IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1651, 18 January 1913, Page 12

IN THE RING.

, (By Mercury.)

■ REG. L. BAKER & THE STADIUM. A Tale of Two Tired Men.. . Even' tho strongest gale blows itself out in time, ,and so it has been with Ercolo de Balzac. From tho raging southerly of his two tattles with "Reg" Midwood, he degenerated in his latest battle-with returned traveller "Dave" Smith-into something less than what the journalists call "a muggy breath of summer," and; after that, dying down to a dead calm in three rounds. And not so much from the forceful resistance of his opponent as from a sense of his own sheer futility. Entering the ring somewhat unnerved by Smith s reputation, nil his efforts lacked the devil for which/he had previously earned 6ome sort of reputation. Smith also showed to little better advantage, his old brilliancy only appearing in stray flashes of momentary duration, Whether this was duo to' lack of condition, after the holiday which he has been enjoying since his last contest in' America, or to want of practice, is not clear. Suffice it to say that he performed disappointingly, and his win was far from being as attractive as it looks on the bareness of the record-book.

In the first round, the erstwhile "French Fury" had somewhat the best of matters, which however, were wholly uninteresting. Tho second round was noticeable only for one or two of Smith's rallies in something resembling his oldtime'style. the third round, after pasting what little "condition he had in. wild swipes at the air, the Frenchman, dropped his hands to his side and kept them there, while Smith knocked him out! Truly a wonderful battle 1 In one-way it was interesting. »It marked tho reappearance of "Snowy" Baker as third man. in the ring. On, ; making his bow the new. proprietor of the' Stadiuni was' greeted with a perfect storm of applause—a significant tribute to his popularity, and a liappy augury for success in his new line.-.« Best Battle at the Stadium to. Date. In marked contrast to this affray was the "Jack" Head-Frank Picato battle on tho following Saturday., Pjicato, like most of the Americans, is a rusher, but his methods are not those of the French 6c'hool, which lacks "the thinking power of the A mep i canß . From start to finish your typical Yankee is on tho attack, far from graceful" in his movements/ but with his brain working—clearly a dangerous man to come to close' quarters with. . .;■ ' '■•• In this battle Picato displayed once again the form that enabled him to get so, close to victory against "Hughio" Mehegan." Tho first couple of rounds were entirely in Bead's favour, his cleverness, in/attack and his quick ■: footwork, keeping him well iclcar of his t opponent's. guns.. In the third round, Picato, growing desperite, waded in, and, with a couple of swings. to the jaw, sent Read down. The Australian was up in an instant, however, fighting his'- opponent: back blow for blow right up to corners. In the next three rounds, though clearly, tired from thsir previous exertions, both : men kept up the pressure, the minute jpells "proving wonderful • revivers. . The seventh round was notable for the amount of punishment endured by each; man, the pressure being on; all the time at close quarters.,.,' ~..;•:: .' '■" ■?'•. ,■■'; ■ •.'So the battle progressed,'first;one gaining a slight :tadvantage, and;then the. othcri until the fdurteenth round, when Picato's swings, connecting 1 with greater frequency, made up much leeway.'• All fire, Read dashed in at the opening. of the sixteenth session with a right uppercut, followed, quickly ly a right' Bwing, which staggered Picato, who nevertheless recovered quickly, gbtting in a left 6wing to the jaw, and a left hook to the chin. Read,-meanwhile, was not loafing, sending in lefts and rights with charming impartiality. Both men showed superb,twohanded'fighting. It was a grand round. Naturally i their efforts had tired them. , but, ( thence on to tho finish,' tboy ; kept going at 'a raro bat, Picato making,a gallant effort in tho last tworounijs,: but .the Australian's' clever- boxing was too much for'him.' •-.'•" '■"■'•'■ /' .'' The contest, is described as the best and imost strenuous of this.season's displays iat'the Sta'diuin, . andi :to be-the master in.'such':'ai battle, is, the best; that.Rend has accomplished. His sparring'ivith Pain Lnngford' has evidently worked, wonders witln him, never before was:lie in such first-class condition, which factis paintedlv referred to by "Solar .Plexus" .of the ''Referee" in these terms: < ■ -> ; ■The experience of this fight will un- , doubtcdly do tho winner a great amount of good, in proving .to him the value of perfect condition,'which lesson,''however, he probably learnt in ; his bout with Til. The. old .saying of '.'.'Out'oi'cvil conictli good,''.;was truly, exemplified, for .the Read/.tljen anil . ■'■' now are entirely different— a'differenco ', I", that will appeal to him, and, let us ' '. ; hope, be the means of making him ; ' understand, that training for. strenu- .. ous boxing contests is a very- serious ".business. .; y/ ■ Coming Warfares at the Stadium. Future' battles at the. Stadium include "Dave" Smith v.' "Reg" Midwood, on January'2o, and possibly Smith v. "Les" O'Donncll and . "Pat".., Brndley_ v. "Johnny" Summers on later dates. These three battles, if they eventuate, should ''provide "boxing, fight,'and excitement for I the million,"- .Us the Stadium advertisements will no doubt have it.;' 1 ■','. So Ends Another Blaze, of World's Glory. : Roand about thanksgiving time the average Aiiierican sport delights to show his feelings' of friendliness Ly.attending en masso-at : ;tlw appetising' examples of mail's ingratitude to man that are invariably provided for him. ;• Put into plain Dnglish, the festival is one'of the "big" times'of the year in the American ring. . This year tne star turns were Wolgast v. Ritchie for the light-weight championship of the world, and.Mnndot v. Rivers. The first-named contest; which/happened at Daly City, was WolgastV Waterloo. In its early stages, Wolgast had slightly tho hotter of things. Ritchie made play, with" his left,'the champion following his usual tactics of covering up and walking straight up to his man till within striking range,, when, unwinding ; his arms suddenly, he smashed both hands at his opponent's body and head,'the fury of. his attack carrying Ritchie, across tho ring, and inflicting considerable punishment. '.-■'• Still, in face of it all, Ritchie did not fall away, but kept on darting in straight lefts aud right upper-cuts whenever Wolgast uncovered. In tho seventh round the champion' smashed 'in an overhead right, which, landing-on Ritchie's nose, hurt it torely, and gave Wolgast tho lead. Tho youngster nevertheless still kept quiet, and, until the tenth-round, ho was content to let the champion force tho pace, when, opening out, he pasted blows . home at long range, and, whon they came to close quarters, out-pointed Wolgast at his. own game. ■The result was that the latter, becoming wild, left himself open to .a lifting right, which Ritchie kept repeating till he had his man swaying. So, in the next round, he kept on piling up points and taking the edge off tho champion's attack. ■"-. : It was now becoming clear that Wolpasl was far from the terror of old. Riffht on up to the sixteenth round tho young fellow kept on until Wolgast's early lead was wiped out.\ Judging 'j from accounts,' nobody recognised this moTe clearly than Wolgast himself, ond, in more than one quarter, it is broadly hinted that tne two foul blows in this round which lost him the title were deliberately landed to savo the possibility of a knock-out. ! ' So ended. another blaze of worldly glory. It is an unsatisfactory ending, no doubt, to a championship battle, but one that; admitted of no question as to the fairness of the decision. And it is not nnparnlleled, for Battling Nelson lost his title on a foul in the forty-second round of his battle with "Joe" Gnus. Maridot, of New Orleans—Boxer and Sport, On the same day, "Joe" Rivers and "Joe" Mnndot fought a keen-battle over twenty rounds. Mandot battling to retain his claim to be "the next in, line to the champion, and Rivers keen to avenge his former defeat by Mnndot. . ,-; It -was the-,crucial point in the ring : career (f each nian,'for awin meant the possibility "of, a match .with the .world's ;champion. '.Consequently'the-.contest was (ill fire and dash right through, though, >■ at the finish, Rivers had a big'margin, and, but for OYW-excitantat, no might

have knocked his man out in the fifteenth session. The New Orleans man gains credit as much for his mnnly bearing after the battle as for his skill and courage during the heat of it. He, said that he had simply been beaten by a better man, adding: I gave him a return bout after I had beaten him, and I suppose he will do as much for rae." How Luther M'Carty Dealt with Flynn. Detailed accounts show that Luther M'Carty created a surpriso and a deep impression by his win over Fireman "Jim" Flynn. Gnino as a pebble", Flynn kept at his man all through, but the big fellow carried two mn.iy guns. His left—which, by all accounts,'. would delight the most ardent follower of the Mace school—kept Flynn away, nnd Ins right, though sparingly used, did satisfactorily all that it attempted. • _. His failure to knock Flynn out is, attributed to an injury which he received in the fourth round, when he jarred the knuckles of his right hand against the fireman's elbow. Wellington 8.A.-Chance of Seolna Keys. The Wellington B.A. is not meeting with the success whicto it deserves in its efforts to fix a match for "Hock" Keyß. The Australian crack is willing to come over provided ho can bo in Sydney again by tho end of February, and the trouble is for Hegarty, his proposed opponent, to fit this in with his own arrangements. He is engaged to meet Lyn Truscott on January 80, at Hastings, and has another match ponding with Allen Maxwell for February 10. Naturally ho will not desire to meet Kevs for at least: a week after this-and a week is little enough— which means t,hat Keys'has to fit in'a match in: Wellington and another in Auckland (his agreement calls for two matches of iIOO each In the Dominion), and also get back to Sydney between February 17 and 28—which would be going some even for the lighMooted "Hock." - , .., , . ' At the time of writing no definite do., cisibn as to what is to' be' done has been arrived at by the local executive, but it is feared that the whole business will have to be dropped/The centra committee was due to meet last evening, when the affair was to have been finally dealt with, ' ' ■ ."'-;"■.-.- '■- , ;