THE BOXING RING

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 202, 15 November 1927, Page 11

THE BOXING RING

Notes From Far and Near

_ By “

“LEFT COUNTER"

Tom Heeney, the New Zealander, A. 1- making his mark in America, 'as born at Gisborne in 1898. Tex Rickard’s statement that ho has guaranteed the cost of a fight be~~pen Tunney and Dempsey in Lonat, is exceedingly hard to credit. If :,?r statement be true where will the £500.000 necessary to stage the fight com© from ? m * * .•I want three or four battles this vpar preferably in California. I don’t l*ra about the money part of it at all. I want is to keep fit, so that ' hen I get Tunney again I will be at „ iy best.’ —Jack Dempsey. When Charlie Purdy fought Tommy v-.irhall he suffered a cauliflower ear. Pilkington damaged the ear still further and it had to be operated on. This may keep the Aucklander out of the ring for some time. Ail followers of boxing would like to ‘ Trowern matched with Pilkington, vho received the verdict when he and Purdy last met. Both are had hitters nnd such a match should prove a great it would be a feather in Trowern’s cap if he could defeat the American. * * * In a 12-round contest at the Leichhardt Stadium recently Tommy Barber defeated Mike Flynn on points. It is understood that the latter boxer is the former New Zealand champion. Last Friday night at the same stadium McUister won on points from Flynn. Motion pictures of the Dempsey - Tunney fight have been shown in Paris for the first time, before large audiences in which Dempsey sentiment seemed to predominate. The spectators groaned, however, when Tunney wa » knocked down in the seventh round Women shrieked and men cheered just as they are accustomed to do at a regular prize light. The New Zealander, Lachie McDonald, is entitled to take his place among the fistic animals at present prowling in the .ungle of Australia’s pugilism, states an Australian writer. If the several “Tigers” and motley collection of “bears,’’ “bear-cats,” and others deserve their name, then McDonald should be given pride of place among them. McDonald is the most attractive and best-looking proposition that has come to Australia fur a long time, and he seems certain to make trouble for any of the middles. % The effort on the part of a Chicago highbrow to stop the Tunney and Dempsey fight recalls a similar campaign, far more successful, whtn Jack Johnson was barred from meeting Billy Wells, states an exchange. Upon that occasion the Rev. F. B. Meyer, who is now a very old man, - was the prime rhover in stopping the fight, much to rhe chagrin of the late Mr. James White. That worthy, I need hardly ! add. dropped a lot of good money in his failure to put black and white in the ring. The news that Lesr. Murray has announced his retirement from the boxing ring will be received with regret. as many were looking forward to seeing the ex-champion in action after his recent trip to America. Murray was light-weight champion of New Zealand for six years, and was one of the most popular boxers in the Dominion. He was a hard-hitting, aggressive, and scientific boxer, and at the time of his leaving for America was the best draw in the Dominion. He »forfeited his title to Charlie Purdy when he overstayed the time allowed from the Dominion. Murray states that he does not intend to lead the easy life just yet, and there is a chance that he will stage a come-back. If he does, he will be welcome, if only in view of his pa3t performances. Before closing the annua! convention, the National Boxing Association named champions in every division of the boxing game, with the exception of fly-weight, which is vacant due to the retirement of Fidel la Barba. The approved champions are: Heavyweight, Gene Tunney; light heavyweight, Jimmy Slattery: middleweight, Mickey Walker; welter-weight, foe Dundee; light-weight,, Sammy Mandell; feather-weight, Benny Bass: hantam-weight:, Bud Taylor. Slattery was named light heavy-weight king through his victory gver Maxie Rosenbloom. The National Association had arranged an elimination tournament, but all withdrew except Slattery, and his victim in a recent bout, Tommy Loughran, is recognised as champion bv the New York State Commission, which is not affiliated with the National Boxing Association.

Nelson McKnight, who is training at ; Seattle, has as a sparring partner Doc I Snell the feather-weight who defeated I Billy Grime. * * * * It is understood that after Johnny Leckie has met Tommy Griffiths for the feather-weight title he will accept an offer to box in Australia. * * * The ring career of Johnny Dundee, the former feather-weight champion, is nearing its close if it has not already closed. Dundee, the veteran of over 300 battles, was recently defeated by Tony Canzeroni, a former bootblack. * * * Jack Kearn’s suit against Jack Dempsey for 333,333 dollars, alleging breach of contract, will be heard during November. Three motions made by Dempsey’s counsel were rejected when the case was set for trial. In the near future one or two tourneys are to be staged by the cadets of the 23rd and 30th companies. Parents and friends will be invited and as there are some good boxers among the boys, competition should be keen. Several prominent business men have promised trophies. * * * Leo Wax, the Australian welterweight, who made a poor showing in Auckland, is doing well in America. He has been fighting mostly round about New Orleans and is reported to have won his last 19 fights. Dave Shade, a welter-weight of good class, recently refused to fight Wax. * * * In a letter to Mr. W. Dervan, the well-known boxing official, Lachie McDonald states that he is matched to fight Fred Brock next Friday night and will then go to Melbourne. He says that the tin hares have done much harm to amusements in Australia and steps are being taken to have them stopped. * * * Pocock, the Christchurch middleweight, who recently turned professional, has written to the Otago Boxing Association. He would like to meet Artie Hay, Hastings; Vin Parker, Timaru; Loveridge, Wellington; Heenev, Gisborne; Broadfoot, Auckland, or W. Tyree, Wellington. He stipulates that Tyree must make the middle-weight limit. There are four former heavyweights working at the Paramount motion picture studios. “Gunboat’ Smith is perhaps the best known. Al. Kaufman, who once fought Jack Johnson to a 10-round draw, is another. Tom Kennedy was once a prominent heavy-weight, and Ed. Kennedy, who is no relation to Tom, has been in a number of pictures. Since Mickey Walker received £20,000 for meeting Tommy Milligan, he has decided that he is a valuable man, therefore before Tiger Flowers can have a return contest he must find a promoter who Will put up £50,000. The champion states that he has a big offer to met Georges Carpentier. However, the National Boxing Commission has given him until Deceiftber 17, and if at that time he has not met Flowers, the board of governors will decide whether or not Mickey shall be stripped of his title and barred in the 24 States and allied bodies of the association. Jack Johnson, the former world’s heavy-weight champion, is now a mass of glittering black flesh, completely bald, and very riabby. Laudation, money, and foolish women have changed the simple negro into a “flash nigger.” A writer in an English paper states that he talked with Johnson on a liner when he was beginning to collect his lurid reputation, and found him a simple, vain fellow, goodnatured, his mouth full of hardlylearnt inaccurate Shakesperean quotations, and his hands, teeth, and shirt front loaded with gold. Now he is comparatively a hanger-on. A little while ago he “got religion,” and became an evangelist. But he was never quite so near to his savage origin as that negro youth, Siki, who snatched the world’s cruiser-weight title from Carpentier, and then died miserably of wounds in a New York dive. Nearly all the great negro fighters have been unfortunate —Peter Jackson, Joe Jeanette, Sam Langford, the two latter undeservedly. Langford is blind and dependent. His simplicity, honesty, and generosity made him the butt of rogue and selfish, careless associates. In a lesser degree there is Andrew Jeptha, the blind coloured boxer, who to-day goes about England practically helpless, a victim of the killing kidney punch, now happily banned.