Boxing.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 1, Issue 4, 15 December 1910, Page 15

Boxing.

The third of the American contingent to appear in public in Australia was Clabby, the welter-weight. Referring to his contest with Bryant, which took place at the Sydney Stadium on November 2, the " Sydney Morning Herald" says:—"Cool, collected, resourceful, faultless m def>ence, and magnificent in offence, Jimmy Clabby, the American welterweight, had little difficulty in disposing of Bob Bryant, who was counted out in the seventh round, after taking delivery of a left smash, followed by a lightning right cross which landed square on the point. Clabby claims the welter-weight championship of the world, and, judging by his showing last night, is a worthy holder. He is, without doubt, the cleverest boy seen in an Australian ring since the days of Griffo. His iudgment of distance was a little at fault at times, but his wonderful cleverness always got him out of difficulties. A most prominent feature of the contest was the utmost good humour with which it was waged, neither man seeking to take the slightest unfair advantage of the other." The Sydney "Bulletin" says:—An explorer's story which appeared recently in the 'Journal," Alberta (Canada) : " When we reached Grouard the telegraph contruction gang was putting the finishing touches on the line to that point. Working with an axe in advance of this construction gang was all that remained of Frank Slavin, rival of Sullivan and other oldtime idols of the ring. When interviewed, Slavin did not say he was training to get back into shape to tear the laurels from black Jack Johnson. He was just working to get a living." The busy stoush-merchant who thinks It will Last For Ever is counselled to nail the above excerpt over the prie-dieu in his boudoir. Another of the eliminating contests designed to discover the best heavyweight in Great Britain, took place at Wonderland, London, on September 26. The contestants were Jewey Smith and Petty-Officer Curran. It proved to be an unsatisfactory affair, as in the eeventh round the referee disqualified both men for hitting in clinches after repeated warnings. At the time it looked as though Curran would prove the winner. The following is from the New York "Police Gazette": —Mayor Gaynor, of New York City, hits the nail squarely on the head when he says: "A lot of pressure has been brought to bear on mc concerning the prize fight pictures. You cannot satisfy the American boy. He will not permit it—and you do not want to do it. I have never seen a prize fight, but I have no quarrel with the man who wants to see one. If the pictures of a prize fight will teach the American boy how to defend himself when he is called upon to do so, then I say let him see the fight pictures. If the sight of a prize fighter in the pink of condition will make a boy ambitious to possess just such a physique, then I say for the good of the nation let him see and appreciate that superb piece of human mechanism in action. Mr. Roosevelt would want every boy in America to see those pictures and learn through them every point of self-defence—and so do I. When two boys begin scrapping in the street, provided, of course, they are of equal size and strength, what does the average man do ? Try to separate them ? Never ! He tells them to sail in and may the best man win. The man with red blood in his veins knows that blows like those boys will exchange do not kill. And the right blow, rightly landed, may make a man of a boy who has too much book learning and too little physical development. Every reader of this column knows that the boy who grows up without ever engaging in fights with his playmates, who never plays in the street and becomes rough and hardy, who is tied to his mother's apron string from the cradle till time for him to vote, is not the man he should be physically. It takes a boy who has played in the street, fought with playmates and learned to defend himself with his fists, who makes a good man when he is old enought to set his own sail in life."

The Ketehell family have another representative, from whom great things are expected in the pugilistic world. This is Leon Ketchell., a fifteen-year-old boy, who is very clever with the gloves, and should he decide to follow the boxing profession, he may emulate the deeds of his deceased brother. Leon has a great yearning for a ring career, and is very keen on keeping a championship in the Ketchell family. In all the bouts in which he has participated he has shown himself in the role of a knockout artist, and one evening disposed of three of his opponents at an athletic club. It would therefore seem as though the name of Ketchell, which will always be remembered in boxing circles, is destined to play a prominent part later on in the roped arena, despite the great loss that the ring has suffered by the untimely death of one of the world's best liked boxers.