IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 4

IN THE RING.

[Bi "JlEncoitt."J TWO FIRST-CLASS FRAVS. oMrtiorabla Clash. ® .Owing to tho extra demand on spaeo created by tlio industrial Wat' within oui- gates, it is uow 1 a fortnight s-iiice tlio. last notes.appeared in this 7 column, ami t-Jicso two weeks have boon marked by two- most important, pugilistic cncaiie-UK-tils in Australia. Taking the contests chronologically, as it is hard to Bay exactly which 01* tho - 0 count as tho mora important ,l°., 0 P lnion ' °n tlio other sido, tho \\ clash at Melbourne on .November 3 comes up first for roview. Uie cable messages advised that Jlehc>,gaii ivas fc]i© winiier on paints, and this squares tlio accounts of tho boxers to dato. This was their fourth meeting, a.iid each /1 ;is sow a- win a.nd a loss ir. England and a win and a lo&s in Australia to his credit) Bt> wo call rest that another boti't will figure on tho atadnim menu very shoitly. Port Picture of it. The referee in the jlolbour.no , .rei'iew—w?is Ernest F.ultaloi s, the official arbitrator of tho ring aftairo of the Melliourno Athletic i'avil»n, nml lately tho holder of tho titles 0 . mu . i(Jto a ;, 'i heavy-weight amateur champioii of Victoria, Avlio was chosen tor the position by the boxers themselves, and who, although comparatively 1/and inexperienced, has hitherto a'in.plo sati.sfaqtion in his rulings. The "liulfctin" has it succinct account of the match, vihich ruiiß.:—■ * n spite of rain beforo arid during tho mill, about 10,000 people rolled into tho Mellwtrno Stadium' id' ; fratoh the return' Mehegan-Wells mateh. The wild riot over tho denisiou in tho Inst one., .aiid. the loud \srwigic over the question whether "fills displayed "ring generalship'' or merely tikedciddleoj had aroused considerable interest in .tho disturb- > ance: Either lured oil by his extra Boz. of weight or istijjig 'by tho criticism of lijs stylo of- fighting, Wells % took his Ost, 3}lb. into the fray with the fixed apparently, ol putting things beyond all questiott by knocking tho 'Australian out, Bttt when ho got into the midst : of the battio he found ifltehegau out of reach behind tho famous smother, through which ho tried i'll vain to break. Mehegeli was likes the famous lloman tortoise, which, though it could be hit only oh tlio shield. ■' 1 could etrilio back, to th© lieart or 'head. After landing a few ineftectiial blow 3, Wells pegan io stop something that mado him think hard. He is, however, so superbly liiC.ht on his feet* and quick with his ■ ■fists that ho . repeatedly ' hit ■ "Ilughio" very hard when that slower but harder-hitting warrior was coming out of his smother. Per several rounds he managed to laud quite a lot of lefts at that juncture; but the obdur.ate Jlehegan, regard- ! ing them 110 moro than tliistledoirn, \ stntek back hard and' often, and. Wells hard to break away before the *■ fnry of his blows. The "Bulletin" continues: —"As .tho ■match progressed in-fighting became .more frequent. In this Wells was clearly out-pointed, and ilohegan, like tho avalanche, was gathering speed as ho rolled round the ring, following tip bet. tor and hitting mow viciously- lii tho 18tli round Jleliegau cut loose and gavo Wells a very torrid timo, c;.telling him in corners, and hitting linn unmercifully. Stillj Wells's marvellous; footwork'Mond 'to hjiri' iiiul enabled him to mihimise tlie injtirics It was the samo in tho 19th, when Mehegan pressed Qiis ■ man very hard. Wells tried to gallop) hut Mehegan had been training hard for sprinting. In tho final Mohtgan wallunl straight in for a knock-out. "Wells showed some superb defeiisivo Work; yet Mehegan had just got him totaled when the boll rang, tho referee ■handed l .Mo'iegaa tho . championship. Samo opposition was shown; but tho winner had found favour with the best judges and the majority of the crowd alike. Anyhow, Wells took his defeat' well." I Genius Who Was Born Too Lato. . Apropos of "liughio" Jkhegnn, .it may not bo out of placo hero to quote an English authority's opinion of tlio Australian champion. In n recent articlo on tho world's best light-weights,

"Boxing" s.a-ys: "There is oiio light»> weight wo do fancy, or rather whom wo should fancy, and fancy strongly did flip old California)! and Nevada laws still stand.. Wero the old 45-r<iuhd_:era still in vogue> we would take 'IJugliie' M?hegan ngamst; tho world. But in a 20ft. ring and over tho 20-round course —well, the odds would always be on 'Freddie Welsh.." smith Encounters Lang. - The other engagement referred as having beer, lost and won- since, tho last budget of notes appeared, is, of course, ■ the Lang-Smith affair, on November 5, also at Melbourne. I'roporly sneaking, ; this should liavo held pride of placo over tiny contest Australia 'has seen for some time, seeing that no less an honour than tho ■ heavy-weight championship was at stalfo. . For some reasons', however —perhaps because the hat- ■ tie ground was not in Sydney, but in ■ Melbourne, whero tho boxing boom, lias npt the vogtie it has in tho sister capital, and also in some measure because Lang is looked Upon as a back number,. the fact that the. big title was involved did not attract the intcr-Stato interest that ono might have expected. However, no doubt- th.e.ro would be plenty ot local interest, and as the contest was arranged i'or Gup thino, there, would be a-big attendance to see Dayts Smith come into his new estate of heavy-weight champion of Australia. Sq far, 110 particulars -arc to hand— wo have merely been, advised that Lang Was outpointed, but it. Ib not hard to ' guess how the battlo was waged. Lang would hnve an immense advantage in weight <ail of two stone),_ strength, and ■ height, against which Smith would have the advantages of supcrfo'r shiftijifess;, boxing ability, and speed generally, both with hands and feet. l,t cap bo' assumed from this that the Xew Zenlander would play the "hit-stop-and-get-away" gamo for all it was worth, and so gradually c.nt down his- big opponent, ■ as ho Pat Bradley. ! Lniig.is a notoriously bad starter —110 is always nervous and slow in the early rounds of hovlt--nnd Smith, who can get into his stride at Wee, would take advantage of this to scorn heavily at t-hd begfaniiig, and so take somo of' the sting out of the Lang attack. When the details reach its,, the.y'jSho(»d show that tho battle was eoiidncted much on these lines, but, however, Smith won, tlve, fact that, ho- won at all against such heavy odds puts him in a class by .himself as far iis presentday Australian pugilism is eoncerfted. Ho Now Awaits M'Goorty. Smith has goote right through the local crop: it remains now for Mr. v Bakof to find enemies for him to e.onqtter from oversea, This tho promoter is doing already, and is endeavouring to do .some more. Tints he lias Etklie M'Goorty,. of Oshkosli, XJ.S.A., now bii tho water, en route- for Svdtsey. and this is the iierson that the Stadium' patrons and 'Smith himself .are most anxious to s-ee. .For it will lie remembered that M'Goortv was the cause O'f the failure of Smith's luckless American tour. ije is tho gladiator that "our Dave" met within « fortnight of landing i» New York, and \v'lm teiocked him ftut in the first round of their meeting. This disaster gave S'imth a moral .and fliianoi.il set-haolc, which preiudiwd bis whole stav ip Americai and

lias loft a blot on his csd.iit:clicon that ho is longing to attempt t.q rcmovo by turning tho to bios. ■Will Carpcntlor Como to Sydnoy? Mr, Baker, toy, iie.cording to the cablegrams) is treating with Georges 'Canieiitioi'., of i'rniico, for a trip 1.0 Sydiiey, and lias oifercd him. £lo(Hl for one meeting with Smith. The liioney is not- lug • for a man of Corpentier's standing in l''ra,nce and England, and to any caso lie is signed up for a return meeting with Him,hardier Wells 011 December 8 fo'F a purse of i.'WOO, bus if tlio cablegram appearing on Wcdnes-. dn.y last Btatiiig that ho lias fallen into disgrace' iii France is correct, he may Mud it convenient. to 111 also a little trip to Australia to give this trouble -time to blow over. , t

It IS reported that Carpeiitier was a participator in case of "ringing in." He wa& advertised to box 0110 Jim ' Lancaster, an English "middle," at ■ Geneva, bitt ii.isteii.d of nicetiiig the ■ Englishman bo set up a "dub" in lieu thereof; vanquished. him. and so collected .tho proceeds, purse, and lauda- ■ tioh of an 'admiring audience. This piece of finessing proved too inucb for tliQ Boxing Federation of France. who at- latest were considering tl.lo question of I;he disquah'iGaation 1 of Mr. Get-. Ihch-Quick Ciirpoulior. Wherefore, aa said above, iff. Baler's offer 111 ay liappoll along just at the psyoological moment to give the erring Georges a-' cbar.co to make himself scarce. ! The tangle In Titles. its' is ■curious to lloto liovr ono by ono' tlio world's championship titles 111 tlio various weight divisions aro becoiuinV: ' hopelessly tangled. It is not long since that any v schoolboy could go right through the list- without, a mistake, but it would bo a rash, person who would try ..now. to allot to each titlo its right± ful. holder. „ There lias been trouble tho middle .titlo ' ever since tho death of S. <Kotchell. I'aplce, of course, has a clear-cut right to it, but be has not been able to keep -bis weight within tho limit for s.onio t>yo voars now; and what with Klaus, Gibbons, M'Goorty, and Co. all figuring as claimants and all. beating and tiding beaten by 0110 another, tlio finding of the true possessor hf tlio titlo' lias ' I*, too much for tho experts. I ben came the deposing 0 f Jack' Johnson, by which it is now held that tlio big title is vacant: tho present whereabouts of thn "welter" premiership is admittedly wrapped in -niysterv, although Jimmy Clahby periodically ■ puts in a claim, and now there is tioublo about- tlio light-weight titlo. • 'j'lio 'Eng. Ifsli boxing papers aro registering a v£ry;.rfroiig protest' against .'Willie Jutchio being allowed to remain in possession. . Thev claim it .011 behalf of , Freddio Welsh, who also claims it. on bis own. behalf, the reason'boing. tho .alleged defaulting of Ritchie-from- tlio. ,meeting recently arranged in Vancouver. Unsavoury. "Boxing" makes ' a. tenipcrato but very telling caso against Jtitcliie. It accuses liitn of deliberately attempting to wrcck>tho contest ■. alter, signing 011 and agreeing to nil preliminary terms by imposing .impossible conditions at tho last moment, and then; when hov found this of 11.0 avail, of running away.' in ..the most, barefaced way to. escapo u possible. boating. Tho promoters had .mado Ritchio a guarantee of 15,000 dollars for his ond, plus'/SO per rent, of pioturo and "privilepo'' (bar, progfamme, cte.) receipts, Tins (-omuls good, but it was not good enough to keep Ritchie in Vancouver, Afow days before tliff date of tlioi. .battle ;ho disappeared, and- it transpirod that ho had laded away at. midnight bv train,' and ■left tho promotera and all concerned , lamenting. The worst .charge is that his eliequo for his forfeit nf 6000 dollars ■ Was 1 returned marked "110 good." as bo had cabled Jiis bank before levanting to stop payment.

It Koems to ho a very unsavoury business altogether. biit Ritchie put the herder between himself. and the disposed promoters, so nothing could bo dono. -Welsh, of-courso, was vory sore; and naturally claimed the title by default, but although ho received the support of a lot ot sporting writers in America, as well ns in England, tlicro can bo no satisfactory settlement- of such a position. In .the absence of any governing body, there can only bfe 0110 way of getting' a .clear title -to a championship, which is by winning it in .tho ring, and until Welsh.- has .succeeded' in forcinpr Ritchio to meet him and has hcaton -him ho can never hope to bo formally recognised as champion of the world.