WERE OLD-TIME BOXERS AS GOOD AS THEY SAY?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 317, 30 March 1928, Page 10

WERE OLD-TIME BOXERS AS GOOD AS THEY SAY?

“I was interested if somewhat amused, the other day, when, on reading Colin Bell’s opinion of Tom Heeney, the old gladiator said he had to smile when he thinks of the Gisborne man as a contender for the heavy-weight crown. I was interested to again hear of Bell, and pleased to know he is fairly well placed and satisfied with his lot. He was a good onein his day and mixed it with some of the best of them; but it is somewhat amusing that he, in common with all the “has beens,” is so ready to disparage the standard of present-day champions, and to look upon the lot as being far inferior to the pugilists of his time. “James J. Corbett speaks in much the same strain whenever he is approached on the relative merits of present and past performers. So does Jeffries and any of the old fighters I have read about. “It is rather strange how this lather narrow view and seeming unwillingness to give credit where credit is due should so dominate the judgment of those old sports. HEENEY NOW AND THEN “Colin Bell says Heeney was getting easier every time he met him: that he had several 'sitting shots’ at him and so on. Now, Colin may be granted all this, but he should bear in mind that when he met Heeney, the latter was, at the time, little more than a big raw novice with little or no experience of ring-craft in comparison to what is needed when opposed to such a practised tactician as Bell. He says he had Tom’s eyes closed and his lips puffed: that he floored him, but could not keep him down. Tough chap Heeney; yes. and game as a pebble. “Bell could not k.o. him, even though the match was more or less a good professional against a raw recruit. Heeney was inexperienced and slow, which made him easy for Bell. Otherwise Tom had all the characteristics of a formidable fighter, and time has proved that all he required was a good speeding up and plenty of opponents to keep him going. I’ve never

met Heeney, but saw him fight in Auckland, and he then impressed me as being rather slow and amateurish, but he had nothing against him to make him step lively that night either, and the decision was that he lost on points. HEENEY SPEEDED UP “When he failed against Scott in England I thought he had no chance in America, but I had left out of my reckoning the fact that he was speeding up as a result of each fight he was having—he was going through a muchneeded course of practice to make a pugilist of the first order. “But the old champions won’t give in; they will have it that the men of their time could ‘towel’ the lot of them; yet in many other branches of sport that calls for speed, Indurance, and stamina, the men of to-day are quite as good as the old athletes; in fact, new records are being continually set up. WHY NOT? Why should not the boxers be as good now as ever? James J. Corbett tells us that none of the present-day heavies would have a chance with Peter Jackson when that grea.t negro boxer was in his prime. Corbett drew h Jackson after 60 odd rounds, so that J. J. was his equal; and from this viewpoint I suppose gentleman Jim would have us believe that none of the present men could have a show with him at the time. “When Jeffries was asked what he thought of Dempsey he admitted he possessed a heavy punch, and could knock them, but, he added, ‘they get U P again,’ but when he himself used to knock them they stayed down. No, they did not stay down for Jeffries any more than for any other of the heavies—big and powerful as he was. He could not k.o. Sailor Tom Sharkey over a distance of 20 rounds. The newspaper report of the figbt was that every blow would fell an ox, and Sharkey used almost to rebound off the 5°£ r be on his feet again rushing *^ e £^ ries ‘ The latter won on points. Yes, the old champions were great fighters and boxers. So are the present day ones.’ But let us hope that, when their day wanes, they won’t be so in sporting spirit as to belittle their successors in the roped arena, and tell the patrons that, in tneir day, there were men at the game ancl against whom the present men would have no chance. W.W.