BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 894, 13 August 1910, Page 12

BOXING.

(Bl BiERCDET.i AN IRON MAN IN THE RING. September 2 and 3.—Australasian Amateur Championships (Auckland). ; September B.—Burns v. Langford. September 17.-W.B.A. Tourney. A London sporting weekly asserts that it has authority for tho statement tliat "Jack" Johnson will box either "Tommy" Burns or "Sam". Langford in London in September, under Mr. M'lntosh's management. The Iron Man, Two weeks ago "Mercury" reprinted a paragraph from an English exchange i to the effect that "Joe" Grimm, the' "Italian Iron-jawed Man," who recently paid a visit to Australia, had at last been knocked-out This has since been contradicted by fuller accounts of tho battle between tho Italian freak fighter and the negro "Sam" M'Vea that have sinco come to hand. These reports show that Grimm must be, as he claims, absolutely invulnerable to a knock-out blow. The following report enlarges on tho point :— Whatever tho performance at tho Hippodrome, Paris, on Saturday night might be called, it certainly should not bo reforred to' as a boxing match, states the "New York Herald." The performers were "Sam" M'Vea, tho Calif ornian negro heavy-weight, and "Joe"• Grimm, of Philadelphia. For twelve rounds Grimm- took a most awful hammering from tho powerful negro without showing- a sign of distress. True, he went to tho boards every time he was hit, but never stopped down longer than the count of six. He was. eventually dis- ,. qualified for going down without receiving a blow. i The building was packed. with a fashionable audience when the two heavyweights took the ring. ' The negro was under the eye of Mr. Ecclestone, his English manager, while Grimm had his American training staff. Proceedings opened with a speech. by Grimm, and then M'Vea discovered that his opponent was oiled. This was found to-be so, and the ludicrous spectacle was then seen of "'Sam" and his black second, "Bob" Soanlon, rubbing down Grimm with towels.

. It is impossible to/describe the rounds in detail, for it was a monotonous punching match by M'Vea, who used every blow he had heard about, without doing more than tickle Grimm to all appearance. He hooked with right and left, jabbed, swung, and upper-cut him like a triphanimerjiist as he liked till the audience was heartily sick of seeing one.man mado such a"■ chopping-block of. Yet Grimm at times essayed a wild- blow too. Floored Fifty-Two Times. ' M'Vea started smiling, and even guffawed as he. watched Grimm dance around. Then ho grew puzzled, and in tho fifth' round rubbed his nose reflectively with his glove as if in doubt as to what blow to try next to batter down this iron man. He grew angrier and yet more angry as the.rounds went on—indeed, he was visibly, tiring when at last Grimm was disqualified just as the thirteenth round began. There were many protests from tho onlookers to have the contest stopped; but it must be confessed Grimm got up apparently quito fresh- every time, and had hardly a mark on him. Indeed, it is seemingly his tactics to 'keep going ■down for a refresher. Ho was down nino times in one round. So monotonous did his visits to tho boards become that the audience began counting with tho referee each time—always to six.

After the match Grimm again addressed the audience-'from the ring, maintaining that M'Vea would not have knocked him nut if they had gone ,on all night—which js perhaps 'true enough. :. '

..Another account in "Boxing" classifies, the , affair as:"Weird and Wonderful," and'says'that/Grimm was floored 52 times in th 0.12 rounds. . , ; . -Last night,-.in .the. Waterloo Coliseum, Sydney, Percy Hale, late amateur "heavy" champion of. Wellington, and Jim Jlol-, oncy, another Now.Zealander, wero billed to uieot one" another. . ... On TKursday morning last "Billy" Elliott was to have met "Joe" Eussell in Brisbane for the Australian "feather" championship. Another Australian engagement of note eventuates to-day, also at Brisbauej when "Johnny" Summers, the English ex-light-weight champion, with whom negotiations a.ro at present', in train for a visit to Wellington under the management of the local meets "Bob" Whitelaw in a 20-round contest; Clergyman With the Gloves On. An unusual feature of the Queensland amateur championships held ut, the end of last month was the .appearance in the ring of a clergyman. Of his showing, the "Ecfereo" says :—"The draw of the meeting was the Rev. Hulton Sams, a member of the English, Church Bush Brethren, stationed at. Winton, who fought in both the light and middle-weight classes.' Hβ won the light-weight, and forfeited in the middle-weight, as he could not stay over the intervening time between the opening bouts and the finals. He is a rare fighter, this parson;- full of force, , and loves the game.- He was in fine condition, and once the gong had rung he never left his man. The referee was always in the way. as far, as the'minister was concerned, and he hit and woto his opponents out. In his bout in the middle-weight division he was giving away about a stone and a half, but he did all the forcing, and won on points after the six rounds had been rattled off. And he won well, too, for he had Ryan (his opponent) ■ hanging on for dear life at the finish." , Bad for our Boxing. On Thursday and Friday of last week the Christchurch Sports Club brought off a very . successful tourney for all classes. In its. report,, however, the "Press"- says:— "The Christchurch Sports Club : should take a- word of warning. There is too much fighting and too little boxing in the bouts. The competitors go- for a knock-out from the jump. There is no chance for science unless it is backed up by a solid ■ punch. The gallery demands ferocity, and almost invariably gets . it. Tins iij the sort of thing which encourages others .to rail against the sport, and in these days the 'others' have a large say .in-.nshat happens. A word to the wise should be sufficient."

This is, applicable to most, if not all, , of our amateur tourneys, but are the : associations and the competitors entirely culpable ? Does not some of- the blame lie at tho door of the legislation that prevent* amateur competitions going more, than the allotted sir rounds? The writer is far from being alone in assuming that it does. In the "sprint" contests there is 'no time for a boxer to settle down to gnage his opponent's strength, ami to sum up his weaknesses. To keep his end up lie must fight from the jump and all the time, else he acquires a debit balance of points that only a knock-out can wipe off. Our boxers know this only too well,. hence ' the . wild and woolly nature of our amateur exhibitions. .'■' Victoria College Doings. The Victoria College championships last Saturday night provided an evening's capital entertainment. As js only to bo expected from so young an institution, the showing of the competitors was generally rather crude, but there . was ample evidence that the, club is doing good in its particular sphere .of 'Varsity life, and has a. good standing with tho students. Of the contestants there was one bright particular star in the person of Jackson, one of the forwards of the football team. This boxer,, although he had undergone a gruelling match in the afternoon, turned out in no less thim four lwuts, two heats each of the middle and ■ heavy-weight classes, and was successful in all. .. This qualified him for the finals in these divisions, but the strain was too much, and ho was forced to scratch for the deciding bouts. Jackson is very promising indeed, is .cool and resourceful,. has a good; straight punch in each hand, and, with the expnriojice that will come if he sticks lo flio sport, will make a boxer of far more than average merit. ■ He should provo an asset to the college in the Kiislor tournaniont ■