BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 10

BOXING.

(Br Merctoy.)

The New Zealand championships for the ensuing season have been allotted to the Manawatu Boxing Association. -The balance-sheet submitted at the recent annual general mooting of the Council of tho New Zealand Boxing Association shows the revenue for the season (including a balance of £81 Bs. Gd. from tho previous season) ■ to have been .£287 9s. lid., and tho expenditure .6186 lis. 3d., leaving a credit, balance of .£IOO 18s. 3d. The bulk of the expenditure was incurred in sending a team to oydncy to compete at the Australasian championship meeting. Tho following officers were appointed:—Patron, Sir J. G. Ward) president, Dr. J. W. O'Brien (president Manawatu Association); Council .Committee, Messrs. C. T. Aschmnn, C. J. Cooper, J. It. Evans, J. F. Grierson, F. W. Johnston, A. It. Kirk, and J. E. Olliver; secretary, Mr. W. G. Atnck; horiorary auditor, Mr. H.'E: Marsh:

Johnson, Jeffries, and the Yellow Press.

.: The sporting press of the U.S.A. is not missing a chance of handing ouf John. Son-Jeffries'."items" to its-readers, Anj' old thing appears to do provided it concerns the two gladiators, and the following, are fair samples of the sort of thing that, since it is served up so often, must be wanted by the American public. ~..t ■ Says Tom. Sharkey: "With all ..respects to Jeff, hois like a big: black bear, weighing a ton, full of dash, and,aching, for a fight. And they ask: How about his wind That is the .best''joke of. the year. If.ho has no trouble with his wind there will, be.no fight. Instead,,the'coroner will have.a job on his hands'trying to find out/what 1 killed a/tall, /wiry coloured man.- As/long : as.you asked me I want to give you the inside on this fight, and you can wager the family jewols that Tom ■ Sharkey knows what ho is saying. Let; Jim Jeffries enter the ring one-half fit—remember, half'fit—as the day ho.met me at Coney Island ten years ago, and he will win." V'/,' Arid again in another : paper this appears .—"There is some rare competition liere at present between the yellow evening papers in publishing the 'Life and. Battles of James J. Jeffries.'-' Tho' "Evening World' seems to have the official -life, and, taking the opening chapter .as, a criterion of what is to,follow,.wo.will ,be handed but information and a life which will beat out Sullivan's; '-and ' Nelson's books. You can only imagine the lengths a'yellow sheet will'go to, .but' I think Jeffries's story will beatevcr.vthirig.'/Thb' man who is responsible for the.anecdote writes that Jeffries is a lineal descendant of Godfridus;. who was originally :a : Norse Viking.- : but. fought against .England, in. JOfiC. The 'Journal's' story,is-more, accu.iate, perhaps—it certainly is mbre/modZest, as it says Jeffries inherited'his, fighting'qualities, from his 'father,'who was .'a 'circuit rider'- (i.e.,. an itinerant preacher), and/successfully fought against, the deviKont- in the wild West. Poor Johnson! Jeffries is still hunting, but from his camp we hear that his manager has made arrangements for moving pictures to to made during his training. In what little betting has taken' place already here and in the West Jeffries is favourite at 10 to 7 on." The Negro's Doings. The following on the same engrossing topic are culled from American exchanges: "Jack Johnson's caso was called in court recently and may come up, for hearing again. It is understood that Pinder, the aggrieved party, has 'disappeared,' and very probably the champion will be discharged. Johnson and his wife were in an automobile accident near_ Detroit on Tuesday, but fortunately escaped without damage. Tho big negro, as soon as his trouble here is over, will commence training at his home, Wabash Avenue, Chicago. Johnson's determination to fit him-, self for a gruelling contest is shown by the care with which he is selecting his chief trainers and assistants. While Jeffries will have a group of famous boxers and wrestlers to help him the negro will not be outclassed in this respect. The first move.in the.direction of an all-star staff was niado when Johnson engagedTommy Rvan, who trained- Jeffries for several fights. _ He taught.tho champion his crouch position, and should know the best way to beat that style of defence. It was Ryan who, with Billy Delaney, coached Jeffries for his match with Fitzsimraons in 1899, and Ryan probably knows as much about Jeffrios's style of boxing, as any trainer the negro could have secured. Furthermore, there is considerable enmity between Ryan and his former pupil. The trouble began over some financial disagreements. No Place for Boxing Events. The bout betweon Stanley Ketchel and Sam Langford in Philadelphia at the end of last month was, as is usual with contests in this city, not nt all satisfactory. By the State laws, all ring contests arelimited to six rounds, and no decision may bo given. Thus tho settlement is in itho" hands of the newspapers, and it can 'bo. understood that,, when matters are at all close, there is no finality at all. This appears to have been 1 the caso in the present instance, and, as a result, wo are informed that an endeavour is being .made by various promoters, "Jim" Cof-, froth among them, to bring the men together again in a 20 or 45-round. contest, either this month or next. However, in view of Longford's engagement with Burns, on September 4, which, by the way, ho has clinched by putting up his deposit of 5000 dollars, it is likely that "Sid" Hester, the promoter thereof, will have something to say'with respect to any intermediate, fighting. Hester is hanging up a largo purse, no less than .£7OOO, and it is extremely unlikely that he will risk tho drawing capacity of his principals by allowing them to risk defeat or i disablement before the battle. In the six-round business he was quite safe, such affairs would but whet public interest, I but the contest to a finish (which is 1 practically what a 10 or more round con.

tost with either Langford or Ketchell would be) would perhaps see the black woll settled as a "drawing" factor. Of courso it might sco him a good winner, and thus a bigger "star" than ever, but, with a man like Ketchell, the risk is too great, and it is unlikoly that Hester will stand it if he has the power to stop. it. Another American item of interest is that New Zealander "Charlie" Griffin and one "Max" Baker, of Boston, came together at the National Athletic Club in New York on March 22. A fast and fierce ten rounds resulted in a draw being declared—Griffin's aggressiveness making up for a littlo extra skill on his opponent's part. Obit.: "Reg" Midwood, of Tasmania. A strango blight of misfortuno seems to havo' settled upon the ring in Australia lately. The first serious aifair was the death of "Eeg" Midwood through blood poisoning. Midwood was o fine 6tamp of ' young athlete, and was deservedly popular. He was the Tiismanian heavy and middleweight champion, and after winning the highest amateur honours turned professional, and was just on the threshold of his new career when ho was "knocked out" by an opponent whom he had never intended meeting so soon. The Accident' to Summers. Following hard upon the heels of this bad news camo word that "Johnny" Summers, the English boxer who was to have met Uuholz on Wednesday last, had met with a nasty accident. It appears that while opening a window at his training quarters in Katoomba, the sash came down on his hand, breaking two fingers. It is feared that Summers will box no more in Australia in : consequence—he talks of taking his iujured member home to be nursed back into its old cunning. Then followed Tommy Burns with his bout of ptomaine poisoning, which has already been dealt with in Thursday's issue. Then we learn that "Billy" Elliott injured his hand in his recent championship battle, and will not be able to box again for a couple of months or so. No End of Accidents. Then comes.the cable about the Robert-son-Clibborne fatality at the Gaiety, Sydney.. Neither of t(iese boxers is, known to "Mercury," and the message was very brief, so particulars will be awaited with interest. The later news that tho death was caused through a rupturo of a blood vessel in the brain and not, as reported at first, from a broken neck, makes the case against the sport a trifle weaker, but it cannot be denied that this sad affair, following as it does so closely upon the heels of ,the M'Carthy fatality In America, is likely to do much harm to boxing as a' sport. It behoves those in control in the Dominion to bo especially careful in fnturo that nothing occurs to shako public confidence—the strictest medical and police supervision should- be sought for, and no pains should -bo spared to avoid an occurrence of such accidents here. The Doings of Devitt. On May 2, at Brisbane, "Gus" Devitt, tho ex-Wellingtonian, and "Ted" Johns met in their return match. It will be remembered that in their previous bout Johns knocked out the New Zealander ;in the 12th round, when the latter was c leading on points This time, however, Bevitt mado no mistake. Right at the beginning of the first round Johns was stopped with a left swing. On rising, he was sent dowh again for eight, and then another left swing pnt him away for good. A purso of .£65 was involved.

. This victory puts Dovitt in a position where he can got good matches and money. "Dick" Cullen is to ho his next opponent, and, as Cullen was to have taken Summers's place against TJnholtz on Wednesday night at tho Stadium, the way seems clearing for Devitt if he does not allow a little success to overpower him. Jack Clarke, tho English boxer, who figured, here last season, and who has now got his footing on the other side; is.also after Devitfs scalp. Lang's/Plans.'' ' There.appears to be some hitch in "Bill"/ ,tang's .arrangements for his .Americaiit.tcip.i.'Notwithstanding Mr. H. that the tour has .been, definitely decided upon, W. Williams;- Lang's' manager, has informed :thc ...Melbourne ■, correspondent of tho fßof eree" .■• that : nothing 'is settled, and that Jj.ang was going "showing" in the Victorian back country. An Event That Fell Through.

i Last' week '"Slercury" commented upon J. • J ,'■ lialonpy.'s- defection i'rom his engagement with the Sydney Gaiety management to .box- "Iko" Stewart. Maloncy has. written the following to the "Ee-feree"-,hi; explanation of his action:— "Just a ; lino 'to. inform you ■ that I was matched with'Gleason at the Gaiety, and through -some' cause that I cannot account for, my match with liiin was put off, and '"Ike" Stewart put on instead. I was not aware of this until four.days before-my /match with Gleason was to come off. To . this I objected to the manager of the Gaiety, and We«kes must have .thought thoy f had a good simpleton to deal with, but' when I saw it was advertised ' i,u : tho ; papers I decided to moot Stewart, and then was told it was too late—that' they had two other boxers engaged, and that they could not find.Stewart. ;Now, sir, you will oblige me if.you will insert in your paper that I:am; prepared: to meet any middle-weight in Australia, Joe Costa preferred.—l am, 'etc:,* James ; J.'; 'Maloney, heavy-weight champion of New Zealand." Another Star Has Set. ■ Another rising star has set. It may be romembered that, some time back, some commotion was caused in boxing circles by a report that "Jack" Johnson had struck trouble in a sailor in a training bout. We were told that the sailorman had bustled Johnson considerably, and ended up by knocking him over. This brought him into the limelight at onco, and a match was arranged with "Jim" Barry, a second-rate Chicago "heavy." Particulars of the bout are now to hand, and are given below:—

Jim Barry, the Chicago heavy-weight, knocked out Gunboat Smith hero in the ninth round of what was to have been a ten-round go before the Oakland Wheelman's Club at Piedmont Park last night. It was Barry's match from the start. He was faster and showed bettor ring generalship than the local man, who took an unmerciful beating before ho was finally put- to the mat for the full count. Smith was floored- several times from right-hand blows, but his wonderful ability to take punishment pulled him through. His leads were weak, and in the ninth Barry stepped in when he got ready, and measured Smith with a right. Referee Smith, seeing that Smith was helpless, 'ordered his seconds to pack him off. Barry was in grand condition, and many predict that he will beat "Sam" Langford when they meet in a forty-five-round event at Los Angeles. Gunboat Smith is an ex-sailor, and was supposed to bo a second Sharkey, as he had shown good. form in Johnson's camp when the negro was training for his bout with Kotchol.