BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 592, 21 August 1909, Page 12

BOXING.

ißr Mkpqobt,)

Never before in tiia history of the sport in (or; iiideei} in, the whole of New Zealand) has guph aorowd attaiided.to witnesa a boxing display as that which'filled every corner of the Tpwn Hall on Wednesday' eyenujg to see Tracy and Unhol?! battle/for; the. ligbt-weight. Bupromacy. of .the Dominion. , The groat .reputation.!■ of the visiter, who once gained • the verdict over the .world's champion—!' Battling" .Nelson— aud the popularity of the local? crack, were no/doubt' tho greatest factors in drawing public, but seme credit for, the;, record ''gate",must be given tp those whose yigorousdenunciations' of boxing, the .Wellington Boxing : Association, and. the boxing .community in publjb attention and contest ..Scattered amongst the'spectators on the; stage, "lat-.the back of, tho nng' the writer-noticed,'amongst othere,. the-Hon. J, lligg .M.L.0., Messrs'. F,'M. B. Fisher iH /J. .P. Luke, M.P/s, and. several members pf the City Council. The Hon. Mr. Higg/ia a well-known figure at.aJ.most every. tourney held' here;" tpe. ■ othere ;were probably there to sfee what sqrt of a hydraheaded monster, this profogsional ; ; boxing business is. : If the local.M.P.'s.and the City, Councillors 1 were there ; in the hope of Seeing that.brutality .which the ', City. .Council; pleaded as t>, justification for their debarring the Boxing , Association fronv using'the hall in future, they must have been, disagreeably disappointed. ';In no event—the big, professional bout leaSt of'all—did th,e proceedings approach to anything in the shape of brutality. Good' temper, clean, (though hard) hitting, and' the. ohivalry of gooa,: sportsmanship were the principal' features of the. displays. .The bruised and senseless boxer being carried te the dressing rpqma, the winning mail "waiting for the moment tha,t. hie beaten antagonist should rise, from the , floor inJ'ordeT that he might "send .him:: 'floorwards again for gpodV the. hooting as ■■'pictured of late, wore all oonspiMjous Absence. : ''■'■ ':< ■ ' ■'■ : y l : ;,'";''. ■l^,-':■'■'X'.-.y.-Of tlie big matoh, lot it'be Bam' herf that it W£to thoroughly 'disappointing,. ' From 'the first round te the ljwst.it was a!caseioi!;Unholz all the time; ', 'Iracy entered the,-ring evidently anxious/: te. acquit himself...predjtably, and his very anxiety waa . the .chief cause of hie failing to, display ,h]e true form." In TJnholz he was meeting a boxer of a type he had ; never ; mot., 1 bo{6re7 ■■'•" When .he met ' 'Hock" Keys, Tracy was boaten cleanly ; and fairly by one- of the.sclioql'wo'havobeeii' accusteined to, a boxer of the, school •which had its founder in: the. pe'rsoiv of tho■ re-; doubtable "Jem" Belcher, and its most fin■ished ■"••.■ and-' I'greatest .;; ;m "Jem" . Mace, (tad :' Peter".-.;':. ;Jackpn.: ■The ■'■ boxers of .'this" 'schoolr-exponents of the straight' left; the clever footwork,;_tne uso : of the right han.(l- primarily as' a.defonsive wbapon, and .in general I'lqngrrange 'fighters—Traoy had m.et, and., though twice defeated by superior spjence, had. never been puzzled'as. he was on -Wednesfoy , nigpt. That he failed tp boat :the conqueror of: isuch" men - as. for 'instance,.;- ; White] crack under no conditions, be to'-his discredit.,.-That he : failed' 1 to beat one ,of ,the crack;,• :efa, j-poneivts-, of ; a style of boxing;,to T >hich ; ;he 1 was •' totally Unaccustomed,'" is. still less _te his discredit; and failed to, dp. :h\mself: justice 13, iinder the circumstances, not at all .'surprising.-: His ■ 'foptwork >as-"e.xr. cellcnt;' and,: often,' his blows penetrated' the enemy'B : armament,-.'albeit his/left' entirely lacked ■ sting, and; his defence' m.; the close work:would probably, have served .well against most of the advances of any ligfttweight, not the master of lnrfighting that Unholz is. .-!'.';.'■•"■ : '■.".■■'■■':■'-•• •'■':.•■ '.:' As 'to : the "greatness" of the winner,' it is difficult to'express a decided opinion. .It all depends upon the pojnt you view him from.- Judged, from the viewpoint .of the Mace school of boxing,' it would be diflioult to rate him highly. The clean,- straight left from the shoulder, f»r- instanoe, is .entirely lacking, but to-him "it would, indeed,, be a doubtful' acquisition. To be: effective, a straighfleft must, as a, rule, bo accpnipanied by reach. The ilace style of bpxing is, .in all probability, still the most valuable for a man of size and reach, aiid, perhaps,', tea, for a short maa against one pf Ins own size, but there'can be no doubt of: the value of Unholz's style to himself and others or his short, stocky build, when' pitted against bigger,rae.n,- It was by tjjp.a'd of Uiis style that "Tommy" Burns climbed the ladder, of the world's' championship, and oa«>, has only, to look-,further, at Unhol?s. record to be fully satisfied, of its elfactivenefts/ .His. sole object is to get in as close te his .opponent as, possible, and,'once thore; and not, till then,: his . oleverness is shown. .It must have been as ; disconcerting - te: Traoy ae ii wag amazing te":ibe to.see, tbis man-calmly cover up and sinipiy, valk into IVacy's arms—no, dashing,display of clover feinting .and tricky , footwork,-, just .a calm j walk, right up to his opponent. Once at close range, his. method soon, became evident.' '■ ■ '■'-■■ : ■■■: ' •'■' ' ■■■' ■ V: , . ■ :.. ■:'"To see IJribolz calmly borihg in, one would imagine him slow'on his feet. On s\ich occv sions. he is so merely becayse: quick footwork would be ■of no great advantage,..to him,' Buti pn. those occaaionsj when Traoy \ in ducking away, turned his.',.- : baok, the oolority with which Unholz was on to him afforded striking proof that bis feet were ready 'for aotion at: the opportune moment. Much has been heard of foul-work at.close quarters by Ilnhplz, and one is , inclined to wonder,' after this.'display,.' if referees baye not been te bluine fpr this. Certainly, on Wednesday '. night, tho cleanness' of bis methods was one, of . the fai'tures of hia display. There,wae,none or that wild hugr girig; clinch one so ibften sees amongst amar teiirs. .Most of .the time both his anjis were i'reii, and, necessarily so.. Ah-.in-fighter must have his arms 'free for thorn to be oj any use to him. Ho does not ■' waste his tinie winding them round his opponent. The only thing in XJnJiolz's fighting to which any exception could ■ legitimately Tie taken was his habit; of boring his head fate Tracy's shoulder, and, for this. Dr. M'Lean, whose reforcciiig throughput tf)e evening was of the highest clue?,-promptly adniin.istorec}.,a qaution.; ■'.----. ''..-■.. ■'■■:■ -.;' .■ -. ;-.

. After, seeing last Wednesday's : content, one is forced to the cpnclueipn that Uio bfest stylo is not solely .that of -the Mace sohopl or the American school—oaoh at its beat, but in - genoral a judicibu? mixturo of the two. Because ope of the men was overmatohedtho contest was a, but the absolute good naturp ottho cqi!■tost, thedoan spirit of it, iji great', pai-t atoned for thftt -' ■ • ■• ■ ... . The preliniinfvriep if ore pf a good class, one of thow particularly bo. llio bout? between, tlie training Schopl pupils w»re- interesting, tliittqu. tho wiunor of Ws bout with Itonak> son, : ehoK-ing some good woiliatcloep rallgo; TJie bigger of the Jads in tho first iten) of the oyoning • js a most promising boxer, one who should with time prove to be right in the front rank of our amateurs. ■ En-

dowed with a fine roaoh, ho makce good uno of hifl loft, and hie right-harid hits aro cloau and straight. His worst fault appears to no a tendoncy to lower his head too muoh when loading. Againet bucJi a man as bhioldii, lor instance, this would bo disastrous. L, Murphy was much too good for Morris, his fine straight hitting with his left piling up points in every round, wlulo no made excellent use of hia right. His op-,-ponoi-.t had no idea of guarding against Murphy's loft, timo after tinio/being, ftaggered without attempting to use his right: guard at all. ■ ~'„,, , •Undoubtedly tho tit-bit of the evening was tho Shields-Coward "go," and oe an mstanco of the improvement a gpod. amateur is capable. «f nialtiiig in a fow.montlifi, >l would bo hard te parajlol, A littlo over a year ago Shfolds, though knooltod qut in the last'" fow seconds of. hp. heat with F. Kerr for tho provincial Gantaiir clifttnpiorh ship, proved lifmsalf ft clover nnd f/amo littlo boxer. A 'fow months Inter in a "go" with L. Porter he Ecomed to lmvo fionp entirely to pieces—dub to doubt to hie having changed, hie stylo altogether too quickly, Hie performance on Wednesday ovoning was a revejntion. Cotfard ie, ono.of o«r pjamcet and cleverest feather-weights, but,, withi the c\coption of tho third rpund, )n' which ho led, and the fourth, which was fjiirly, even, ho was never in the' hunt with" his' opponent.., Sliields's clever;use of his left, not only M. aii ofFonsivo weapon, 1 but aa a mqane i)f stopping the too impotupUß rushes of hie opponent, was a treai to witness, Ilw'clbyor ducking and his quick recovery to semi in hi? right, tho easp with which ho fooled Coward into making rqsl) advancosj' his clean and effective' upper-cutting, and the grace of all'Wβ movements wore thuigi^ too rarely seen amongst amateurs, ■•■ and his generalship all through wafl worthy, of § an oxporjencod professional. It is a big .tiling to say, but on his latest display tho writer is mcHnfjd to place • Shields m one pf the best iimateura yet seen ; in. Wellinpton, .If he Jβ content to stay in ! the ainateur raiiks, and if his future progress is anytliing Nke that of the paet twelve 'months, )(;•would ■be worth while sending him to oompeto at tlo next Olym'pip GansuiV ; ; ','. ~