BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 16

BOXING.

(By "Mercury.-'*)

Ordeal in Smith. . v For Boxing Day 'tfVkijf events -of Australasian iuterest''>a i i' 6 scheduled'; .The one nearest home is the Papke-Smith affair at the, Stadium, Sydney. Apparently, although Papke claims to 1m tho world's champion' in' the middle-weight class, ho is to meet the New Zealander at catchweights, as tho advertisements in the Sydney press do not proclaim the meeting as a championship fixture. . Smith was once amateur middle-weight champion of the Dominion. Ho hails froni Otago, and is considered to bein . fact has proved himself to be—the best of the present-day Australian "middles" and light-heavies. He doc-s not hold any championship title, but had the narrowest possible miss from capturing tho middle-weight honours as a result of his battle, some weeks ago with Arthur Cripps, the present champion. Smith defeated tho holder.'.very decisively, but, although the battle was a championship fixture, he missed the title by exactly one pound avoirdupois. At the weighingill, he scaled list. 51b. —one pound outside the weight limit. Good man though ho undoubtedly is, however, he cannot be considered to have more than a very narrow fighting chance agaiiist Papke. In the first place, the latter's greater-experience will be a great handicap, and, again, . providing the "catchweight" supposition is correct, of which there can bo little doubt, the chances are all . that the. New Zealander will be giving, away weight. The odds seem too big for success, but Smith can be depended upon to make a" goofl showing. .He will box as long as he can stand, and .is. fast and vigorous. The question is: Can he combat the American close-in, rough-house tactics, and the hurly-burly fighting methods that earned for Papke the'Mubriquet injiis native United States of the-i,lllinois Thunderbolt"? We trow not.

Lang and J. Burns, 'The' second event referred to is also to be participated in by an Australian "»'ii» U t en « a l'r- The principals are Bill Lang, of Victoria, and. "Jack" Burns, ot Uliiornia, United States of America, and, if American files are to be believed, the deciding ground is to be plympia, London. Mr. H. D. M'lntosh'is handling the aflair. This will be Lang's second engagement sinco leaving Australia. 11l the first lie sustained deieat at the hands of Al. Ivauli'man over a six-round mSFv!*' V- v hlch ' hoffever > he acquired merit by sticking out the distance after breaking a hand in the second round. "Cyclone" Thompson Explains. Apropos of"Amerioan boxers and,their last ww'k fh mas; r J . eniember ed that, last week, the circumstances of the repent engagement in Sydney between Cyclone .. Thompson and Hughie Mehegan .were crihcised in this column/An. wi? n not m ?ll Slmilal i- °°" lment > which 11 * complimentary either to 114 - St - "lisHt-weigiit," o? ,lo the Stadium management, has been made, nearer the scene of the .fiasco. In anj case, Thompson has considered it necessary to place his- sido- of the story before a befooled public" through the columns- of the "Referee," and, as the other side has been given here, it is only that his should also appear. He .says:— Kindly permit me a few Jines in regard to my boxing bout last week «ith Hughie Mehegan. Tou will remember that three weeks ago I stated that I would make lOst. for the match, and offered to bet .£IOO. on it, besides having put up a forfeit of £50 with the Stadium to make, weight. When L agreed to that !-I was-sincere and honest in my intentions, otherwise I would not have risked that much money no matter what the gate might be, for ■ I- have never been accused in my long career of doing anything but what was straight and honest. I have always weighed heavy out of training, but'never found any difficulty in taking off weight when I had to. I made 1351b., which is Ost. 91b., for Packy M'Farland at Kansas City the past year and have made 9st. 71b. repeatedly for matches in the States, for American boxers are even moro strict about weights than your boys here. "When I stated that I was down to weight I want to say again that I was below 10st., as Charles Holway, the sprinter, will_ testify, but I had taken off the weight in too great a hurry, and found myself so weak that it' alarmed me, and Holway advised me to stop reducing, at once, otherwise it would result in fever. I stopped, and began to cat solid food and everything I wanted;-in fact, I overdid the thing, and gained so rapidly that it surprised me tho way I took on weight. It may have been "the salt air that helped, also the climate, but I never .weighed so heavy in all my life

as I have here. Probably I should have notified the Stadium that I could not make the weight, but back home it is customary for a man to simply forfeit his money to his opponent, and not weigh at all, unless otherwise stipulated. fore, I thonght nothing wrong about it here, but am sorry I did not let them know now and have called it oft', or secured a heavier- opponent. It was no fault of the Stadium, for,they insisted oil having mo weigh, when in reality my match was ' originally made at catchweights. "Now I cannot do more than offer to meet any man they secure for me a.t list, or list. Gib.—Arthur Oripps, Ed. Williams, Dave Smith, or anyone. And after I have met them, or any'one of them, I will be willing to post a substantial forfeit to make lOst. for Mchegan, and failing to make the'weight, he can take the forfeit and not ipeet me at all. I cannot do more." Over Here to Box Rudd. On Thursday "Mercury" had a short talk with "Monty" Andrews, the Australian boxer who is to do battle with "Bill" Kudd in Westport on Tuesday for the heavy-weight championship of the Dominion and a purse of <£100. _ Andrew's was high up in the middle-weight division on the other side some two or three years back, but up till recently has been "lying low." Lately, in Sydney, he has been getting into the game again, and has won his last two matches. He is now weighing about lOst. 101b., and after his Coast engagement, will be open to sign on' with .any association TCqninng his services. He is' not very particular about giving away a reasonable handicap inweiglit, but naturally would prefer a "middle." He asked the writer, to make this fact known, so will the various associations please npte? , ~ ■ The Australian' will need to. be at the best of bis. form to beat Rudd who will scale about a stone heavier. In fact. the New Zealander should, unless his capabilities have been overrated (and Mercury" does not tliink they have been,) win handily.