PRIZE FIGHTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1359, 9 February 1912, Page 2

PRIZE FIGHTS.

DELUSIONS OF THE EDUCATED. BRUTALITY DENIED. Tim notion Hint boxing is an agonising business originated, according lu a competent authority vouched for by the l/uiilon "Time.':," in the highly coloured accounts of prize lights with tlic naked fi>ls. These accounts first imparted to cultivated people their notion that the experiences of a pugilist in the ring, dealing anil giving blows, must be physically painful. Endurance and the capacity to endure pain were unquestionably the old-fashioned prize fighter's chief assets. Tho bare knuckles cut and bruised in a way finite impossible when the gloves arc on. But it is by entering the mind of the prize fighter' in action, by considering the psychology of pugilism, that the common inipressijii of pugilism as a prolonged ordeal of nerve-shattering pain —giving rise to it kind of homicidal mania in the brea-t of either combatant—is most effectively coultiled. To quote from the article in the London "Times":— PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. "The writer, who lias enjoyed many a strenuous bout v;ith the gloves and, in a remote, and adventurous youth, even took part in two glove fights in Western America (being knocked out in tho first and winning the second on points), speaks from much-cherished personal experience, when ho says there is absolutely no truth in the impression- In the first place, even the pain of a very severe blow (provided it docs not disturb tho solar plexus —in which case the shock, though it soon passes olf, may mean taking the count) passes unnoticed in the exhilaration of the game. It is not the other fellow's hitting, but one's own and the perpetual motion which is the exhausting factor in the sport; there are times at the end of a particularly strenuous round when ono ha.s tho feeling that the sprinter has in the last few yards of a sternly contested quarter-mile.

"The writer will never forget the penultimate round in a ten-round affair which he lost on the other side of the Atlantic through ducking carelessly into an uppercut. It was a species ol dream; everything in and about the ring teemed phantasmal and shadowy; the cries of the spectators, rejoicing in a sequence' of swift exchanges, seemed to come from very far aw.ay—a weird, other-worldly ululation that really did not matter at all. The call of time was a joy in itself; to sit on a chair and bn sponged and fanned was the sum of all possible and ini]wssible luxuries. And the luxury of a minute's rest was emphasised by the remark of one of the seconds, a grim old fighter who gave one good advice in the intervals—'Say, you kept that English left going in good shape; you nearly had him twice, but he's surely tough!'" THE CHESS OF ATHLETICS. The way out, proceeds this competent authority, was opened "silently, invisibly in the next bout." After the knock-out it was an awakening in a land of peace and pleasant fatigue. The winner came over and shook hands affectionately. The loser felt that ho had never known a man so well in his life and never liked a man so much. As for two or three bruises and a cut lip—what did tiu matter? "But they mattered a good deal; they were honourable marks, mementoes of an occasiun when one had proved that a good physique is w.orth working for, that there is no such thing as a 'miserable body' unless one misuses it. "Personal animosity simply does not exist in a contest between two boxers who have acquired the basis of their art—the ability to keep their temper unruffled in adversity. Their feelings are impersonal, a.s those of two chess players; it is the situation, not the adversary, which is the real objective of attack, indeed, boxing is the chess of athletics; ]j];e that 'gymnasium of tho mind' which is the finest of sedentary games, it matches what a man is against what he is not, as well as providing a drastic comparison of t)v physical, mental, and moral qualities of two individuals. To get in a good hit is, of course, a joyous bit of good fortune; not because it shakes the other man .so much as because it is an artistic achievement. A good late cut or off-drive or a fine approach to a well-guarded hole gives one precisely the same thrill of pleasure. Really to hurt his .antagonist is never the intention of a boxer iu tho English style. THE DECENT OUTCRIES. "In a word, there is no more agony in a boxing bout than in a well-contested sprint or a wing three-quarter's run down the touch-line—not a particle more. Jinny famous boxers of whom the writer has inquired have ratified his impressions ot the boxer in action. The difficulty in persuading the non-experienced of the truth thereof consists in the fact that they have not been through the mill. If they see a bout, they measure tho effects of blows exchanged by thinking how they would feel if compelled to receive them. But, untrained as they so often are, and without a suitable physique for tho game, thev necessarily exaggerate the painfulness of it all. The physical pains of Iwxing—let an eleventhliour convert to another personal pastime confess—are as nothing in comparison with the mental anguish and reiterated irritations of a beginner at golf. Yet who calls golf brutal and demoralising '■" In these considerations, finally, lie the failure of all homilies agoist pugilism. The makers of such homilies reveal in every word that they know nothing about tho thiag they criticise by actual experience. The physical effects of the blows which one pugilist can legitimately deal another would never be permanently disabling. In an.y event, concludes the pugilist who writes thus in the British organ, recent outcries against the cruelty of the sport are "highly unscientific." The masses of the people are better informed upon this point than are tho cultivated and refined.