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Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 864, 9 July 1910, Page 13

BOXING.

THE NUMBING NEWS OF TUESDAY. GETTING TiI.INCS INTO FOCUS. ,

(By Merodbt.J

July 27, 28, 29.— N.Z. Amateur Championships (Palmerston North). It Hit and It Hurt. Tuesday's : fateful news-hit Wellington hard. It. hit and it hurt.. It was bitter enough that Jeffries should have been beaten, but to. have been beaten, and abolished, and wiped out, and annihilated so thoroughly, that was a stunning clout. Even those who fancied Johnson's chances expected him to be put through a long gruelling martyrdom before his ■number was hoisted, and the satisfaction of being able to say, "I told you so," did not amount to much. How could it id face of that thrashing? No one wanted to listen'to anyone, successful tipster or not. There was that overwhelming piece of Ethiopian glovework. It spoke for itself. No other voice was wanted—at least hot at first.

But, as the day wore on, tongues found themselves again, and wagged. They ■wagged in praise of Johnson, they wagged in a . way that seemed to show that this strange old earth is growing fairer and juster—always a little fairer and juster— in its" appreciation of the doings of men. True, as one listened to the chatter on the cars, one could not help noting that the praise was not gushing, was in fact a little grudging, but the admiration for tho Coloured Hurricane was there all the same.'.

A Triumph for the "Jem Mace" Style. And this admiration is well earned. Although the end came so quickly, the opening rounds must have tested tho black;; and-the rapidity with which he piled up the points before the battering arid exhaustion told on his opponent stamps him as one of tho best boxers the world has Not only is the, result of the contest a personal triumph for Johnson, it is also a victory for his style of boxing. Like his coloured predecessor, Peter Jackson, he is an .exponent of- tho "Jem Mape" style—the straight left and upright body method .that.'has been brought into general disfavour of :late years by the success of the latter-day crouching "two-banded" fighters 'of America: . If the present success of the. older method is responsible for the. revival bf the giston-like left that once' figured so prominently it the fighting man's outfit, and which was dropped in favour of the jabs, hooks, and half-arm-jolts, and)the accompanying disfiguring elements of infighting; and body-to-body "roughing," then "there will be some balm in (jilead after all. , This, however, is by the way.

When Jeffries Yelled. Getting back to Monday's disturoancei-. the- reason of Jeft'ries's downfall 'becomes apparent at once from a pel'iisal jof the cables. He was too Blow-r-far 'too 510w.,. We read that. In nearly every case where Johnson s blows connected, he lauded not only but two or three times. This tells its own story, .but further evidence on this point'is to be found in the fact that, after stopping three hard lefts,-'"Jeffries veiled." One can imagine that yell—or. rather,• roar. It would..,express .all ,the exasperation ol a .wounded, bull." stung to the last' degree, efforfs-Mo get 'at its tormentor proved, not only fruitless, but actually productive of further punishment. :

The Point that Won the Battle. , There is still every reason to believe that Jeffries ~had the required i strength and condition.' AVhat he lacked was the speed. to make these qualities effective. Last ■week, in trying. to. sum. up each man's chances of victory, "Mercury" ■wrote, apropos of a statement .of W-. tV. Ivaughton's that Jeffries was in -perfect physical condition

"But perfection of physical condition is not everything.' There is still that combination of the eye'with the. brain, and of the brain with the foot and hand, that is so essential, -and it is this very • faculty that is the first to go when a boxer ,'goes out of . the game.' Condition can be obtained by hard work and self-denial; the other quality is more, elusive. It can only come back by constant practice and use—if at all. It ,is as to whether ■this essential has come back to Jeffries that the doubt-exists, and it must continue to exist until it is settled by the contest.' • The training work with his boxing staff . would not disclose the secret.'- These are'all. Tias-beens/ and work that -would appear fast and effective ■ against them would lose these qualities against a boxer like Johnson.".

The event has proved the truth of these remarks,' as also does .. Jeffries's subsequent admission: "I believed I had m.v former dash, but. when the fi-ght first started, I found speed lacking." That tells the whole story of his early annihilation. Whether or not he could have beaten Johnson in. his old-time palmy days is a question, that can never i» answered, although, no doubt, it will be often asked. '■

The Fight's Pathetic Finish. The picture drawn by the cables.of -tlic closing ..scene of the contest is a pathetic one. The. old-time champion, fallen from. his high estate, bruised, bleeding, and loi the first time tasting the bitterness of defeat, being' helped to his corner and Rending, a message to his victor asking him for_ his gloves! If lie got those gloves his. feelings in days to come, when they come under his notice, are hard to , imagine. Will he think: "It is better to have fought and failed than never fought at all"? • Will he consider his orown-well-lost that in losing he failed through essaying the . impossible? One wonders. Yes, it is pathetic. that request for Johnson s' gloves. A little weak. tco.

Burns's Nanio Revived; During the week the writer has often heard tlio remark: "Wliv Toimnv i3ur«is made a better fight 01" it!" Now, (his is decidedly unfair to Jeffries. Against Burns Johnson was not ihe party. Hn did not "tour into" his'man as in the closing rounds of the latter contest. Ife was quite content to pivot round t and let Burns .rush to his own destruction. Had he gone after "Tommy" as he did after "Jeff," who then would have made the better stand ? That appears to bo a fairtir exposition of tho situation.

, By the way the cable anent the pecuniary emolument 1 secured by the boxers is obviously wiong, The message lias it that-a purse of 121,000 dollars, plus a bonus of 10,000 dollars, goes to each man, and that.the rest is to bo. divided,- GO per cent, going to the winner. The; "gate," by the same cable, (.only, amounted to 250,000 dollars, so -'t will be seen that the "rest" to be div-;!cd is a minus quantity. To the best of "Mercury's" recollection, the contest was for a nurse of 21,000 dollars, divided (GO per cent, ami -to per cent.),- with the picture results divined equally between tho contestants and the promoters.

The Big Palmerston Meeting. _ The next excitement in Dominion boxing circles is to be the championship tourney at Palmerston North 01; Jul- '7 28/ and 20. The local centres haws'nownearly all held their premiership contests, and will be busy selecting (heir representatives. _ The Wi!lli!s3tou°Ceutrp hits a team chosen, but "Mercury" understands that the final choice depends to a certain extent upon what the Talmerston Association is doing in the matter. The conditions of the big-tourney,• 08 laid down by the New Zealand Oou'nl cil, decrec that each centre can have two competitors only in each class, and as CWmerston North is affiliated to the local

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS AND OTHER PASTIMES.

body, co-operation is necessav.v. In any case, in 0110 division at least should the Wellington team be formidable—tho welter—with Watchorn and Tailored as its representatives.

The results of tho various centres' championship' tourneys have lx : e;i published, but space forbids any dealing with tho contests. It is worthy o! r.oir, how over, that at the Dunedin mooting Finncrty, lest year's light-weight reprcren- . tative-at the Australasian championships, was beaten in tho preliminary heat in his class. Australian Ring Gossip. A meeting of interest was scheduled to have taken plaet at the Cyciorama, Mel. bourne, on Monday last between Frank Thorn and "Rughie" Mchcgan. This will lie tho .fourth occasion 'upon which tho pair have clashed, and Thorn has so fat emerged victorious. -

Other Australasian engagements are Douglas v. Thorn, and Summers v. Unholz, both at Brisbane, on July IG. This clashing of dates is the result of rivalry bstween the managements of the two local "Stadiums." Brisbane is also to have a feather-weight championship contest between ex-New Zealander "Billy" Elliott (tho holder) and his late victim, "Joe" Russell, on August, 10. _ .As the cables have been silent regarding the Abe Attell-J. Driscoll contest for 'the feather-weight championship of the world, scheduled for July 2, and tho" Langford-Ketchell affair, which was to have ■ eventuated on the morning of the big battle,', it must be presumed that these matches have been postponed.