BOXING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 627, 13 December 1913, Page 2

BOXING.

CARPENTIER KNOCKS WELLS OUT. Georges Carpentier, the French boxing champion, met Bombardier Billy Wells, the champion of England, on Tuesday in a return match. The Frenchman proved that his previous win in the fifth round was no fluke;' 1 by knocking out his big opponent in the first vounci. Both men were fit, and were preeted with deafening cheers. The betting was (> to 4 on Wells. Wells only once touched Carpentier. hitting him on the ribs slightly. After a short clinch, Carpentier, feinting splendidly, landed a tremendous punch on his opponent's jaw. As Weils' head went to the right, down earns the Frenchman's left orTthe other's jaw. Wells reeled. Carpentier came at Wells again before the latter could protect himself, and thrust both left and right, to the body. The Englishman went down. When the referee shouted "Out," Carpentier rushed forward and lifted up his opponent. The audience, momentarily spellbound at the dramatic conclusion of the fight, then ovated Carpentier and boo'd Weils. The latter, who obtainpd a hearing with some difficulty, declared that he had done his best. The fight lasted 7f> seconds. The newspapers state thai Wells was beaten before he entered the rinir. Carpentier has been matched to fipht Gunboat Smith, of America, for £2OOO The fight will take place in Enlgand.

THE PARIS BETTING SYSTEM. - . Wot quite the Perfect tyr.'cotr. Some Folks Think it. is. The new hotting laws in eral of our State.- hav'' bro'iuht into notice the French plan of betting, which for Home reason not so very clear to the average mind is supposed to be a mild and improved manner of placing a wager In the first place the management of the track assumes the whole responsibility of receiving and paying, and no bookmakers are in the game. There are two sets of so-called machines, although the machinery consists simply of clerks and computers —one for two-dollar bets and one for five-dollar bets, and each for straight place, and show. Tickets are sold and handed out. When a horse wins, says "Bit and Spur," all the straight tickets sold are multiplied by the number five in the five-dollar machine to get the total of dollars there. In the twodollar division the multiplication, o! course, is by two. The amount in the pool obtained, the calculator at once in the interest of the association deducts five per cent, for profit and expenses. The amount is then divided by the number of tickets which had been sold on what has proved to be the winner, and the payment for each ticket is the result. A little arithmetical cogitation will give light, on the next process for place and show horses, the only difference being that the division into two or three parts for distribution of the payments is necessary in distributing the pool money. The house keeps all fractions as well as its five per cent., and when dead heats are run the money is divided in a way which makes provision for the extra horsa sharing in the first position. Amo'g the absurdities of the parimutuel system is the fact that il only straight tickets were sold and they all on the winDer, the better would not win anything, but would get back his money, less the percentage and the fractions. This could hardly be a possible condition of a race, and the machine men guard against too much money coming in on a prime favourite by cutting his name out of the card. Another fact that is patent in this as in all percentage games is that if the play goes on long enough the persistent deduction of five per cent, will eventually (and not so far distant) eat up all the money on the grounds not in the hands of the machine owners.