PARIS WILD OVER BOXING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 680, 24 June 1914, Page 3

PARIS WILD OVER BOXING.

BOUTS ATTENDED BY WOMEN HIGH IN SOCIAL CIRCLES. Parisians have taken very seriously to boxiig. . The duel, with its pleasing accompaniment of publicity in print and photograph, is as popular in Paris as ever, but the sport of "la boxe" (Frenchmen cannot say boxing) has become the very latest thing for tha amusement of fashionable Paris, and it is v sinking in deep: There was a boxing match the other night at the Cirque de Paris. Every Paris newspaper gives it the place of honour next morning, although it finished very late. The "Figaro," .the fashionable newspaper which was the last to adhere to the aristocratic price of three halfpence a copy, and even now, when almost fevery Paris newspaper sells at a halfpenny costs a penny a copy, devoted three-quarters of a column, headed ''Sensational Victory," to the match, and this was the description : "Wlr.n the sound of the gong announced the' end of the battle, which for -twenty magnificent renewals ol combative science- and sincerity set the 'Frenchman, Georges Carpentier, and the*-American,.- Harry Lewis, face to face, the amazed and enthusiastic crowd, without waiting for the 'decision of the judges,. saluted with frenzied ovations the victory of our champion. Then suddenly there was dead silence —we waited in ' anguish for the verdict." The article then continued lyrically to celebrate the fact that M. Geor'ges Carpentier had, after twenty rounds, been judged to have proved himself a better boxer than Harry Le\Vis, of America. WOMEN ATTEND MATCHES. Until a few months ago Parisians looked oh boxing as a brutal occupation. It ; ~vyas not considered a sport \at all. Parisians preferred "la savate," the art of self-defence by kicking, in which the fists play a very small part . iniltrcl, insurance goes for little, and sk'ill is everything. Now women of all classes of society in Paris attend boxing matches, boxing is a topic of general conversation. Everywhere was to be seen the ■blaze of I'ich jewels, and the stalls and boxes as full of handsome dresses and white shirt-front -as the stalls are on- a gal&gaevening at the opera. Every seat was filled, an 4 crowds who tried to gain admission at the last moment, went away disappointed or waited in motor-cars, carriages, or in ill? crowd around; the- doors,, to hear the result of the fight which they could not get in to see. Here are the prices charged for scats, which give some notion of the hold which the maijly art has gained on. fashionable Paris. Boxes at the Cirque de, Paris cost £ls and- £l2 each. ' The first two rows of chairs round the ring were, sold at £5 a chair, the tfiird row; sold at £l. The last, rows . were 'snapped up at £2, and speculators who had bought them in advance resold them very readily at £5 and upward, and resold. £5 chairs for £G and £B. To. stand in the crowd inside the Cirque de Paris and get an occasional glimpse of. the combatants over somebody's shoulder, cost five shillings. The interest in this first big boxing match changed the - whole aspect of a very quiet neighbourhood. The Cirque de Paris is near the Invalides, Extra police were put on duty to control the traffic. Enormous crowds on foot thronged not only the pavement, but thS roadway, and the whole impression was that of a festivity of international importance. Frenchmen have suddenly admitted boxing to the rank of a real sport, elass it with aviation now, even, and are as anxious that a Frenchman should take first rank in the t'lng as they are anxious for first rank in everything. • They'have acquired a most amusing smattering of the jargon of the ring, and as they have not yet learned to translate, boxing terms of "ewpercute," ','le .knockoot," "le swainge" (swing), "les directs," and other technicalities sounds quaintly on the British ear, There can be no doubt that this new general interest in sport which is taking firm ground France is going to become a very real item in the future ,of the country.—Paris Letter in the "Boston Globe."