IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1824, 9 August 1913, Page 12

IN THE RING.

[By "Mercury."] THE AMATEURS & THEIR DEEDS. August 11— J. Hagerty v. Peter Cook, Christchurch. August 23.— J. llagerty v. Billy Hannan, Millertou. September —.—Hock Keys v. J. Hagerty, Christchurch', No Pretty Time for Wellington. Last Firday night concluded. tho New Zealand 'championship touuament at Timaru. Judging from the press reports and the accounts of the Wellington representatives, who figured thereat, the meeting was ably conducted by tho Timaru Association, ana tho . three nights over which tho tourney was spread drew largo houses. The blot on the meeting, from the Wellington standpoint, was, of course, tho failure of the local men to secure any of the championships. Tho causes of this seem hard to alight upon. There appears to have been a slight degree of hard luck, a very decided degree of "vaccinationitisi" and, of cousre, a degree of lack of "class? in the showings of our men. However, nono of the returned gladiators make any excuses, and, indeed, it can only bo 6aid that, although defeated, they, one and nil, justify their selection. What Happened to Hunter. The defeat of Hunter in the light division in tho preliminary round was the biggest surprise, but our light-weight had the bad luck to draw for his first opponent a tried and well-seasoned boxer in J. Penrose, of Christchurch. Penrose, who was a selected New Zealand representative for Australasian championship honours last year, is of the two-handed fighting type, and he proved too rugged for Hunter.

The press reports 6how that the Wellington man boxed very nicely for tho first round, but, in the second, the bat-tering-ram methods of Penrose wore him down, and after securing some punishment, he subsided to the boards, and took the full count. lie was not knocked out, as the telegraphed report stated—he simply collapsed. ■ , Penrose, by the way, damaged a hand to such an? extent during this bout that he was forced to withdraw from further ■ participation in the tournament, the ultimate winner in ,the light division being W. Slnitt, of Timaru, who, with the Christchurcli hard-hitter out of tho way, had an easy run v right through. How Our Welter Was Worsted. Jim Murphy got through his'preliminary heat in 1 the welter division in' good style, but in the semi-final ho drew against W. Senior, of Westport, the ulti-. mate winner, and was beaten. - Murphy had a bad time with his vaccination, convalescene, and his exertions on the first night told on 'him severely—in fact, in his bout with Senior his arm was so pninful that he could hardly lift it. Defeat, But Not Disgrace. In tho bantam division Brice opened the ball with his old friend G. MacNicoll, of Oliristchurch, ns vis-a-vis. In this case history repeated itself, Brice winning once again from the Christchurcli lad. In, the •semi-finals, however, he ran into tlio' ultimate winner, C. Stewart, of Timaru, and, despite a good display, he was fairly beaten. His victor, as stated, won out in the final, and also secured tho lhedal awar<Jed'to the most scientific bantam at the meeting, so, as with Murphy, Brices defeat carries no disgrace. Dalz'iell "Umpired Out." The other Wellington competitor was A. Dakiell, of Manawatu, our middleweight representative. •He succumbed in the first round to Manning of Christchurcli, arid it is in ■ this connection tliat the, bad luck to tho team already mentioned was met with. The decision t'hat deprived him of further participation in the tourney appears to have been, to put it mildly, very doubtful. The , local popers refer to it as "a surprise,", and' there is little doubt that in being beaten by Manning, Dalzieil was decidedly unfortunate, ICerr Not Up to Form. When .the team left hero it was considered that its best chances lay with H.' Brice in the.bantam division and Freddy Kerr in the "feathers." The latter's chance was not improved by a damaged rib sustained at football a. fortnight previously. This may account for the fact that, although he'got through to tho final, ho did not box up to tho form anticipated. As we know Kerj\ ho is fast boxer with no tendencies at all to doubtful tactics, but, in, his showings in Timaru, ho does not appear to have been altogether free from reproach in this respect. The press reports make references to holding and butting. In the final lie met N. Bennetts, of Auckland,, tho Timaru "Herald" account reading thus:— ' "Kerr led off with a light tap to the' face, and immediately afterwards Bennetts pulled up, having been accidentally hit rather low. Kerr promised to resume his "butting", exhibition of ■ the previous evening, but took a pull in time to save the referee's displeasure. In the first round he did most ' of the leading, using both gloves to head and' body most effectively. Bennetts responded gamely, but was in arrears when the gong went.' Bound two (continues tho account) opened very vigorously. Bennetts connecting with two beautiful rights to tho head. Kerr adopted rushing 'tactics again, and sent home a tilling left to the face. Ho however, did not'cover up smartly enough, and, quick as lightning, Bennetts sent in left and right with marked effect. Bennetts was doing most of the leading to tlio end. In tho third, round Bennetts half-arm jolt 3 shook Kerr up considerably, and his clever in-fighting took a lot out of the Wellington lad. Towards the close, the ex-Timaruvian got all. over Kerr, and gained tho decision." The Honours List, 1913. The new batch of champions as decided at Tinraru are:— Bantam—C. Stewart, Timaru. Feather—H. Bennetts, Auckland. Light-weight—W. Shutt, TimaTu. Welter—S. Mitchell, Auckland. . Middle-weight H. Withey, Otago. Heavy-weight—J. I'. Hughes, Southland.

Dominion's Best in Amateurs. At the conclusion of tho championship tourney.the team to represent Mow Zealand in tho Australasian championships at Dunedin, 011 September 22 and 23, was selected. It is as follows:— Bantam-weight—ll. Davis (Uisborne), C. Stewart (I'imaru). Feather-weight—N. Bennetts (Auckland), F. Kerr (Wellington). Light-weight—\V. Shutt (Tima.ru), G. Thomas (Wanganui). Welter-weight—S. Mitchell (Auckland), A. AVoods (lnvercargill). Middle-weight—H. Withey (Dunedin), A. C. Cooper (Dunedin). Heavy-weight—G. Mathewson (Dunedin). Who Will Meet Keys? The Keys-Hogerty "return" that tho ■Wellington Association proposed to stage 01. August 20 is "off," It was found that ilagorty's services were not available as ho has signed up with Hannan for a match at Millerton on August 23. Tho question of a substitute for the Timaruvicin was dealt with at a meeting of the association last night—(too late in tho week for the purposes of these notes)— and the result of the executive's cogitations 011 the subject will be found in our news columns. As tho writer has already stated there is but one boxer to be considered in this regard—"Denny" Murphy, provided always that ho can draw the light-weight limit of lOst. Murphy would make a very satisfactory substitute for Hagerty—in fact, it is a very moot question'whether this arrangement would not bo as acceptable to our public as tho abandoned fixture. Can Murphy Make the Weight? Apropos of the question as to whether Murphy can make the lflst. required by Keys 'it is interesting to note that when lie defeated Barney Ireland for tho mid-dle-weight championship at Waipawa on Wednesday week last, he sealed 10st. 6lb„ after "building up" for 501110 weeks. Ho is confident that he can got rid of tho

61b. of "superfluous" without weakening himself at all and bo right to know. To-night—Mehegan and Wells. There will bo o, great gathering at the Sydney Stadium to-night. For the third tune of asking "Hugliio" Mehegan, of Victoria, light-weight champion of Australia, and "Matt" Wells, of London, exchampion of England in the samo class, are to bo pitted against one another, l'lie two oilier occasions upon which they met were at tho National Sporting Club during Mchegan's recent English tour. On tho first ilehegan won on a foul when well, in front oil'points, but in tho second meeting Wells secured tho verdict on jioints—a decision which occasionod a very bitter controversy at Home. To-night's clash is practically tho result of that controversy and the affair lias been, so looked forward to in Sydney that the attendance'at tho Stadium to witness it threatens to equal tho great John6onlinrns crowd. Special booking offices have been open in ll'elbourno and Adelaide for seating accommodation for somo weeks past, and in all it will bp a great night for the pugilistically inclined in Sydney. What's in a Name? Tho namoi of "Hughie" Mehegan is often heard wherever boxing enthusiasts do congregate and there is great diversity of opinion as to tho correct pronuncia-tion-of this same name. This same diversity of opinion has also existed, and perhaps, despite tho following paragraph, does still exist in Australia, but there is not longer any reason for it, for Mr. W. 1\ Corbett makes it his business to put tho public right upon this matter. Ho writes

Tho pronunciation of Hughie Mehegan's name caused an argument among ( a bunch of spectators while tho man himself was busy working the. other day. "Its' Meegan," contended ono, and ho offered to bet "anything." Another, who "didn't want "to rob" the first speaker, insisted that "Mc<v lian" was tho proper way. He know the family well, ho said. A third person appeared just as confident about it being 'Me-he-gan." During a spell between exercises Hughie, upon being, appealed to, put a heavy one over. "You're oil wrong," he remarked, "my nanio is pronounced 'Jlaigan.'" This settled the matter. None dared question such an authority as the owner of the cognomen. I am almost as sure as I am of anything that "Maigon" himself told me a few'years ago Meehan was the right thing. But Hughie has visited Ireland 6ince, .and evidently made a discovery...