IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1629, 21 December 1912, Page 18

IN THE RING.

1 [Bi "MERCCRT."J THE WIDE WORLD'S WARFARES. To-night—P. Ellis v. Geo. Taylor, Auckland. December 23.—Denny Murphy v. M. Fleming, Auckland. Battle in London. From an Antipodean viewpoint the outstanding feature of ring happenings for the week was the Welsh-Mehegau contest at tho National Sporting Glub, London. It has' been chronicled hero how Mehegan won the English light-weight championship and also the more "highfalutin'" title of light-weight champion of the British Empire by beating "Matt" Wells, and how, subsequently, Welsh also notched a win from the deposed champion. This naturally brought the Australian and Welsh into lino, and tho meeting on Monday night was a weighty one for the parties ooncenied. Not only were tho titles already mentioned at stake, but it was generally understood that, with the result, went the honour of representing tho British Empire in a quest for tho world's light-weight title. Possible Battles in America. Had "Mehegan won there is no doubt that he would have set out for America hot foot in the trail of "Willie" Ritchie, and with the hall-mark of such a victory upon him, he must eventually have forccd. (ho new champion into meeting him, should that dignitary havo displayed any diffidence in the matter. . However, as the cable message has advised us, Mohegan did not win. Welsh was too fast and too "evasive for him, The contest went the whole 20 rounds, so the result would not be surprising to the cognoscenti. It was generally considered that Mehegan's ohance lay in putting his man away before the elapse of the allotted span, rather than in getting a points win. He could not hope to out-box the Englishman, who is one of the cleverest' of his time, as witness his 20-round draw at tho N.S.C. some little while baok with the great "Packy" M'Farland. It is still on the boards that Mehegan will go to America, especially go as tho stay of the Frenchmen in Australia is drawing to a close, but whether he will bo ablo to connect with Ritchie at once is now very problematical. Should he make tho trip his likely plan of campaign will be to commence, in the Eastern States, whore the short bout-no-de-decision contests are the vogue and. if he makes good there, work across to tho West, trying out with the "near-cham-pian" division—'"Leah" Cross, "Joe" Manclot, "Joe" Rivers, and Co.—en Toute and so up (always provided hfc' proves ho is "the goods") to Ritchie at the top. Of course there is always Welsh to 'be considered in this respect. Should ho pay America another visit in; the_ same quest the matter would be complicated. His last venture was rendered abortive through Wolgast's appendicitis on the eve of the championship battle, through which disappointment, by the way, he made the acquaintance of the present champion as was set forth here a fortnight ago, but it is probable now that he will try again—and let ns hope that ho will, for be it Welsh or be it Meheean, it is high time that the light-weight title was held again by a Britisher. Apropos of the light-weight champion

A cablegram from San Francisco states that Wolgast's manager is already crying out for a return match against "Willie" Eitcliie. He is prepared to bet .£SOOO to i£2soo_ that "Wolgast will regain the light-weight championship. Ritchie promises to give the ex-champion another chance some day, when, as he remarked the other day, ho will take up all the coin the other side may want to place. A Warrior, Who Goss on For Ever. "Jack" Johnson is not done with as completely, as was suspected, judging by i his latest movo in his professional enpacity. It is evident that the cablegrams regarding his criminal offences were considerably overdrawn, as lie has apparently managed to extricate himself from tho meshes of the law sufficiently to negotiate for a match with Bombardier Wells in Paris. , ' '. . The cable messages have dealt with this proposition, and the latest advice is that a match has been definitely arranged to take place on the eve of the Grand Prix in the French capital. . Naturally enough, there has been an indignant outcry both in England and France against the proposed meeting and according to the Independent Cable Association ages the officials of the Federation of Boxing Clubs of France are so incensed- that they have stated their intention "f invoking nolice aid to prevent it. The same authority states that Parisian fight-followers, who not long since welcomed negroes with open arms, nre now as bitter against the black pugilists are are the Americans. One thing is certain: Should the match -eventuate the only thing that will justify Wells's participation, therein will be a victory over Johnson. It will be a long while before lie. is forgiven such a flaunting of public opinion should he be beaten. ' Battle Between the Known and tho Unknown, While Johnson has been keeping in the public eye through the papers, of the liPavy division have been "doing things"—and having things done to them. Among the latter is numbered' ".Tim" Flynn, Johnson's last opponent, and the man;who ho.s of late generally been looked upon a? the best of the whites. Tt was briefly noted lpst week,that lie had been beaten at I.os Angeles on .December 10 by Luther M'Oarthy. A cable messago containing fuller particulars runs:

Tho referee stopped the fight in the sixteenth round owing to Flynn's con- . dition. .. The fighting was even throughout until Flynn weakened in the sixteenth round. He was then knocked down, twice in quick succession. The result of the bout caused n sensation, as M'Carthy is an unknown man. Flynn's weight was 1881b., and bis opponent's 2051b. There was a large attendance, and thousands had to ba turned away. It is hard to understand why M'Carthy should be dubbed "ail unknown man," unless it is that he was unknown on the Pacific coast, and even then, one would think that his summary defeats of Carl Morris and Al. Kauffinann would have given him some claim to recognition. He was far from unknown in tho Eastern State: his rise lias been duly chronicled ill this column from renorts of his career culled from tho New York papers, and his rapid Tise was not at all unexpected. Writing.of M'Carthy, who by the way is a quarter-caste Indian, just after his defeat of KauiTmann, a New Yotlc critic said, and as events have proved, with justice: Judging by the result of his last three bouts M'Carthy has shown much of the improvement that was predicted ■ for him when he was beaten here by "Jim" Stewart. In that contest M'Carthy proved that ho was gamo, aggressive, and that his fine nhvsiquo was equipped with quick acting muscles. All his faults were of the kind that proper schooling can remove'.,He has speed, the ono essential quality, and one that is so frequently absent in big, henry-muscled men. M'Cnrthy's nwkward manner of hitting robbed his blows of their effectiveness and made him look the novice ho still is. But thero is no reason apparent why, with proper instruction and constant practice, ho should not .correct this defcct and alfeo polish up his boxing. A Warrior Who Was Felled Six Tlmos. That energetic heavy "Carl" Morris, has got into tho public eye again. Morris is n most in-and-out performer. Ono day lio will show form 'hat stamps him as a coming champion; then lie immediately corrects this impression by a display that would shamo the veriest "dub." Tho latest of his wavwnrd exploits is thus set forth by a cablo message received in Sydney: CHATTANOOGA (TENN.J, December 11. Carl Morris, of Oklahoma, defeated "Bob" Williams, of New York, in tho third round of an oight-round 'bout last night. Williams was felled six times. Tho Battles for "Fodder" Honours. Somo months back "Johnny" Kilblane won the world's "feather'- title from tho i

Hobrew "Abe" Attell. On December 5 "Abo's" younger brother, "Monte," made an effort to regain the title for the family, but he made a very poor showing and the police stopped Ins endeavour in tho eighth round, ns they considered that ho had been sufficiently punished for his audacity by the ICilblane person. Sydney's Christmas Battles. Mr. M'lntosh haa arranged his Christmas faro for the boxing frfttornity of Sydney. On Boxing Night "the two Sams"—Langford and M'Vea—will contest another of their interminable series and, on New Year's Night, "Dave" Smith is to"" meet De Balzac, the French "lightheavy." Defeated—And Disgraced. "Paul" Til has completed his Stadium engagements and has gone home. His pond-off was not cordial. His last defeat by "Sid" Sullivan completely "settled him as far as an Australian audience is concerned—not because he was beaten,- but. because of the manner of his defeat. In short ho just simply "quitted," and, strangely enough, ho "quitted at »' time when he was a long way in the lead on points. In the fifth round Til ran into a violent punch on the nose and from then on to the tenth round, his exhibition of "funk" was, by a unanimous press vote, something deplorable. At tho end of this round he had- had enough. He had made several obviously deliberate attempts to earn disqualification for fouling which were so transparent that one referee declined to gratify his desire, and so, at the end of this round, he turned and walked out of the ring. Even his compatriots made no excuse for Til—they were as disgusted as was the "house" in general at a performance which provoked one Sydney paper into putting on record its opinion that, while there have been men who have suffered from "cold feet" in the ring, never previously has a man shown the white feather as Til did last night.

Battles Here—"We Want Hegartyt" The Associations in, the Dominion aro unanimous on one point—they are all after Hegarty. Never in local boxing annals has there been such. a universal demand for the services of a boxer. Wellington wants him for "Hock" Keys in the middle of January, Hastings wants him for the end of January, Mahawatu wants him whenever they oan get him, and so it gees. At present the local association, holds tho k"y to the position from the fact that they have a verbal option over his services for'tho projected Keys match, negotiations for which are still in train at the time of writing. Keys was defeated by "Jean" Poesy last Saturday week, but his showing was such as to reinstato him from the decline which his mana suffered through his defection of the week bsforo and, if possible, he and Hegarty will be staged locally next month, The arrangements are in the hands of Mr. J. Barr, the association's-Australian representative and final word as to the clinching or .otherwise of the negotiations is expected any day now.