IN THE RING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1931, 13 December 1913, Page 16

IN THE RING.

." J;';. ~.*,.;!- : . : IDOL :TH AT STANDS'FOB EVER. Idol's? Opinion. .''. Sfv( r:il rcq-ii-in.s' have'- already : been sung over-''Bombardier Wells, heavy-. ;.weight elmmpiqiiVciV England,sbut, ..eat-, like,;this reputation'.lias"apparently ,pos-. se.-Kod nine."l;yes,i' and hnsj.-ivi'usMl to stay'; interrcd.-JptH.eanj; safely-,-be; said hoxeVS lias bee n'tigivcrt^such fiiaiices ita-W ellsvo! :-rclia-!»itulalnig; !i misclf after- itiglorioiis'^def^-at:^;:-:;^: '. Quia; early in liis"?ciirecß % as?'a chain--' pion:die i'cll a ; vi(lini to.old-timer-'•'(.!uu-ner" 1 Moir,ViriVfour. slioi't' found::.. Glum.' another chance;Uie ?reversed jtSiis Tcsulty replaced'* on' his pedestal; ,-i;-Then'eame"several sty-S lish- second;.! raters, and;:ij!j.really?ajipoared!Bs-though' at last England.- ha'd'fouiid/a.champion., Then,- after.-a. : whj]e, ; camo-.the. fatid'visit to American, ■■'and;.i:tho : .^short;*,;'Ssudden, shock' of ...the- dofeat-ihEtwoi'rosindsi; by' A 1 Palxcr.'v'/Tiiisj-Mtoweverfiiwassquieklyr followed- bv. ; ;a':meritSrioulsvAvmsi-ovor

''Tom" Kennedy;■ and,;botlu;--in-'America' and;Ejigland, Wells's par.'"' : Tlieii eanie'ianother's'spcn'.-in-.- rciroat," during which'reports;ofi'woiidcr; ful boxing "ability and-increase of- stamina, from this and that physical culture system, completely,-restored., tho- faith of England, in her:'idol. ii-Tlien-'.-quickly came tho "Gunboat^KSmith/and tlio Carpentier 'reverses',' ■■ ; as : ;short ; 'n'nd .sud-j' den as the others:.;:^':'?■'

In tile ordinary., course- all this .would have been: more than sufficient to have finished a 'championship' aspirant-.. But not so with Wells. . There camo his victories over "Packey" ■ Mahoncy, ■ the Irish champion, and "Pat" O'Keefe, and oftce again the Bombardier:was considered in line for big men and big purses. Ho was matched with Georges Carpentier again for a.-purse of £3000. Tho result reached us on''Tuesday,

Does He totter at Last?' , He withstood tiio attack .-of tlio French lad-just ono and a" quarter minutes; In tact, ho did not withstand it at all. _ Like, the snowfiako on the river in the poem he was one moment there, then gone 'for. ever. ' \\ eils' is plainly ; not of the stuff of which champions are made,. As a boxer lie is apparently superb. He. has the size and the weight, and he has tlso punch. Moreover, there is, 110 reason to doubt- his.courage..j What Alls Wells? Why, ■ when, and where; th6n, does Weils fail?. Apparently the 'mswer lies m the-'word' "stage-fright."'-.';- Ho suffersbadly from "nerves.?.'.'lie*<s'.too]highlystnmg foi\his job—and that.is ail these is to it. Sam Langford. has put his lingeron the spot when lie says, as reported in the cablegrams, ..that Wells is no champion, and ought to bo eontented with giving exhibitions. This pertinent remark looks like being the Bombardier's ringlistio epitaph. ... ' . Tim English newspapers have naturally been busy searching for cattscn for the catastrop.be. Some' of them, it is reported, attribute the-" 1 defeat to the use of old-fashioned methods, compared with Carpentier's Americanised style. If, by "old-fashioned, methods" these critics moan what is termed tlie Jlacc style of boxing—tlio style that for years made English boxers, pre-eminent—tin's theory may be disposed of at once,. It will not■ do.' Some of the.best lighters of the day aro exponents of these methods, as we're most of the best of the men that have been. There was Peter Jackson, for example, perhaps the best of them all. jack Johnson, too, is, or rather was, at bottom a Mace boxer., So was Joe Cans, so is Packey 31'Farland. So was Jim Corbcit-, and so are Freddy Welsh awl Willie. Uifchie. And so, despite the critics, is Georges Carpentier himself. ' ' .'

No, the fault is not With the method, but with the man. , Wore Wells selfconfident enough ..and . under sufficient srlf-control in his big matches to he ablo to adapt his knowledge to suit the methods opposed to him.' he would bo all that Cnrpentier is and more. .

Will Carpentler See Sydney? ' As for Carpentier, wo are told that lie is preparing for a match with Gunboat Snr'th for a purso of i'2ooo in the Olympic Club's ;arena in February or March. 1 - 1 The ' significance' of - this piece of news on this side of the world lies in its hearing upon K. L. Baker's endeavours to import ■ the redoubtable Georges to Australia.'. It • appears as though these '.endeavours will bo fruitless. Carpelit'cr has only a few months ta go now before l.is term of army service becomes duo, and as boxing by French soldiers is prohibited, this will cause a temporary, if not p. permanent, halt in his boxing career. In view of the possibilities of his career this is a great pity, bus no doubt Carpentier is a loyal Gatil, and therefore "La l'atrie" comes before "I/a Boxe." ...

A Deelsfcm that did Not Plcsss. " Last _week "Merrmry" mentioned the surprising defeat of "Matt." Weils in Sydnc-y by Harry Stone, and opined that the details of the contest would explain why the decision in the American's favour "met, with a- mixed reception," as reported in the eablo message, Hcports by mail make this feature very plain indeed. ' The critics are ■ almost unanimously emphatic that the decision was a deplorably bad one. In the "Sun;" for example, Mr. W. F. Corbett says: "llo''(Stone) hoxod really well, hut lie met liis master in tlio 'Englishman at every point 1 of the game."...Again, in summing up, .he writes:— ■ From first to last Wells did..tlio . forcing almost'monotonously. St-ono' ■ three times cut loose, -sluicing left' . and right to the body with lightning speed ; but just as soon as the spasmodic, burst was over; Wells would begin again peppering away at the head with his left..- Surely to good- , . iiess that 'aggressiveness of-Wells's! should have' counted with Sr-oit,; 1 combined as it was with cleverness', and. dexterity ill landing ■ with tlio left. • The writer save Stone at most five of the twenty round-. It is no wonder, then,.that the reception of the verdict- was mixed.- . .

Frank Ellis's iVfisfortuns. . Very little-has been heard."of■■ Frank Ellis sincr- lie left Wellington ■ .with "Hack" . Keys to- try his-'luck in-. Australia.". This is lint a rase of "no news being good news" -cither," for it was hoped thatour- "feather" would soon bo heard of, and wellheard of ...at that. Frank, however, Ims- at" last made a start.-and, as luck has it, the start is a bail one—not throng!] any fault of his own, hilt through sheer, ill-fortune. The story, of his misfortunes is time told in tlio "Sun": —. "Billy" . Elliott bent Frank Ellis in eight rounds in J hp Stadium pre- ■' liminary, because Ellis broke his hand and was compelled to.throw in fho towel: Twice, during the contest Elliott was down, once for three. . seconds, and the second time for ■'eight. In the sixth .round Ellis siTresdeaglcd his adversary with a riii'it upper'ciit. It'was tliat punch which broke Ellis's hand. • Tiio many well-wishers of Ellis will find this hard to.bear. A victory over Elliott, oven though our ox-champion is not now the star . that ho was, would have done Ellis no olid of'.'good. . That Husky Dano. ? Waldemar ITolberg, Oio Danish iightweight, now in Australia, has evidently got into his stride. Last week his victory over "I/en" Porter, was' reported. Now news !of another win is to hand, this time- over Frank .I'icaio, ■ One report says: "The Dane'made the..Ameri-

can-look as .if ho liad■. forgotten;■;': anytiling ho ever know about boxing',"..The' end came '.in. the eleventh 'round, 1 when tho roferco stopped > tho contest' and handed llolberg tho verdict-.-' ,j • Mawell Redivivus. ?. It is reported that Allen Maxwell, tho Taranaki light-weight, _\vlio has recently been under an operation for appendicitis, and who was said to bavo retired from the game, is to meet "Jim" Hogpity at Tnttmarumii at Christinas time. Still Tiiay Cpnio, By the Sonoma, which left Sail Francisco recently,, arc coming six American boxers, under contract t-o It. L. .linker. Included in the 'land are Eddio M'Coor-'ty,'-'whose', first opponent will, be . ]';it. Bi-nillov. and an old friend in the per;s/.V;of Hay Branson .