THE BOXING RING

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 154, 20 September 1927, Page 13

THE BOXING RING

Notes From Far and Near

By

“LEFT COUNTER”

It is understood that the Bro&dfootHav encounter at Wellington has fallen through and that, in its place Harry and Hay will meet. The rumour j s current that both the welter-weight and middleweight titles will be in dispute. Beg. Trowern has recovered from his indisposition and is in training in of a contest. He is open for engagements, but prefers to meet Artie Hay for the title. Next aSturday Tommy Griffiths and Johnny Leckie will meet for the featherweight championship and a purse of £l5O. Leckie is to be conin defending the title so soon after gaining it. Griffiths has the hardest part in front of him, however, but he is an accomplished boxer and the possessor of a hard punch. Even if he c< nn< t defeat the title-holder he is bound to make things interesting. Another short fight went on the records in America when Wyoming Warner knocked ou: Mike Russo in 11 seconds. At the bell Warner was out of his corner like a hurricane and met Russo’s rush with a slashing left hook to the stomach. Russo went down and out and it took ten minutes to revive him in his corner. There are two shorter fights than thfs recorded, one being of two seconds duration and the other of three.

Ted (Kid) eLwis, tie ex-welter-weight champion, met Joe Greenwood, of Australia, in a '.15-rounds contest at the Ilford Skating Rink, London, recently, and for one who has been so long absent from the ring Lewis was in fine condition. He was far from convincing, however, and Greenwood went four rounds before- his seconds threw in thp towel. Time and again Lewis was guilty of missing, while Green, to save himself from punishment, was forced to hold excessively. Lewis in the third round dealt out a lot of punishment. and Green was beaten to a standstill. It must be stated, however, that Green, during his training, was reported to have sustained a nasty injury to his leg. * * •

Dick, Wright, of Melbourne, cne time lightweight champion of Victoria, was interviewed by a London writer recently. The scribe states that Wright does not look much of a lightweight now, and inquiry proved that he weighs fifteen stone, though still very fit and hard as nails. On his tour he has been through the States and Southern Europe, and was highly amused at a fight he witnessed in Italy between one of the Spallas and a French boxer. Twice a foul was claimed, and each time when the referee decided that the blow was not foul the boxers kissed each other. They had another kissing bout at the finish and then the ladies of the audience showered flowers on them. Dick said he would have preferred the “diggers’ " custom of throwing a few sovereigns into the ring.

Gene Tunney narrowly escaped violence from a madman recently. The champion had just returned from his morning workout on the road and was within fifty yards of his cottage, when a savage, 1901 b. patient, who had escaped frorp the State hospital in Utica, ae-i costed him. The madman demanded that the world’s heavyweight championship be settled right there. Gene’s quick wit saved him. He pointed his right thumb over his shoulder at the crowd trailing him and with a terse “See my manager,’’ ducked in his cottage. On

the arrival of several sheriff’s deputies fne man fled. An armed posse was arranged and, after an hour’s search ti trough the woods, the maniac was captured and returned to Utica. Gene was upset, but had already cancelled his workout for the day, and .spent part oi the afternoon conferring with his sparring partners.

As he trains for his second encounter vv ith Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunnev, the heavyweight champion, finds himself up against some of the same sort of legal harassment that so unsettled Dempsey before the titular bout in 1 liladelphia last September, when the crown slipped from the head of Jack oi to Gene of the Marines. Tint Mara, well-known New York sportsman, recently filed a suit in the Supreme Court against Tunney and Billy Gibson, his manager, for 26,250 dollars, which Mara claims is due him as a result of agreements between him and Tunney and his manager. In the papers Mara said that he was entitled to 10 per cent, of the 200,000 dollars Tunney is said to have received for defeating Dempsey and the additional 6,250 dollars from the amount due on the alleged agreement by which Mara was to receive 25 per cent, of Tunney’s vaudeville earnings. Tunney has always contended that Gibson made the; contract, if any was drawn, and Gibson is answerable for any legal action. Gibson has held that the contract could only be valid if the bout had been held in New York. The case is expected to drag along for some time.

Jack Dempsey boxed, a. whole week in Chicago ten years ago for the princely sum of 350 dollars. Now the ex-champion has returned to that city with the prospect of getting 700,000 dollars for thirty minutes or less in his attempt to regain the crown from Gene Tunney in their battle at. Soldiers’ Field, September 22. The warmth of the welcome accorded Dempsey tangled traffic in the vicinity of the Morrison Hotel for hours. “They never flocked around me like this when I was the champion,’’ Dempsey remarked, with a smile. “It makes me feel good. Chicago, you know, is the place where I really got started. Why, I boxed a whole week at a neighbourhood theatre for 350 dollars back in 1917. That was big dough to me then. Kearns and I were here before we were matched with Willard; neither of us was very fat in the pocketbook.’’

Mike McTigue and Tommy Loughran will box for the light heavyweight title in Madison Square Garden on October 7. Everything is set for the bout and Loughran’s expected remonstrance over the action ot the Boxing Commission in awarding the title to McTigue will not disturb the quiet of the fistic fathers’ sanctum. Loughran was slated to make a protest before the board, but neither he nor his manager, Joe Smith, put in an appearance. Loughran no doubt has been convinced that if he made a lot of noise a way might be found to give *the championship bout to somebody else. McTigue may or may not be entitled to the title, but Mike is a popular favourite and considerable of a drawing card, and Loughran probably will realise a larger sum by boxing McTigue for 12J per cent, in Madison Square Garden than he ever earned before in one night. And if Tom is really as confident as he seems to be that he is old Mike’s master it would be good business for him to take the shot for even 5 per cent.