Johnson 'can't expect to fight mo in-'OctoberJ .My theatrical engagements will carry me along to the latter part'of July.: Let him fight: Ketehel in October, llemeinber, lie's got to beat 'Ketehel,' and there's no telling what might happon. 1 1 hate to have 'my name linked with the like of' such, as Johrtson, but 1 suppose tho public' will demand it. They know my feelings now, but let him first bn'ng Ketehel into camp." This is not elegant, but it appears to be conclusive. ,and it may now be taken for granted that the ex-ehampion has taken up "the whito man's burden." No dno appears to be worrying. over what tho champion thinks of the matter, or of what ho intends

to do—apparently ho is only tho holder of the title, mid therefore is not to be considered. Tinio was, and not so Ibng ago, that tho champion lilaccd himself on a pedestal 'way up above ''the common herd," and provided Iho music to which his would r bo opponents and tho public danced. No, apparently, ho just hangs about . and waits until Bomeone. is found who is good-natured enough to get into action, and endeavour to box him into a becoming state of humility, flic difference, of course, lies in the fact that; in the first instance, tho champion was Tommy Burns, a v.'hito man, and in tho Bocond and present instance, he is Jack a nogro, This would ocein to indicato that it is tho man. and not tho title,' that matters, . In all human affairs, it is tho man who always "matters." To-night, in Brisbane, Rollo and Scanlon, both of whom aro known on this side, meet in a 20-round bout. Scanlon'is a middleweight, and a,hefty ono at that, so Rollo must either bo lighting muoh over bis usual weight;- or else right out of his olass. Bob Turner and his trainer arrived during the. week from Sydney,' by tho TJlimaroa. turneris. woll forward in condition, and will take matters fairly easily for, a while visiting, friends in Marlborough. •Ho will' however, bp properly tunod up for his match with Tracy at Hastings on July 28.