BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1043, 4 February 1911, Page 12

BOXING.

THE CLOUD OF TIIE RUDD AFFAIR. (By "Mercury.-') Looking at it Squarely. The circumstances attendant upon the Rudd-Blackmore business at Hastings last week would seem to call for more explanation than has been vouchsafed. It will be remembered that in the first round Rudd fouled the Australian by striking him when lie was down, and was incontinently disqualified. So far this disqualification, although extremely unsatisfactory to tho spectators, is quite understandable, and according to Hovle —and the Marquis of Queensberry. The subsequent occurrences arc not so comprehensible Next evening the promoting association met to consider the affair, and both principals were examined. Also the referee font in a -written statement to tlvo effect that Rudd had committed a deliberate foul. Then tho association, in a long deliberation, discussed a proposal to fine the offender ,£25, and ultimately decided to disqualify him ior three months, and to pay over tho stakes. Now, why? Not ( for committing the foul, surelyi The disqualification and consequent loss of the contest and the purse was the rightful punishment for tnat. The other alternative is because the association was not satisfied as to the bona fides of the contest, or, at least, of Rudd's part in it. If this w.as the question at issue, then Rudd should either have been found guilty of not trying or acquitted on this point. There should have been no halfmeasures. If Rudd was deemed to have been guilty of "working a cross," then certainly a sentence of three months* disqualification is hopelessly inadequate. But, apparently, this was not so, as the association decided to pay over the stakes —presumably the loser's as well as the winner's portion. Again, if the association could not satisfy itself of any irregularity on Rudd's part, apart from tho foul, ior which he was punished in the ring, then why tho disqualification? As for Blackmore'spart in the affair, lie has been-exonerated from any crooked dealing by the. association's action in paying, out. The Public far from Satisfied. Commenting on the incident, tho Napier "Daily Telegraph" says:— It is understood that the associa- , tiou were asked to declare "all bets off," but the association, very properly, declined to recognise betting and refused to make any pronouncement. In the meanwhile public feeling is far from being satisfied with the action of the executive, which has been-described as spineless. A prominent member of the executive, in conversation with a reporter, stated that the inquiry had been exhaustive, Jair, and even drastic, and, after everything had been thoroughly sifted, they were satisfied that tlicy had acted justly in the matter, as tho statements against Blackmoro were merely hearsay, and could not be substantiated. iie further said that tho outside public, knowing nothing of ' ' the facts that transpired at tho meeting, could not form a just opinion on the matter. He himself was quite satisfied that the matter had been gone into thoroughly and that the decision was a fair one.

In spite of this, tho whole business is decidedly unsatisfactory; and it strikes "Mercury" as being a case in which tho New Zealand Association •should tako a hand. In fact, "Mercury's" advico to Kiuld's friends is to take steps to see that tho governing body does take a hand. The gladiator himself has lclt tho Dominion in disgust for the roped arena ill Sydney. Graphic Picture of "Cyclone" Thompson. Tho eagerly-looked-for return battle between "Tim" Laud and "Cyclone" Johnny Thompson at the 'Sydney Stadium is thus described by the "Daily Telegraph":—Why do people persist in calling Johnny Thompson, the American boxer, a cyclone? He is no more a cyclone than a wheelbarrow is a railway engine. Built stockily, with an out-size in necks, he exposes his least vulnerable part—his head—to tho enemy, and allows him to whack at it to his heart's content, so thnt ho may bore in himself <uul give fiftcenpence, change for a shilling. That was his procedure in a contest with "Tim" Land at tho Stadium on Saturday night, before an audience estimated to number nearly 10,000. Land looked ncrvous when he started. Perhaps lie was thinking of tho fact that he was knocked out ill tho 20th round after leading by 1017 points in his last contest with Thompson. But when he saw Thompson's head right in the' line of fire, hS opened his battery and • pepnered the enemy from the ear to tho top of his head. It was a -fatuous proceeding—ho might as well have nunched an arc light standard with the idea of stopping Sydney's electric light supply. For two rounds this sort of thing went on, Thompson, in return for the hair-brushing, coming back with punches to tho stomach and ribs. They were not so spectacular as tho punches Land was firing out, but they hurt a heap more. This brought about a number of clinches,, and the referee, Mr. "Snowv" Baker, was a busy man separating tho pair. He had just separated theni almost immediately after the opening of tho third round, when 1 hompspn swung a right, not at anything ill particular, but on general principles. Land was stepping back in obedience to the order to break, and retreated just far enough to get his jaw in the way of Thompson's speculative swing, delivered in much tho same fashion as Cotter sends down a fast ball. Land went down as if ham-strung, and he was still blinking his eyelids in bewildered fashion when the crowd was surging out to catch the tram to town.

The same disturbance is summed up by the 'Bulletin" in these terms:— The event between J. Thompson, of America, and Timothy Land, of Bondi (N-S.W.), was far from edifvmg. Thompson is not a boxer. It "is doubtful if ho is a fighter. He is a rough-and-tmnbler, about whom thero is- no chivalry or anything decadent of that sort. As lie had a man with a withered leg. in front of him, ho bored in and made a Yankee wrestling match of it. The only tiling that seemed to bo barred was biting; and after two rounds the police intimated that there had been moro than enough c>f it, and if that light was to continue it was to be a cloan-brenk afrair. Tho • end eaino suddenly in the third round, when, in breaking from n clinch, Thompson half swung and half hooked a heavy one right on to Laud's chin, and the man from Bondi fell. Land didn't recover till long after the bulk of'the crowd was making for home. All the same, if was a chance swipe. So the fight', although it added materially to Thompson's bank account, brought him nothing in the way of kudos; and about the most astounded party in the crowd was the winner himself. He wus on top, but like the ilv in the amber, ho wondered and wondered how he got there. England Claims Ketchell. If England cannot lay claim to owning a live world's champion she can, and has, laid-claim to a dead one, as witness: — A correspondent informs tho London "Sportsman'' that the late Stanley Ketchell was an Englishman. The records stale that Ketchell was born at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 11, 1-BSG; that his proper name was Stanilaus Kiecal, and his nationality Polish-American. The correspondent' fa.vs" this is all wrong; that he has been informed by a brother of Ketchell's that Kclchell's real name was Arthur Thomas Wilson, that he was twenty-three years of age on April lllast, and that ho was born at' u place called West Hyde, near Lut'on. Bedfordshire, and' that he was the youngest of a family of twelve. . The correspondent further stated that he bad been supplied with evidence to prove Ihe slalomcnt, and that the whole mailer had eonio to light on account of a member of the family scekink legal adviceas to the disposition of Ketchell's eslnte.' Papko Makes up his Mind. "Billy" I'apkfl has decided to accept New Zcalander "Dave" Smith's challenge to box for the middle-weight championship of the world. The American has taken ample time to consider I ho proposition, andnow expresses himself as capable of making tho "middle" limit (list.

■lib.). With both men eager for business ihe preliminaries should be easily arranged and further developments will be looked for with the greatest, interest. "Jim" Griffin is getting into the game again in .Australia. He has been offered a" match in the Brisbane Stadium with either "Tim" Land, "Kanji" Burns or "Jack" Howard. Es-Wcllingtonian "Percy" Hale scored another win in Sydney on the night of January 2D, beating one "Ike" Jacobs in five rounds.