BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 978, 19 November 1910, Page 12

BOXING.

——— - (By "Mercury.") LIFE- STORY OF A STALWART. ■ BOROUGH MAYOR AND BOXER, •Nelson-rthe. Durable Dane. ; There are rumours in the air of another world's, championship battle, despite .'.the, .report that the recent Reno debaclo would bo the last; of theso big fixtures qn 'Amer.i-: ??,? «"!.■ This time it is the light-weight title, that .is involved, and the pants are to be Adolph Wolgast," present champion, and ex-champion "Battling":, li According to word -received- bycable in Sydney, the projected contest wiil ! S ver ; twenty rounds, and will bo fb'u'glitat San Francisco on' December. 24. Wolgast is to get £100 training expenses, and 40 per cent, of the gate, with a of win or lose.

. . Battling'' Kelson, tho "Durablo jQane," t .picturesque figure among the world's' ■fighting men. He was:born at' Copenhagen, Denmark, on Juno 5, 1882, : but.waS ; itaken, to the U.S.A. at an-early .age,', to ■find that' the transplanting had- accelcr c ' ated a', naturally pugnacious disposition. !He 6peedily drifted to tho ring, as a safe and jprofitojdo outlet for his combativeness, and it is. on record that, in.his first contest/,ho knocked: his opponent out in jone round. He was then only fourteen. IFor the next four years his hands were full, bnt he was never beaten, none of his battles . going more than seven rounds. Then he sustained his first defeat at Chicago, in Soptember, 1900, but, by this time, was giving away weight galorey and fighting any old thing that came alonp-" His. list: of battles over the next .five years is a tremendous one, and, naturally, his big percentage of wins hoisted liim gradually, towards the top of this light division, and also (for the "Battler" was over ii good business man and a good citi■zen) heaped up liis bank balance. In .1904,1 ie got fairly among the top-iiotchers in lus-class, and, in November, .1904, he "arrived" (per agency of 'a ' knock-out) .against Toung; Corbett. In the following month, however, he sustained, a' setsback from: "Jimmy" Britt, losing in •■twenty: rounds. In the following September, after' minor victories, he met the ■redoubtable "Jimmy" again—this time for Itlie world's championship. In the eighteenth -Tound Britt'was down and out, 'and Nelson was champion. i Battle and Borough Control. Theri'came a bad run-for tW "Battler." On September 3, IBOG. lie lost the title to a negro—the late "Joe" Gans—on a .foul in the. forty-secqnd round,. at Gold-; •field. Then followed a" series of shortdistance affairs, among which Unholz figured. J Again came: disaster.' This time : it was:"Jimmy" Britt, who, in July, 1907, .'beat Nelson in twenty rounds. Britt whs. •subsequently put .out of court by GaSs;' and,, in July, .190S, Nelson came again, land knocked the negro out .in the seventeenth; round—a proceeding whlsii .Be re.v peated'in tho following September: in the ,twenty-firsl; round, and . thus cemented his grip on the title. All .this- time Nelson was doing-"some-, thing-more than making his mark as a fighter. In business he ivas a well-known and capable, figure, and when;-.three.'.!or'' four _years back, 1 he went into municipalpolitics, ho found the'way'easy,.for:.liim,' .owingi to his popularity, and decided ability;-. Until , lately,: if not actually at the present, time, lie has been mayor of tlio small; town near: San Francisco where :.jio liyeS;, and.is a man of substance in"everj; .way. ;

But the call of the ring lias always been strong for him, and:early this year came -yet. another engagement,; and, with it, (trouble. : .There had been climbing up ithe pugilistic ladder one Adolph. Wolgast, isi Teutonic _ gentleman, .with the same ■fighting abilities as had earhed NeUon his fame -and ,'nom-de-guerro.. Early , in tlio present year, they came"together, arid,' after a liair-raisihg contest, tho "Battler" ■was fain to cry enough. He was fairly beaten, at his own game, pugnacity and durability, but now again, apparently, he ; feels capable of retrieving his lost laurels. Twenty-rounds, however, is a short' fight for Turn:-. In his championship-battles he invariably insisted on a 45-round contest, and there is no doubt that it was this that won him 50 many events. Ho was, without a doubt durable. And'more, he never troubled to dodge punishment. He simply took it until his adversary was tired, and then waded in at the latter end of the fray, arid "cleaned hira up." These were tho tactics, which lie tried' against Wolgast on the previous occasion, only Wolgast omitted to tire—a disconcerting departure from tlio normal. Still, on the present occasion,. Wolgast would make . the , conditions, and . is no doubt responsible for the short; journey. .The Lion,: iri His Path Now. Wolgast by the . way, is the object of an appreciation by one of the imported American boxers now in Australia, who enthuses in this wise: "Wolgast is good goods. Ho often-Boes.butTand fights with no more than a couplo of- days' training, and gets away with what ho is after at •that. . We—Wolgast and I—used to eat and-room, together, for quite a big while, and I know him better than do most people. _ He's a flashy fighter—that is, he gets . going in flashes. Wolgast-'ll do more-fighting in a minute than most in tho game '11 do in three rounds. He smothers a good deal, and tWn unwinds and makes a bolt, hitting all ways. Back-handers are as plentiful as hooks and swings when Wolgast is busy; and they come from everydirection—sideways as well as upwards and' downwards, it's a sight to see him hitting at top speed. Bing! Bing! goes, tho. left or. right any .waif, and anyhow it can land. He's the foxiest fellow iu tho world to-day, I think." This, then, is the proposition that Nelsoji is to up against ;on Christmas Eve. Whoever issues triumphant on that day, it would appear to b,o a safe prophecy that neither will make a very comfortable Christmas dinner on the day following. .; Events Nearer Home. . ' , Coming to a championship event nearer home, -tho, Australian files show that Frank Fitzjohn,: the. New South Wales amateur, failed iii Ms attempt to wrest the Australian "feather" title from Queensland "Joe" .Russell; who recently won' it from'our; "Billy" Elliott: ' The contest was a good one,> went the full iO rounds, and was 1 won by, a. small 'margin only. ■By his victory over Halley at Auckland on Wednesday, "Titn" Tracy lias annexed another championship—the welter-weight title this time. -. It is ! not likely, however, that he will be allowed to . wear his new, honour long in peace, and quiet,-as both "Archie" Leckie and "Doss" Burns look upon 'the baublo as being within ;their reach, and are both likely to ask "Tim" what he is going to do about it before long. The "Beferee' has tho following about a well-known local, amateur and southern club forward of .a season or so back:— "Percy Hale, tho winner of tho' heavyweight event in'the last Illawa'rra Suburbs tournament, and runner-up-to Co(jhill in this year's State amateur championship, who will be well remembered through the plucky fight he made with Moloney, the New Zealander, at the Waterloo Coliseum a few months back, fs to niaka.his second appearance in a professional contest at the last-named' hall three weeks hence; with Nicholls for an opponent. • "The Cyclone" Cleans up Unholz, r Last week "Mercury" prophesied a more than usually. "warm" mix-up as the outcome of the "Cyclone" ThomsonKudolph Unholz meeting, and so, by ' the meagro particulars to hand so far, the event proved. The American's methods, by which ho can' reduce a rugged opponent like Unholz . to a state calling tor police interference in six rounds must be cyclonic indeed.. Unholz has built-up a' name as a boxer with a preference for "mixing.it" and rough house methods generally. This: time he caught a Tartar. The "Sydney Morning Herald's" account runs:'"A : boxing match took place last night at the Stadium, Bushcutter Bay, between Eudio .Unholz and "Cy-

clone" Thompson, and resulted in a win for the latter,.-though it was not at all a populnr win. Thompson is a fighter puro ancl simple, and relies upon his power. . of., taking punishment, and .his natural gameness to gain tho decision. From- the start lie -attacked.. In the clinches ho' put 'all:.'hisiTwright on Unholz,. .who: was bumped and wrestled all .. over.: tho, ring. Soon Thompson had a .lead, ■ which ho increased tho further the- battle-went. Soon after tho start .'of-;the ; sixth ground Unholz went down again, .and,. as~ it'!could bo seen that ho had no chance: of defeating his opponent, the police-interfered and stopped tho oontost. The- .decision was, therefore, : awarded . to' Thompson. Dominion Man .and Papke. , Oii Wednesday there will tako placo. at .tho Stadium,. Sydney, what is being advertised as a. contest for the middle.'wbight -championship of' the world—between'"Billy" "Papke. and New Zealander "Dave": Smith, it will be remembered .tKati.Smit.h.l recently: .defeated. Arthur Cripp.s in a contest for the Australian .title,-:- but >failed ; . to draw the weight, and so forfeited the'-good.-.effects'of his victory. Ho is . recognised as, being tine best. of the.: Australian light-heavies, but tliis goes far from ..putting him in the Papke- class.- However, he cfm be depended -upon to make a vigorous effort, for .he is every • inch a-trier,-. and, after all,. OBei.nevier, knows.