BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 12

BOXING.

(By "Mercury.-')

. NOTABLE CURRENT EVENTS. "Our Own" Conquers Papke. . Boxing- Day was a good day for Australian fistics.' In Sydney it saw the first check put upon the triumphal march of the American invader, when Dave Smith, a New Zealander,. defeated the formidablo American middle-weight, "Billy" Papke, tho manner of which has been fully described in The Dominion's daily columns. In London, too, the day saw "Bill" Lang, the Victorian, notch his first win—his opponent being "Jack" Burns, of Salinas, California. - Every follower of the sport in New Zealand must know by now that Smith scored heavily all along tho. line in the first of these encounters, and that, although the win oii a foul was not so satisfactory as a clean knock-out or point? win, the New Zealander was clearly 111 tho lead at tho abrupt termination of tho. contest. Of course (and particularly so with a fighter like. Papke), a boxing contest is never won until tho gong • has gono for tho last time; still, judging by the press accounts, Smith was moro than maintaining tho'lead secured in tho early stases of tho bout, while Papke is reparted as showing decided signs of wear and tear. Tho outcome is that Smith, who. has been elevated to tho position of an idol in' Sydney, has challenged tho American to' a contest for tho middleweight championship of tho world. There is -no doubt that, this will be arranged, if it has. not already been done, as Papke is bound to seek a chance, to retrieve, his lost laurels, and to. cement his claim, which sis not universally acknowledged outside America, to the world's title. The match; under discussion, was, as was anticipated, fought at. catch-weights, with a proviso'that neither man. should exceed list. 111b. ;undoiva forfeit of JEIOO, and it now remains to be seen which of the men can make tho "middle" limit, list. 41b., and remain the stronger. Tho the shedding of A stone, could very easily make all the difference in the form of two evenly-matched boxers,, hut, iortnntoly,: tho weight of evidence is more in favour 'of- Smith being ablo to get down without much trouble than Papke. We know that, recently,' the. New Zealnnder got to list. 51b. when he. defeated Arthur Cripps,' while Papke has : not been asked to make : tho .weight for,'some considerable time.

Who Fills Ketchell's Shoes? Apropos of Papko's claim to the middleweight title, tlie American and English sporting press have been making the subject a text for a good deal of discussion recently. Ed. W. Smith, of the Chicago "Evening American," delivered himself of tho" following Many of tlio ring fans aro beginning to woflder what is going to',happen to the middle-weights now that Stanley Kttchell; has'passed 011 and never , again Will be . a factor in tho decision of battles'in that class. Not a few of, the.close followers of tho game aro of tho opinion that the title practically died out in Missouri, when tho famous Michigan fighter breathed his Inst as a result of the cowardly, assassin's gunshot. .' This may be true for tho timo being, but there, is little doubt that thero are some great middle-weights in sight at the" present time, and there is little doubt, too, that others will be found before long. When one looks tho field over one must come at once- to - a full stop in front. of .tlio name of.J.'Billy" Papke as the most likely ,heij;tp,'thV.'(3r6|wn left by ; Ivetchell. r Stanloy and ''Billy" had things pretty much their own way, and,' since the stirring days of 1908,' not a single fighter was produced who stood tho ghost of a chance with either one of them. Thero' is "Sam" Langford, who still insists that he can make the middleweight limit arid fight strong'at it. He seems to liave some sort of a claim to it, too, although ho hasn't whipped anything but heavy-weights. "Sam had a little fling at the title when he "boxed ICetcliell in Philadelphia not so very long back, and a great many of tho critics were inclined to the belief that tho white man shaded liim nicely and neatly, that night!'- j Among" tho great middleweights ' noted above as being "in,sight" was no doubt numbered Tom Thomas, tho Welshman, champion of England, whose claim is being , advanced by; tho English papers. "Boxing" states - that -Tom Thomas has ■expressed profound regret at.the death of Stanley Ketchel, ■' and. wlien. asked whether. U6 would now claim the middleweight title lie would not give a definite reply. He,' howeyer, pointed out that a little while ago he issued a challenge to the world, and it was then decided that if Ire defeated Sullivan he, should fight Ketchel in London next January. - That challenge, so far as other top-notchers are concerned,, still remains, good' ,and if • lie defeats Sullivan lie will probably, throw out an offer to Billy Papke. lam told that Tom had oven gone to the trouble of sending his world's challenge direct to America. .Judging from present appearances, the man to beat Tom will have to bo a wonder.. .He appears. in ideal fettle; and at present scales about list. 61b." .

It is just this little matter of the weight that discounts Thomas's claims. Tho English limit is list. Gib., two pounds heavier than ' the American, and Australian margin, and' the difference is just enough to interfere with match-making, while, naturally enbugli, neither the A merican Jror tho Australian middles, who have controlled the situation for so many years 'now, can be expected to fight a man out of their recognised class in - a championship match—even if it were in their power to. do so, which it isn't. It appears that "Bill" Lang's opponent, /'Jack Burns, was tried-out before meeting the Australian, but, after tho match was made, in New York, and proved to be a false alarm, so, unfortunately, the Victorian's victory will not "cut much ice" in the States. In a report of this "tryout," with one "Jim" Stewart- at the National Sporting Club, N.Y., "Boxing" describes Burns tliusly: "Burns is gamo to the core, .willing to mix it, .-hut does not know anything about real fighting. Ho lacks the punch, he' lacks cleverness, and lie lacks generalship. 'That includes about everything.that goes to.make up a,fighter, excepting courage. And Jack is certainly courageous."

The Plodding of "Bill" Lang. A detailed cable account from London to the Sydney papers describes Lang's victory ill these terms:— London,. Monday, December 'JG. —'Thero were over 5000 spectators at the fight between Bill Lang, of Australia, and Jack Burns, of California, .to-day. , -The match was 20 rounds. Lang attacked 'strongly' from -t.be start, and led iwell in ,the'.first ,round.-.----In the second round Lang,' with several right-hand blows, knocked Burns down. Ho remained . for nino seconds, rose, 'and just managed to stay to the-end. Burns received heavy -punishment in the . fourth round. He improved slightly in tho fifth and'sixth rounds, but rarely hit Lang, who was using both hands heavily. In the tenth round Burns was nearly out, but saved himself by holding. 11l the eleventh round Burns was down twice for three and eight seconds. In th'o twelfth round Lang, - commencing with a heavy right-hander, sent Burns to tho floor. Ho was down nine seconds, and rising very groggy, Mr. Corri, the referee, awarded the fight to Lang. . Lang's next opponent is Sam Langford, and this match, albeit the Victorian has all the advantago over the black in height and weight, will test him thoroughly. • Wcllingtonian "Gus" Devitt has spoilt a promising Australian career by being ignotninously knocked out by the American welter "Jimmy" Clabby in half a round at Brisbane on Boxing Day. Clabby, in common with others of tho American contingent now picking up easy money in tho Australian ring, Ims the knack of being able to hypnotise his opponents into the belief that they are confronted with something superhuman in the boxing line, and, conssquently, bis fights are'won before they have started. Tlus knack of breaking a man's nerve is known in American boxing parlance as "»etting his goose," and, certainly, Clabby seems to liave his man scared "stiff" before a blow is struck. We had-an ex-

ample in a mild way of this kind of thing when Unliolz met "Tim" Tracey in the Town Hall.'

News has como to hand that "Jim" Driscoll, the English light-weight champion, was defeated at Cardiff by "Freddy" Welsh, of Wales. The contest was for a purse, of i£2500, the biggest ever given in England, and a side bet of ,£IOO aside. Driscoll was disqualified on a foul ill the eighteenth round. Previously the, biggest purse given for a contcst in England was that for the Peter Jackson—Frank Slaviii battle at the National Sporting Club, London. i