BOXERS AT THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2398, 2 March 1915, Page 9

BOXERS AT THE FRONT

FAMOUS RING MEN IN THE FIRING LINE The other claj; Jem Driscoll, the famous boxer, joined tha Army. '• The fact aroused attention. It need not have done (states a writer in a contemporary). Soldier boxers are the rule rather than the exception.' When the number of Association footballers and their followers are compared with the number of boxers serving at present with the French and English armies I believe the percentage will ba enormously in favour of the boxers. Boxers aTe a small, athletically select, class. It takes only two good boxers to struggle gloriously for well over an hour, while 22 or 30 men. (according to the code) are required for a game of football. . There' should be an incalculable superiority of footballers with the armies and fleets ; but the proportionate advantage is easily with the boxers.

Famous Soldier Boxers. 'A few names of boxers recently prominent in the English ring occur to me; Pat O'Keefo, Sergt. Basham, Bill Ladbury, Bandsman Rice, Gus. Platts, Sergt. M'Enroy, Sergt. Jack Meekins; Pte. Maskill, Bob Seanlon, Corp. Fullerton, Dick Smith, Pte. Braddock, Pte. Voyles, "Pto. Stout, Corp. Jones. All these men are serving their country. Three of them are holders of Lonsdale Belts. Harry Smith, the Boer boxer, is aniridia to ' fight for the fond of his adoption. The distribution of boxing gloves to men in the Fleet and Army shows what a large number of minor pugilists are doing their duty. An article by Carpentier was published a fortnight ago, and we thus got u glimpse into the life of-the cham-. pion. But often I have wondered what all. the other brave : fellows are doing whom one I 'saw a few months ago bat-tling-.in the rings of Paris? Bernard, like .Carpentier, immediately • volunteered for service, and has been promoted. Stubor, not quite so -Famous as either Bernard or Carpentier, killed 12 Germans at Sezanne,- and was raised to the rani, of sergeant. Randal), another, of the lesser lights, led a handful of soldiers into a trenchful of Prussians, who were duly annihilated. Wounded in the feat, Rendall 1 was made an adjutant. ' Gramey was promoted two grades for distinguished conduct at Roye. Marcel Thomas has been promoted too; Adrian Hogan, once reported dead, has recovered from severe wounds, and is now knocking out more Germans.- Degand and Blazy are doing the same, And bo is Anguste Moulier, the wellknown amateur. _ '.Jeannot, the flyweight, saved his sight by ducking •the siiur which a cultured Uhlan tried to kick into his eye and later daringly escaped. Joannin, the French military feather-weight champion, has performed one of the greatest featsiof the war by punching a German standardbearer on the jaw and marching off with his cherished* colours. For this the boxer has received the military medal for valour.

. the Death of Charles Ledoux. A number of brave champions have 'lied on the field of honour. - It is a poignant thought that one of these is Charles ledoux, in his own', way as great a little glove-fighter as the world lias produced. ■ Gentle, s soft-voiced, olive-skinned, girlish almost to look at, Ledoux could in a few minutes destroy the resistance of the strongest bantam. How well I recall the' amazing speed and strength this companion nf .Carpentier's displayed against Bey-' ton, Hughes, and Walker. There was no German in 1 the world fit to live 'within 15ft. of . Ledoux, but a fragment of shell fire, perhaps from 6000 yards, or a bullet has done its work, and sportsmen mourn the loss of one of the world's greatest fighters. Carpentier in his article told ns a little of Eis life at the front, but he Baid nothing of Descamps; subtle, smiling, tragic, comic, .emotional, financial Descamps 1 What, I wonder, is this most amazing manager doing ? What a quaint, clever character! One can easily conceive him near a German trench out challenges on behalf of either himself or Carpentier, arguing over the proportion of the "gate" and the kinema rightscooking a wonderful ragout, or bluffing an entire German army corps into surrendering to Carpentier I _ If the pair survive the War, if no distant death overtakes them, what receptions await them—Petrograd, Paris, and London!. Carpentier tells us that up to now his greatest achievement at the front has been the capture of a German dog, but there is l "time for me to do something really big!" Revival of Franoe, warlike revival of France, a" theme that has inspired the poets of the oivilised world, happily follows close upon the wonderful outburst of enthusiasm for sport in general and boxing in particular across the Channel. It has proved conclusively that- primitive, blood-stirring games do not brutalise, and that the philosophical figure-spin-ning of spectacled students is no guarfu excess and'violence when the helpta are _ encountered. Boxing,' as Materlinck said, is "the discipline of violence."

, It L1 _ was n°t very long ago that we saw at the Ring in' London a sample, of German courage and skill when opposed to-a resolute opponent. A Mr. Otto £lint, the heavy-wieght. champion of bermany, met Terry Kella'r, an IrishAmerican: and of all the varied champions wjio have come to England to win fame and money proved the ■ greatest coward perhaps tne only one. Ho was well matched, and possessed an excellent chance of victory; but once his op- , ponent .began to punish him the German champion retired from the contest in the .most flagrant manner possible. No, we may justly be'proud of the. fact that England is . the motherland of • boxing, that America and our colonies possess the same healthy love of . fist-fighting, and that the French are our most celebrated and ardent disciples of the good English game. And- may I, at the risk of being considered priggish by peaceful pro-Germans, express' equal pleasure that the Germans scorn pugilism and take pride in the fact that they aTe not a boxing nation?