IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1913, 22 November 1913, Page 8

IN THE RING.

——j.—i—. Hit "MDHCURt."J THE STONE-SUMMERS COH BAT, How Stone Conquered. Tree to .promise the return match between. "Harry" Stone and ''Johnny" Summers was a dazzling affair, the Englishman battling like a demon to regain his lost laurels, anci the American, a i veritable will-o'-the-wisp in the ring, hit-fing back with interest. It was ail extraordinary battle, as may be judged ffom the "Bulletin's" account, which runs The Stoiio-SuDiniors match at Sydney Stadium was an interesting contest, in which _ force, hitting power, and fanaticism were ranged against- dazzling speed, quick wit, cunning, and very limited hitting power. So, although Summers had already been defeated at Brisbane by Stone, the wise ones offered odds against the latter. Stone was first ■ in the ring, and for nearly 1Q rain- ' utes he sat. there awaiting Summers. _ His attitude Was one of utter. Rejection, A burst of cheering caused him to look up and sets Summers, still in jorsy and t-rcras- . ers, climbing through the ropes. Stone was chewing gum. A smile flickered across his sallow face; then he huddled up once more While his opponent languidly undressed. liouieuibering how Stono had outgeaerallcd him ai Brisbane, Summers came prepared to take anything 50 long as he could got iii-a body blow that would wing his fleet, opponent,' Ho was there to wiu by any old means. The man who reai- ■' ised it "best of tho 15,000 present was Stone. ' He was caul ion itself. He was the swinging door iii excel- 1 sis. He was fast as he was 'light; poised ot£ his toes, iio .hovered with all the aery grace of Wells. Summers could not hit him with effect. The "Bulletin" continues: As tho affair went on, Stone became moro elusive, yet' more aggressive. He bounded . into the air and crashed' on Summers with the left. Once ho came down from the sky • and right-crossed Summers so that he literally rocked.. .For every trick that Summers had lie had a foil, aid used it spectacularly. In one awful round be'smote Summers seven times. In-fighting found him just as clever as tho. long-ratig.6 hitting., and ho landed upper-cuts by the halfdozen. Could lie but hit he. Were a world-beater' indeed. Whole rounds passed without Summers lauding a single blow; and at last he stood, gazing helplessely at tho bounding gum* chewing ..person .who was always out of reach. But Ills reverie was cut short by another lightning-like charge* I:n ilie 16th. he did manage tip get in one on two heavy ones that shook the leaping phantom rather badly. • Then Stone slowed down and husbanded his strength for tho whirlwind finish. And ahum-, cane finish it .was in which Summers strove desperately for'a knock-out,, the only, thing that could .-retrieve tho match. But he- had no hope, Mounting Fame's Ladder. . .. : . lii. the short spaco-of.-two weeks,' "Dave".Smith has met and''defeated tlic only men in Australia-at present who worsco-iisd/ercd to .■ lipvo. a chaiieo of knocking him out. His. win over "Pat" Bradley'., though, ail cxcc-lloitt perform-. mice in itself, did not add greatly to his laurels, but it proved that tlic 'American's .mighty smite, was. not- a' tiling of extraordinary danger to. a . clover boxer. Smith's effort;,.against Laiig is easily the best performance. of liis? carter. ; To give away' 2st, TJIb. and ■ 3Jin. in height to the best heavy-weight that Australia lu.js. produced in recent j .'jW-rs 'iujposdbte. task. Ttet Smith aceoinplished it, hot ■barely, but brilliantly, is a performance that will make him a- draw wherever he may appear. When tho boil rang for operations to ; commence, tang rushed in with the full intention of Ending the. battle tliore. and then hustling Smith against the ropes'. Like * flash., lloweveiy the lighter, man slipped away, Once tn mid-ring, 1 Smith halted, and, as Liang came in,. banged away merrily with right and left. His opponent—slow and ponderous by compamoh~could do nothing with him. Forced into a corner. Smith's iightijing footwork always carried him clear in an instant. In mid-ring h© did not shirk the fray, hitting back good and hard 'whenever 'Lang charged; and only seeking the safety of a clinch when Lang's weight made itself felt. So the battle went the full twenty with Smith getting farther jihead on points as each session finished. * Smith Awaits M'Go'orty, Though naturally elated at winning the heavy-weight 1 title, Smith is outspoken as: to His desire to capture the middle-weight supremacy again. Siiico his recent illness ho has been boxing in the near neighbourhood of the list. 61k. mark, and, in consequence, anticipates no difficulty in "getting down to the limit when- the necessity arrives. For the present, at any rate, ho is likely to nave a spell. There is no ono in Australia fit to 00 matched with hjm. Mr. Baker has cabled an offer of £3000 t<> Carpentier, but whether that worthy will accept is not j - et known, and } in any ease, Smith and ho would not be matched this side of Easter. Eddie M e Gaortv is on his way to Australia, and, aii all probability, will be Smith's nest opponent of note. Should they meet the World's middleweight supremacy title may' be at stake. Shoddy American Craft. As to Who actually is tire champion at present -it- is impossible to say any more than this: That, of all the more or less notable claimants for the title., only one— Clabby —can draw the. weight as a matter of course, the consequence being that each - lias Ms following, and M'Gcorty fjeenis to li-av-e claims as good . as any of the others. / The occasion of his 'first meeting with our.champion is vividly remembered out hero from tho illustration it gave of the Yankee's "slim'itess" in binding Smith down to a certain .Weight : which the latter made, while he himself (while also bound to the sanio weight under a guarantee of £100), carefully affiitted_ to deposit '41ns sum, aud entered the ring at a higher weight, which suited his own convnionce better: Smith, being honest in .tho matter, brought himself down to . tlio weight' by Turkish baths, the last or which, being taken on the morning of the battle, reduced him to. such a state of weakness as to render him. Ati easy «rev to 51'Goorty in the first rotund.. This tinn3 M'G'oort-y will have, no opportunity . of working off so neat a game, Fare for the Fans. .Apart from the Smith-Lang battle, Australasian fans have had a' feast of boxing recently, as witness the following record November 8: Jimmy Hill v.° .Too Russell (Australian featherweight championship), at Brisbane; Harry Stone v. Johnny Summers, at the Sydney Stadium; Sid Burns v, Arthur Evemde.il., at the Melbourne Stadium ; November 5. Hock Keys y. Bob Turner. ' . Hill and Russell faced one of the biggest crowds ever .present at a boxing contest in Brisbane, and they gave good value for the money which they received from it. Russell, the feather champion, who not so long ago defeated American Harry Stone, was expected to retain his title, but Hill boxed brilliantly. • He led in practically every round, his bmu'tifully-timed straight left doing considerable damages to Russell's face. Russell, boxed like- a very old hand, his former pace and punish-ing-power being away on holiday, more likely, in permanent retirement. • Readers of this column will remember that, when Arthur Everndeis do- _ feated Sid Burns a little while back,

inaiiy and varied were tho sharp criticisms passed 'regarding ilio loser's condition. Oir this occasion Burns took no risks oil this score, and., being it far superior boxer, had little difficulty in regaining Ms Spurs. Kvernden play- 1 ed a waiting game, and this proved verv costly. Burns scored frequently wit'n rights and lefts, and, on tho rare occasions when,his fljjponeut became active, his superior footwork easily carried him out of danger. . In the eighth round ho was onto caught napping, and nearly paid the penalty. Thence oil to the thirteenth., when the towel was thrown in from Evci uden's corner, ho was neve' in danger. . Two Disciples of Jem Mace. In these days, when at least ono d ■the principals in every big match is. generally one who. has. modelled his stylo oit that of the American school, a bout wherein, both men happen-, to be highly-finished exponents of ilio Mace seh-00l is a novelty-, ' Such .au'evetii happened, however, wheii those old opponents, Honk - Keys and Bob Turner clashed fit the Sydney StacKum a fortuight ago. According to advices, it was ono of the Cleverest exhibitions of boxing Witnessed a ; t . the and.) at times, the- brilliancy "of both men. was very marked. Still, it did not appeal greatly to a fair proportion of the spectators, who have been reared iu the atmosphere, of the more militant school. The .end caiiie. iu the fifteenth round., when Turner Was too tired to keep 06 any. longer. M'Vea and the Jiu-jitsu Man. The "Bulletin" proclaims some sound sense on a recent jiu-jitsu' Versus boxer argument;—" That sometime-idol • of Paris, Samuel M'Vea, / who seems to havo lingered superfluous'on tho Australian fistic stage, bobbed up -at Lismore (N.S.W.) mt Friday liight in a boxer versus jiu-jitsu exhibition. . The Japanese, art was represented by "Professor" Stevenson, and the conditions called for seven bouts. Stevenson won , four iu quick succession, forcing M'Vea. to tap the sign of surrender. In the fifth tile triumphal progress came to a, sudden end. As Stevenson grabbed the . crouching'M'Vea by.the neck, that 'magnificently ugly.ucgro suddenly straightened up.j swung StoveoisQii off ■bis,.fo'c-t, and smoto him hard. and often Svitli both fists. Stevenson ■ fcaeked otf. M'Vea followed .him up, and floored him three times. But the 'professor' 'was game, and camo up once more, aud moug-h very groggy, again dragged M'Vea to the floor with him. There, Saniivel .got a chance, and showered blows. The 'professot 1 turned aver on liis face, and Saniivel outed him with threo blows. Tho crowd is said to have sniffed, as it considered Sanuvei could have done it before, biit -wanted to give good value tor tile price of admission. Some people are hard 1o please. The . writer sniffs also, as it is absurd to regard it as a test of the. value of. either .- art, as a means of solf-.defoi.ice.. The fact -that /the .'professor' downed a mail liko M'Yca four times in qiiick succession is faii'ly cQiivincnig. Tbp uiifortunato jiu-jitsor had to stand .tho .risk of., a knock-out, whereas .iETvea ' had jnorely to tap surrender. Had Stevensou been allowed to use the jiu-jitsu knock-out, Samivol would probably hayo stayed in Lismore permaneutly. This sort of- Contest is-a fafCej and a migllty unedifying one; likewise ono that should lie piojiibited." - : 'Frisco Proud ctf Clabby. ■' Clabby has made good, in California, by a runaway victory over Sailor Pe'trosky. Accustomed to taking with a grain of salt all boxers froiu tho East, the San Francisco fans turned .out in a- critical mood',- but -went homo satisfied that this latest arrival was, in- their own pai'llaiice., "soiAe -goods-." Says • the ' 'Refereo's' • commissioner "Clabby quickened, up about tho seventeenth round,: and' fro'fti that point on thumped tho sailor at will, < . using, it appcar.ea jo pie, every punch known to pugilistic screnco. It is the Clabby straight- left, hqwover, that catches our fancy. It .is as a whiff of old times, ana I have no .hesitation 'in -saying the lloosier laddie is as deft with : this delivery .'.as any of the Quccltsberry • stars of a quarter of a century ago. The victory was Clabbvs -by a large margin. 1 "Sail Francigco iveiit wild over Clabby. ' So many overrated Easterners have appeared.. here, from time to time that there would liave been little disappointment if Jimmy had proved a mediocre performer, and when lie turned out a lightning striker his praises were sung from one end of the city to..the Other. "Someone . pronounced, him , a second Stanley jjetchel> but that is 'wrong—very wrong. Ketchcl was a weaving, gliding mass of boxing strength, ;wo ; worked towards liis quarry with his foot changing and his shoulders keeping time. Hq 'seemed to fascinate all. adversary as a snake fascinates a bird, and he had uotli the adversary and the spectators guessing as to what was coining next" The writer adds: —"Ketchel Was .a natural boxer, with the strength of a Holt, and ho Was a - sure knocker-out. Clabby, on the other hand, is a boxer of the Mace school. .Ho is anything but a knocker-out., and in comparison with Ketchel is a frail fellow. If they are to liken Clabby to any of the old ring ho.fces, they might- call bim & second Jack Dempsoy." . Langford Gone Amiss. The Laiigfar.d-Joaiinettc affair swims to have aroused' a perfect, storm in America. Langford went into' tho ring "as plump as a Christmas porker," aa* one critic puts it, and his display was in keeping with his appearauco. Though. Jcametto gained tho popular decision, the general opinion seems to have been that Langford, for some mysterious .reason, was np'fe -all out. The latest cablegram received this week ■ would seem to indicate,, howovc.r, that Langford is either on tho down grad« or else has lost form temporarily. We aro informed- that- Gunboat Smith beat' iiirn in twelve rounds at Boston. Now Smith, though probably tho best of tho present white he.av.ies., has never been considered to be in the same class as Langforil, and the wonder at his Victory h increasing by the fact that in his recent battle with the giant. Carl Morris bo did not show to any great advantage.