BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 936, 1 October 1910, Page 12

BOXING.

(By "Mercury.")

' DOCTOR'S OPINION ON . IT. v Heart-burning on West Coast. There is much heart-burning on tho West Coast over the recent Mitchell v. Rudd heavy-weight contcst at Napier. It will be remembered that Mitchell, who hails from Millerton, won the title some weeks ago from E. J. Picton, and that at Napier lie was ignominiously knocked out in half round by Rudd,' tho Wellington "heavy." Naturally it was concluded that in defeating the champion, Rudd stepped into his shoes. But this is not the view taken on the coast, Tlio Westport "News" publishes a "letter on the subject from its Millerton correspondent stating that Mitchell did not know thai the title was involved. He understood that he was merely filling a gap, and he went straight from his work without any training to help the Hawke's Bay people out of tho diffioulty caused by Jim Griffin's defection. The letter runs:— "There seems to be a report going ~ about that Mitohell, through his de- • feat by Rudd, has lost]the New Zealand championship. I have been mak- • ing inquiries, ana as far as I call learn, neither. Mitchell, Wallace > (Mitchell'6 second), nor th© secretary of the Millerton Boxing Associa- • tion know that that is the case. Rudd - and Griffin were to meet, and at the last moment Griffin could not pass the • medical examination. ' The ■ : Hawke's Bay Boxing Association wir-:. Ed to Mitohell if he would come and fill the gap. Mitohell would never • '. have gone to oohtest the .championship under the conditions, leaving the mine hurriedly to catch the steamer : to Wellington, then ten hours cramped up in a railway carriage, and fight for the championship the day after." This would appear tb.be-a case for settlement by<the N.Z.8.A., and it-would be as well for one or other of the claimants to bring the.matter before that body to save, future recriminations. ~ 1 . ' The Napier Boxing Association has closed with "Ted" Green, of Sydney, for a contest with W. Wenand in lieu ■ of "Dealer" Wells. The inducement is, a iBSO purse and . JBIS expenses, and ' the date of the clash is set for October 22. Sydney Stadium Reopens. On Wednesday last the Sydney Stadium was reopened with the Johnny' Summers Mohegan bout. This was the second time of meeting for these two, tho first being last April,' when the Englishman put his. man out in the nineteenth round, after, a terrific. struggle..: .Next week Summers, is. to meet Arthur-Doug-las, the South African, which, by the bye' appears to he a bit rough on Summers, as he is hardly.likely'to get-past-Mehe-gan without some hard knocks—if at all. This also is a return match, the. first essay also being-in.April -last.. 'On this occasion the result was a twenty-round , dead-heat, so the present meeting should be a> good draw and a. keen battle. Later, Arthur Cripps and ' New 1 Zealander, "Dave" Smith -will come together, and ■after that, on dates to be fixea later, the American contingent :Mr. ("Amateur"). Corbett is bringing out will be dealt witn —to the best of the local boxers' ability. The following matches, as .the society notes say, have been arranged, and willshortly, take place:—Billy. Papko and Ed. Williams, Cyclone Thompson and Arthi: Douglas, Ray Bronson and FranF Thorn. Jimmy Clabby, a welter-weight, will propably have Mark Higgins as an opponent. Which Papko Is It? It is a moot point whether the Billy Papko mentioned above is not the prosent .-world's.'. middle-weight champion. Up to .'last year he- and Stanley -Ketchell shared .the honour, and fought for it an four occasions. On three of these, including: the last,- Ketchell was victorious, ■ but on the third the "Illinois Thunderbolt," as Papke was. picturesquely dubbed in the "States," "outed" the,redoubtable Stanley. The latter has now grown out of the middle-weight, section, and is fighting at over 12 stone, so presumably his mantle reverts to its late -possessor,- - .in which ca6e Ed. Williams will find himself battling for world's championship honours before .! Elliott and Russell.

, To-night. "Billy"- Elliott- and "Joe" Russell medt' for the third time at the 'Brisbane Stadium for the Australian Feather-weight Championship. 'On each of the, previous,occasions the, New Zealander has got the verdict, but each time Russell has made a, better: Showing, and Brisbanites. hope that this time he. will reverse matters. It ; is to be hoped ,-he will not, as suoh a result might' interfere with-Elliott's projected and long-looked for ' "go" with our late . visitor, . "Sid"' Sullivan, and that' should be too good, a thing to be lost. / • r - ■ ! •• ''Bloodless Boxing." > i "Harper's" publishes an article by one Dr. Guv Otis Brewster on boxing, > in which; the worthy medico, who; is described as an American, with a firm belief, in the value of the sport as an exercise, and who' is the principal "of a big; boys' club, strongly advocates the general adoption, of what he calls "Bloodless : Boxing." He argues; that' all games have passed through stages of elementary /savagery, to 6uch refinement as they have, now variously '■ attained except boxing. This)-, he' says, "is still : in the primitive stage in which injury to the player' is the main point of interest, and in which.two men are. expected to . maul each, .other fir a certain number of rounds or until; one of them is too-badlv crippled to continue tho struggle." "This antedeluvian principle" (I still quote the doctor) 'ii j sufficient reason for the outlawed status of boxing. ' But. it may bo altered by the establishment of,regulations in which the present action and combativeness may be retained, while, at the same time, the boxers may be so protected from injury, that more soientifio movement may lie developed, with added mental concentration and taotics. ... I This is ' where the reformer gets in his work. He goes on: "To attain the intent possibilities, of boxing and to. retain its original spirit, I have worked out a practical game in which team spirit and definite scoring have - supplanted individual maulings, with guess-work deoisions and knock-outs." Then the doctor gives the rules and . regulations governing hi 6 "gentle" art'of fighting. It 1 is not necessary to go into these in full.; The following will show their purport:—"Each contestant when in the ring .wears a head aud body protector to prevent bruising or stunning trorn a blow." "Points are scored oh blows , landed over the j heart, stomach, jaw, and face,, with fractions of points for penalised , blows . landed." "In action for more than five seconds is penalised." "The hands are protected' with padded.gloves, and'all blows!are required to be delivered with full force and precision." % '.i ... This is flying from one ;extremo. to the other with a vengeance. In fact, the doctor seems to' have eliminated from tho sport the very qualities .that have hitherto. stood as its saving graces. Under his, -system thore-would be no call for cour'age—there would be nothing 'I to fear. There would be no exercise'of that capacity for taking a hard knock without- losing ' one's temper, no test of onduraueo. In fact, nothing at all that has earned for boxing tho name of the "manly art." A bout uuder theso conditions would bear just about the same ratio to the real thing that a modern gymnasium fenoing bout would to an old-time battle-axo combat.

Hawke's Bay Association and Green. Reverting to a former paragraph about the engagement of "Ted Green by the Napier Association, according to an exchange, a complication has arisen that may affeot this. In its report ,of a meeting of tho Hawko's Boy Association the paper in question says: "A letter was receivod.from tho Now Zealand,Council,i pointing out that the Napier Association had violated tho conditions on which .it was admitted to affiliation ,by including in its membership a person whom tho counoil declined to recognise, and .stating that the Hawko's Bay Association would have to oanool that'affiliation." If this disqualification—for that lis what it amounts to—is adhered to, and, if Green is already on his way, and, again, if the Napier Association finds itself committed to an expenditure of a purse of .£SO, plus expenses,' and is : not nutted to hold the contest, then' in■will there bo trouble in the land,