IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 12

IN THE RING.

M'VEA-WHAT KIND OF PUNCH? (Br "MKRCURr.") October 28.—Sam MToa v. Bill Lang (Stadium, Sydney). , November 10— N.Z. Light-weight Cham--1 pionship, Tracy v. Hannan (Auckr land). 1 November 30. - World's Light-weight Championship: Wolgast v. AVclsh (San Francisco). December 'JO—World's Championship, Johnson v. M'Vca (Sydney). '. Re-adjusted Tracy Programme. ] As indicated last week, "Tim" Tracy's ' sad experience at Wanganni has led to [ a rearrangement of the various associa- ; tion fixtures in which he was engaged. ■ His friends will bo pleased to hear that : the principal of these—the return with 1 Hannan in Auckland on November 10— is to stand. Tho ex-champion is to get anothor. try for tho light-weight crown. His other two fixtures—against "Denny" Murphy at Millertou and Arthur Kelly at Dunedin'-havo been cancelled. This has been done under medical advice, as Tracy, who was longer than tho occasion seemed to warrant in recovering from the effects of his Wanganui contest, and so consulted his doctor, was found to be 6ufforing from the effects of a rather serious bout of influonza. This was actually upon him at tho time of tho meeting with Gault. It rather accounts for his showing; As a result of tho foregoing, tho Otago Association is now looking for a substitute, but is meeting with no luck in tho search. "Denny" Murphy is among thoso proposed, but it is very unlikely that he can get down to a weight that would bo acceptable to Kelly, and, as there are no other "Richmonds in tho field" of sufficient drawing calibro, it is probablo that tho fixture will fall through altogether. This is hard luck for the association, and also for Kelly. Neither Bouquets Nor Bricks, Last week, while awaiting tho particulars of tho recent M'Vea-Lestcr disturbance, "Mercury" was moved to wonder whether the details would show that the white man has experienced a set-back in his career, had been left in status quo, so to speak, or had been obliterated from tho "white hope" class altogether. With tho press reports bclore one, it would appear that the middle alternative of tho three best.expresses the situation. If one cannot throw bouquets to Lester, one cannot, throw bricks at him. Beaten pointless as ho was, he not only stayed the distance, but really avoided .any serious damage. Ho failed through lack of boxing ability, and ring experienceexactly as ho was "tipped" to do. In both these qualities he may reasonably bo expected to improvo in the ten years and more of fighting that lie before him. In the other respects ho "made, sood." Ho showed that his claim to be able to stand punishment was no idle boast, and he evinced courage and endurance of tho highest order. Therefore ho is still a "hope." I After the above wa« written, came the "Bulletin," and. the critique thrTein seems strongly to bear out "Mercury's" t»ntion. Also it gives the Tender n from] all-round view of the disturbance, besides giving due notice to that fearsome left of M'Vea's which the writer predicted would prove the chief factor in the undoing of John Lester. Thus the' "Bulletin":— M'Vea and "Jack" Lester. Though Jack Lester, "the heavyweight ohampbn of the British Empire," to givo him the title under which he was announced, was'soundly tin ashed and plainly outclassed by darky Sam M'Vea, "the champion of Europe,'' at the McStadium, Sydney, ho did all that was expected of iiiiii by the majority of tNite interested in the argument according to tho Book of Queensberry Indeed, by staying the 20 rounds ami saving a knockout, ho. did a good deal more. Whether ho couH havo done it had the coloured gentleman felt in better fighting trim, is I another question altogether. Tu tbi* ! paper it is'.cl6>r.''that''h6':coiild; not/- lint i the argument that M'Vea, in the kindj ness of his heart, deliberately allowed his I raw opponent to go the full distance, i doesn't seem to count for much unless ' Mc. is a very much loss astute person i than he is given credit for. Certainly his reputation isn't as big as it was tho day before this crude, practically unknown youngster faced him for 20 rounds, and came out with a bleeding nose and a swollen jaw. On the other hand, Lester's mana will soar a good deal, oven if if. decs como down with a wallop woll and truly delivered by the next black star that blazes at iho Stadium. .The fact seems to nave boon that Sam'l, coming off a long loyare ixad not having proper time- or inclination to train, was not anxious to risk petering out his steam by tattering with undue energy at a stranger who might—(l) refuse to bo knocked out on his own account if thero wore any tired niggers in the vicinity. The result was that, to a large extent, M'Vca was in leash a good part of the night, and, in the writer's opinion, anyhow, wss mistakenly charged with "not trying" by quilo a number of people, Throughout, M'Vea almost entirely depended upon Ms left hand, and certainly it appoarcd to be the exact kind of instrument for tho job or jab. He used it with equal freedom , to hook, stab, or upper-cut, ami sent it into action almost as rapidly as a cat darting its front hoof at a mouse. The right is apparently a reserve force with the black man, which would seem to bo a matter for hearty congratulation to anybody who is of a different opinion than its proprietor. One is enough at a time. Thoso j who doubt this can take Lester's word : for it if his memory is recalled to tho , thirteenth round, when ho received one from the reserve implement that ' nearly knocked the iron. shutter off ' him. For tho rest, M'Vca will no ] doubt exhibit his full bag of tricks j when he meets Langford and Johnson ; (if tint imtch-advertirod pug arrives J here), and it ought to bo worth seo- , ins. On October 2G R. Maizey and "Gnat" I Williams, both well known in Welling- t ton, will contest the best of 15 rounds in I Christchurch. j ( Rudd Makes His Tour in Sydney. 1 Last Saturday "Bill" Eudd was to havo j made his bow to a Sydney audience at the ' Sports Ground, previous to the most im- I portant battle of his career—against 1 "Eanji" Burns, over 20 rounds. After ' this tronblo is over tho ex-Wellingtonian is J matched against Arthur Cripps for the J middle-weight title, and, as Ted Whiting J is also keen after this particular honour, ' Kwld shouid, with a fair amount of ] luck, have some interesting and lucrativo engagements ahead of him. l Full Praise for Smith. j _ A full chorus of praise has been sung i in "pave" Smith's honour anent his beat- J of "Jack" Howard on Saturday week. 1 Tho following from the Sydney "Sun" is I typical :— j Smith's win in such a convincing < manner was surprising to a large sec- ' tion of boxing enthusiasts. But the t opinions of even enthusiastic Smith 3 supporters were upset by tho dashing t manner in which their favourite c fought from start to finish. It is doubtful if Smith was ever seen to bet- I ter advantage. Every punch was powerful, and it looked as if the onco middlo-weight champion had sacrificed I some of his cleverness in order to de- , velop his punching. Tho sacrifice ho , made has not been great, but it has , enabled.him to bring out a blow with 1 either hand that will invariably bring Sleep in its wake when it lands square- r ly. As it was, it was only Howard's ' wonderful stamina that allowed him 1 to remain in tho ring as long as ho ] did. Had ho been possessed of a { glass jaw or of less courage ho would ] havo takcu the fatal count several ses- \ sions earlier than the ninth. On j two or three occasions ho was shaky, ' but his indomitablo pluck prevented f him going down. } Hill's Bad Break. { Recent happenings on tho otkor . sido ' have led to tho cancellation, by tho local association, of tho llill-Filzjohn match, which had been tentatively arranged in , Sydney. Just prior to the posting of the ! articles, for execution by tho two boxers, ' accounts of tho IHll-Grcen meeting at ' tho Gaiety, Sydney, camo to hand, with tho result that Mr, Talbot instructed I tho association's representative in Alls- c tralla (Mr, W, F. Corbett). to delay the c

slotting on" until lio had been cabled the result of a meeting of the association to consider the matter. At this meeting various press reports of the Gaiety bout wero read, i'roin these it was obvious that either, or both, tho boxers concerned were not "triers." The bout wns stopped by tho referee, and both men disqualified for life lrora tho S Gaiety. Under theso conditions the association very rightly decided to drop . Hill altogether, and Mr. Corbett has been . cabled, asking him to find a satismctory substitute to meet, l'itzjohn—"Joe" Itus- , j sell or "Billy" Elliott preferred. c It is not likely that tho feather-weight 1 champion will make tho trip, lie has never yet taught out of Brisbane, owing > to tho lio of his work, but there should be a chanco of gotting our old friend Elliott over again. The clover Utile ex-Timaruvian would bo received here with open arms, especially 5 by thoso who saw him against l'itzjohn > in the Australasian championships in tho . Opera House, what time both tho lads wero in the amateur ranks. That was • tho prettiest amateur "go" that has been - staged here, and Elliott got the verdict i by a very narrow margin. Since then ho . has won, and been deprived of, tho ieathcr- ; weight championship of Australia as a ' professional, and l'itzjohn has also got ■ very nearly to tho top. In fact, but for • a bad decision, he would be there now. Another venturo that is receiving con- ! sideration by tho local control is the ' matching of Hannan with Gault or Kelly. . The latter wants nothing so much as a return with tho West Maitlander, and, since his win over Gault on Wednesday at Blenheim, he is next in order for the match. It remains to bo seen what Hannan thinks of it, but as ho had previously expressed his willingness to meet Gault before his meeting with Tracy at Auckland on November 10 (provided he was given at least ten-days' interval) ho can raiso no insurmountable objection. Tho position now calls for some straightening out, and such a match would help to clear away the fog a bit. Hannan has beaten Kelly; Kelly has beaten Gault; Gault has beaten Tracy, and Hannan has beaten Tracy. 80, obviously, Kelly and Hannan should come together again.