BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 12

BOXING.

(By Meiicdiit.) FIXTURES. August ■ 24.— J. Griffin 1 v. Oripps (Christchurch). September 1 and 2—Hawkc's Bay ChamSeptember'l!— Griffin v. Turner (Levin). September 18.—Tracy v. Unholz (Town . Hall). ... ' September 25' and 27.—Australasian championships (Sydney).. ; ,

' The Wellington contingent from the reccnt New Zealand . championships have : duly, arrived; in' towh,. and.'report very favourably on .their experiences in,'tho south. According, to the press accounts,, tho members, of the' team acquitted themselves .creditably, both in and out of the riug, and although thoy. brought only one championship back with them, .'it is freely .admitted 'that it was piu-e misfortune that lost them another. This is borne out by the fact thatitwo of them havo been included hi the •team'' to represent the Dominion at the Australasian championships in Sydney on September 25 and 27. The two favoured ones axe Weniiaiid., (bantain). and Watohoni (welter), and each is a. Very, satisfactory representative, in his .class; • Weilnand is very little .tho worse : for, his accident, and, although. lib sustained rather a nasty cut on the forehead, a week or two' .will"'see fit and toII again. Tho accident; was .a' curious one.' Wennaiid- aUd' his! oj> j ponenfc, iialdwin/of Southland,'.had come,to-" gotlier ill a clinoh in-the first round of their . bput,. and, after the ."break-away,''., immediately and simultaneously ducked.iand oam« in again, with the result that I ' their heads' collided hard. Both were dazed.bj" the'iin-, pact, but Baldwin, appeared to : be' tho worso of tiie -two; until the (appearance of nand's forehead indicated that something was' wrong. Examination.. showed that: a J small .hlo<3yossel; had; been . ruptured, and he .was sent'&way ifor medical attention. In half ail hour, however, ho was back at lliii ring-side, and, later, he was consoled for his bad luck in losing a New .Zealand championship, by .the news that ho had been selected for the Australian ,trip.;. . Watohorn is generally created with giving the best exhibition throughout the tourney. He has been seen in action hero often enough to give tllo local public-'proof of.his quality,-, and his inclusion ih tho New Zealand teanl 'was hailed-as a right and propor bne., Of his showing inVDunedin a southern'critic says: "Watchorn gave a very nice display, but there: did not appear to lie a great deal of power in his .blows,, or else Pembcrthy- is a marvel at absorbing punishment. I should say from appearances that .ono, of Penibor-' thy's smashes carried more punishment with' it than a/doaen' of ' Watchorii's puiiches. Watchorn's good " footwork helped , him greatly, to escape tho .well-meant attentions of his slower, but moro'powerful, opponent, •arid-ho finished up.' a good, .winner.'; ' v Tho same authority provides a very full report of tho proceedings, 1 and has the following criticismsof 'the'other: inemberß .of tho Wellington party. . Of /Porter., ho ' says: "Porter and M'Neil aro each the egUal of Hegarty at keeping going at high speed, but neither has Hegarty's dash m attack nor his precision in delivery. - I should say that this will be Porter's.last appearanco in the class. He is putting:oil weight, and he cannot af; ford to go into the ring Weak from sweating to make the weight against'sturdy lads now out for honours." He describes Cairns as "another fino,- all--round boxer," and of . Smith, ' aftor his bout with Finnerty, the ultimate lightweight winner, aJid .New. Zealand- representative,: . he writes: "Smith is a good all-round boxorj and altered his style' to suit Finnerty's peculiar and unorthodox methods so well as to give 'the .Southlander no opportunity to successfully ■ bring off the smashing attack ■which' proved sO disastrous''to Fulton and Thomson." ,

Perhaps' the most sensational performer was J.' Hcgarty, of Tiniaru, the featherweight champion, and representative of the Dominion ' in' that class. : On. tho' second night he ■ boxed no fewer thaii three bouts, and put up fast,' aggressive battles through-, out. ljU has been described to ''Mercury" as being of the rushing,' wliirhvind type of boxer, alboit it is said-by-some of ,tho returned "tourists," that some of hisboring; rough-houso tactics would bring hini into disagreement with our local referee. Of his showing,'' the same southern writer' states: "Hegafty. contested threo sevfero bouts on the second evening, and came through w.ith flying colours. His marvellous staying powers enabled 1 liim to keep going' at high speed all. through cacli bout, except the final, when Wilson made next to no eliort to force the pace. Wilson, is particularly, . fast on his feet, and had'he adopted forcing tactics from the start ho might have-worn {Town th<) sturdy little 'lad from. Tiinaru." H. Sandow is still getting matches on .the other side.' Ho was scheduled to meet Turner, tho Tasmanian "heavy'-' v champion on Wednesday last in Hobart.'. Nothing can bo stronger evidence of the, reported deterioration of Australian heavy-weights, of Which so much has been heard of late, thaii the fact that a "boxer" like Sandow, who, even over here, was looked upon as a huge joko as a fighting man, can got the 'engagenlents and meet with the -success that, ho does. :

' Bill Lang, the Australian., champion, lias been matched by- tho ' Molbourno Athletic Club to box the ox-South African, Mike Williams, for a purse of £300 a-side. • . Ed. Williams and Arthur Cripps, .Australian middle-weight ex-champions, are,to meet in Brisbane oil' August' 12. " " Battling Nelson, the world's champion light-weight,, signalised his - return, to the ring after niore money b.v knocking out Dick Hyland in tho twenty-third round of a forty-five round contest at Sail Francisco, oii May 28. Honours were easy till the thirteenth'" round, when Nelson, becamo aggres r . sive and gradually wore down his opponent. Says the "Referee" on matters of importance'in tho boxiuii, world,v-It is hardly .likely tluit Ma'. E. D.. il'Latoeli will haiidlo tlia

tftftteh, 'Jlio following ar>pnmM In ft (Jlihiiico paper curly Inst month: "it miiw* Je/f/les liftb tewived a letter from /f.iijiii Al'lMonh, tho Australian promote/') v/lii) Is l;i England, (taking him to totrain from cliisitif U tnnUih with Jack Johnson fur tlm wofW's he/ivy-V/cight titles without first hi/n fin opportunity to bid fur f !im Ikhl, Jeffries cxprea&ed tho opinion llml M'i/itesh winiteil thern to fight in AnsIrnlU or Kngliiwl, Wben Jeffries sigjisi articles lii filth t Wi» negro l" ! lie can tintke jicil. an triii/ili wo/ioy battling in Amor-, ii'.i us hn win in n foreign clitno, and'asserts' ihii battle milflt tft left place in this country." •Tim New York "Hun," referring to the Mdftnt Jdhtinoti'O'JJrkifi fix rounds go in I'liilndc'lpliift: "When O'Brien stood away niul peppered the negro's fnco and neck with ijiu'i;l;ly 2liootiii;j outs, Johnson's attempt to omiiiter with heavy swings was positivel;; Imliwwia. 'O'Brien feinted him to death,' at': tho short-haired sports say. Johnson war, mutantly throwing tip his hands or dncking hid head to avoid blown that were purely mythical, In this respect the- negro was sadly outclassed, and the'assertion made by IIii;;h M'fntosli after the Unriii fi;:ht in Sydney, that Johnson was marvellously clover, did not appear to have Urn. based on a thorough knowledge of the game." Stanley Keteholl to the fore again. American files to hand say that bo met Philadelphia .iiiek O'Brien on .Time 9 last, at' Philadelphia, in a six-round bout. Kokhell simply made anything he pleased of O'Brien, and inside of three rounds had tho wily Philadelphian doubled'tip on the ropes, and the referee mercifully stopped the bout to save O'Brien from further punishment. The "Iteferoo's" Brisbane correspondent says: "Ted M'Oibbon arrived in Brisbane during the week in quest of a match, but, it is feared lie will, not he accommodated for sonic time to come." (So ono would think.— "Mercury.") * The news of the result of the Tracy-Turner contest last Wednesday occasioned some little disappointment here, as it was pen orally thought by the that "Tim" would beat his man on this, the third, time of faceting. Tracy himself was quite i<;nfidelit —an unusual condition for him—and made no secret of his b: lief in his ability to get away with' the big cud of tho £75 parse. Froni tho'few particulars to hand at time of writing it lool:.i as though Tracy had, as usual, started slowly and lost ground in the earlier rounds, and then (again asi usual) evened -up'-matters in tho conclude portion by virtue of his excellent condition and stamina. ,i