BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1114, 29 April 1911, Page 12

BOXING.

(By "Merccrt.") THE IGLOO OF J. JOHNSON, IF POLICE SHOT HIMWeltcr Laurels-Our Mistake. I The local boxing association allowed a I good thing to slip through its fingers in the Tracy-Murphy contest. . This is now scheduled for May 3 at Blenheim, under the auspices of the Marlborough Boxing Association. Tracy is the holder of the welter-weight title of the Dominion, as well as the light-weight, and, as Murphy —"Dinny" of that ilk, whose first appearance- this will be as a professional-will be boxing at about lOst. 41b., the firstnamed title will be involved in the issue of the clash. On the same evening two local exponents, Campbell and Maloney, will contest the heavy-weight championship of Marlborough. John Jubeck, Burns's Double. The Lang-Lester meeting has been fixed for May 13. The young American has, so far, made a good impression in Sydney in his training work, but it is generally considered that he has been set a stiff hurdle in Lang, albeit he is said t< have a record of 2(i battles—all wins, and fourteen of them knock-outs. The newcomer expects to *scale 13st. 71b. in the ring, so he must be a hefty youth, as h. is not yet twenty years of age. It appears that his name in private life is John Jubeck, and that he started his athletic career as a wrestler in Fernie, B.C. From wrestling he took to boxing, and was knocking about Canada in search of minor matches when ho crossed "Tommy" Burns's trail, and so impressed the astuto ex-champion that he was adopted forthwith, and launched as the inevitable "white man's hope." Burns has his protege signed on for a ten years' contract, so evidently expects to ' make good" with him. Curiously enough, Lester closely follows his mentor in build and appearance generally—so much' so, in fact; that, in Sydney, ho has been dubbed "Burns's Double." and apparently ho has much the same fighting methods. It remains now to be seen whether he has the rest of the equipment, and that we will, not know until Lang asks him what he is going to do about it at the Stadium on May. 13. Naughton-ese: Is Johnson Tired of It? According to Mr. W. TV. Naughton, "Jack" Johnson is talking of retiring Apropos of the unrest in American boxing circles just at present, caused by the legislation controlling the sport in hie various States, and its effect on the different fighting men, Mr. Naugliton, in his'latest letter to tho "Referee," practically repeats what ho told a Dominion representative when he passed through Wellington. He says:— Jack Johnson appears to be in no hurry to get into harness again. M'lntosh cabled me late in February—it was after the Lai"-Langford go—that he would give 30,000 dollars for Johnston and Langford in London or Pari*. I hunted up Johnson, and placed the matter before him. He replied that ho wanted thirty thousand dollars for liis share. He said: "M'lntosh gave Bums that much in Sydney, and why can't he do as well for me in' Paris or London? If he doesn't come to my terms he can't get me, and 'twist you and I and tho gate-post, if no ono comes forward with an offer that suits me within the next six months 1 will retire. No matter what they say, I have saved mv money, and I don't have to fight. It's not because I fear any of these heavy-weights that I'm making '.he piiee steep. It's because I had to take what, was left before I won the championship, and I'm just doing what the other champions before me did." Among other things, Johnson said that if his terms were met, and he was called upon to box Langford or anyone else outside of the United States, he would insist upon an American referee. This stipulation simply confirmed a suspicion I formed quite a while ago, to wit, that Johnson isn't particularly desirous of reentering the ring, and that, of all men, ho least desire* tt, touch gloves with sawed-off Samuel Langferd. If They Fired at JohnsonThen the writer ends on an ominous note. He says :— It is pretty hard to gain from Johnson an intelligent idea of what ho purposes doing. He has a chalet, or it's more like an igloo, out at the beach, and he is motor mad. He has thro," 1 or four long, low, rakish cars in tho garage attached to his dwelling, and they say he sleeps in goggles. He is running against tue police every few days, and ho keeps telling, the judge that he is being persecuted. Tho public impression of Johnson is that he is a careless, unskilled driver, and no sympathy is felt for him. It shouldn't surprise me if ho strikes trouble of a serious kind presently. He has been' heard to mutter threats against the arresting officer, and— well, some of those mounted police who patrol the beach are old Texas rangers, and they can clip a small silver coin with a bullet any time one is tossed in the air. But I hate to anticipate trouble of that kind for Jack. I'd prefer to see him get his the natural way—that is; with soz. gloves. The champion, by tho way, did not serve his 25 days in prison alter all. A recent message says that he was liberated on Good Friday after ten days in durance. Calumny, Abe Attell this Time. The "Referee" to hand this week publishes a long letter received from an American correspondent, having for its text the allegation that "Abe" Attell, the world's feather-weight champion, is "down and out," both as a bexer and financially—the former because of a broken arm through falling in the ring, and the latter because of a broken bank balance through falling among "sharps" in anothci ring—the betting ling. According to a cabled description of the little champion's last contest, decided at New York on April 1, the "Referee" correspondent is "out" in his facts as regards the boxing part at least. The cablo runs— "Abe" Attell knocked out "Frankie" Burns at the National Club last night. Attell took the risk of making 1181b. at the ringside for the first time since he has held tho championship. Although Burns was aggressive at tho outset, Attell, with good ring generalship, and despite the fact that his left arm was almost useless from blows or, the elbou in the loiirlli and sixth rounds, easily out-pointed his opponent. He sent him down for a count of nine in „tho ninth round, a right swing doing the trick, while in the tenth round he repeated the blow, and Burns went right out. Now, "Frankie" Burns is the boxer who recently got a decision over "Digger" Stanley, tho English champion "feather," for whom the English sporting press claim the world's title. So it will be seen that he was no easy mark for the little Hebrew. To knock Burns out in ten rounds, Attell must be a pretty live proposition still, and very far from "down and out." Thoso Two Savage Samuels. Particulars of the battle between the rival "Sams"—Langford and M'Vea—are now to hand. The report as cabled to the Australian papers from Paris ran as follows :— A huge and cosmopolitan crowd witnessed tho Langford-M'Vea fight at the Circquc de Paris. The best seats were crowded with a well-dressed audience of enthusiastic Parisians and Londoners, and the cheaper seats wero sold at big prices towards the time announced for the start of tho battle. The Parisians backed M'Vea heavily, while most of the English n-oney went on Langford. Cautious tactics marked tho first and second rounds, but in the third Langford began to find out the weak spots, and in this and tho fourth period repeatedly sent heavy lefts and rights to M'Vea's head, escaping almost always without being hit. Despite the difference in weight, Langford forced his man round the ring during tho fifth and sixth rounds. Then thov began to clinch. Langford got home several short-arm punches with seeming effect, and next sent a hofty richt up to M'Vea's jaw. During the following exchanges up to the eleventh

round tho men showed up a bit. Langford was willing, but M'Vea continually broke and forced Langford to chase him around the ring. Langford rattled in a number ot telling blows in tho tweltth, and almost paid to his opponent's account with a right swing, but the bigger man managed to weather the storm. Langford eased up from now on to the end of the twentieth round, no evidently saw that he could iut corner M'Vea, and the fight became, somewhat slow. M'Vea continually clinched or eluded his pursuer. The referee gave tho result a draw, and tho purse was divided. Langford and M'Vea will probably be rematched to tight in London. It is rather hard to see, from this description, exactly why the referee gave a draw, as Langford seems to have scored freely all along. However, ths report appears to bear out to some extent the contention that has so-often been made that Langford is a shori.-c.'isjtanre lighter only. After the first six rounds he must have tired, and M'Vea must have evened up a lot in the latter 6tages. Also the result shows that he is not in the Johnson class. M'Vea, Jeannette, and Co. havo been "easy" for Johnson for many a year, and Langford must do a lot better than draw with M'Vea to impress one with his chances against the champion. Rudd and the Doctor's Ban. The news of "Bill" Rudd's bad luck, in being laid aside by the examining medical man on the eve of his match with Blackmore, gave rise, to much comment here. No particulars ( are yet to hand as to whether the disability is a permanent or only a temporary one. The cable merely, said the gladiator was pronounced "physically unfit," but the match is stated to have been "postponed," not "abandoned." So, perhaps, the cloud is but a passing one. Rudd has "passed the doctor" so often on this side that it is hard to imagine that he has contracted or developed any permanent injury during 'his stay in Australia, and he is such a sound-looking piece of humanity, that it is hard to imagine him in otherwise than rude and boisterous health. Still, it is this very fact that siiows how necessary a medical examination is. It is quite impossible for the layman, or for the boxer himself, to say whether or not be is sound, however fit and well ho may feel, and it is infinitely better that a few good matches should be spoilt than that there should be a continuance of the rcgrcttablo incidents in the ring that havo been all too common of late. Naturally this is a serious business for Kudd, or for any professional boxer, quite apart from the health point of view, as such a happening must-tell on his chances of getting matches. Promoters will necessarily bo chary of arranging contests that may have to b'o abandoned at, the last moment. The Progress of Percy Hale. Percy Hale, the ex-Wcllingtonian, who has been steadily carving his way through the second-class "heavies" in Sydney _of late, secured another for his big collection of scalps on Wednesday week last, when he reduced "Chewcy" Williams to submission in four rounds at the Stadium. Hale was billed to meet "Dutch'.' Hickman at the Gaiety last Tuesday, and is now in a fair way to get good matches as a reward for his persistence. He is a trier. One Picato Arrives in Sydney. Quite unheralded, and without any blast of trumpets, there has arrived in Sydney one Frank Picato, a well-known American light-weight. Picato, like more than a few of the better-known American boxing fraternity—Hugo Kelly, J. Flynn, "Joe" Grimm, and "Tony" Ross for exampleis of Italian origin, and has a good record to show for his three years in the ring. He is 23 years of age, sft. 7in. in height, and scales about 10st. At present ho is desirous of meeting any Australian lightweight, "Hiighic" Mehegan alone excepted. His first engagement is with Arthur Douglas, the South African, under the Stadium management on May C nexti Wolgast Makes Music. The latest American files bring news of a recent world's championship battle at Los Angeles, last month, between Ad. Wolgast, tho holder, and George Memsic. Wolgast,-had recently been voted a loser bv the' pi'l'S'and'public in a no-decision . ten-round bout with "Knock-out" Brown in Philadelphia, under conditions previously described in thesa columns, and niore recently still had clashed again with the voting Brown person with tho euphonious nick-name at York with the same result. For which reasons he has been looked upon of late as being an entrant into tho "has-been" class, and this match with Memsic was looked upon as being a vcrv open thing. A "gate" of over 7i90 turned up in the expectation of seeing a championship change hands. Their were disappointed. .Wolgast got after his man right away, and, except for the first round, in which ho was floored by Mem-' sic, who is said to possess extraordinary butting powers for his weight, he never gave him a chance. Memsic battled hard, but was completely out-classed, and tho contest was stopped in the eighth round just in time to save a knock out. Wolgast's performance has completely reinstated him in the good graces of the boxing public and promoters, and, on July 4, he is billed to meet Owen Moran, tho British champion, for the big title at San Francisco. The Star Boating Club tournament is to be held at the club house on Tuesday night next.