THE BOXING RING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 924, 18 March 1930, Page 13

THE BOXING RING

| MPTI s_ EROMIML ~ 8

| BY.

"LEFT COUNTER"

■ I Frank Taylor, of Auckland. and : Cyril Hurnt . be< n matched to fight at Westport fot* the ! vacant - - eight t , | 12 Morgan for Australia New Zealand is to lose another of > her promising boys. Ted Morgan inving decided to cross tlie Tasman early . ; next month. IN [organ is assured of j plenty of business in Australia, for the ! welters are quite a strong class. There i are Hancock. Fair hall and Carroll leading the field and it. is just possible that Morgan will be pitted against his fellow New Zealander Charlie Purdy. If the ex-Olympic champion fights as he lias been doing since he turned professional he should gain much experience and soon make his way into the good graces of the Australian public. He has lost on two occasions, once to Hay on a foul and again in that sensational battle with Trowern. both unsatisfactory endings. Morgan may be accompanied by Cleverlev with whom he was associated at the Games. | There is no reason why both should : not do well although there is not so ; much offering to heavy-weights as to | those in lighter classes. : Did Sharkey Plan the End? l j There has been considerable disi cussion among local boxing enthusiasts ; I regarding the result of the longawaited fight between Scott and ' Sharkey and several opinions have i been advanced. I have a theory which i I have not heard advanced and which j I will give for what it is worth. Scott ] lias won many fights on fouls and has | never been backward in claiming on i the slightest pretext. Thereby he has got himself disliked. Would it not then be possible for Sharkey to use a * little boxing psychology to endeavour 1 to trade on Scott's reputation for - claiming fouls. By going into the i ring with the object of concentrating on a body attack which if successful would i badly hurt Scott, Sharkey would be . giving the Knglisliman a chance to . claim a foul on the slightest hint of a 1 low blow and'the referee, remembering s Scott’s reputation, would think twice . about allowing such a claim. To some this theory may sound fani tastic, but to me it seems feasible. As * it was, most critics agreed that Scott l had been fouled and the only' way to . clear the difference is to arrange 1 another match. By this time Schmeling will bo in the offing and it depends on the views of tige promotors whether Scott gets another chance, or whether Sharkey, as the winner of the bout, wil l be opposed to Schmeling. > Broadfoot Disgusted To say that Jim Broadfoot is disgusted with the report appearing in an Auckland paper which stated that . the bout between the Aucklander and * Hay was very poor, neither shaping like champions, is to put it mildly. Broadfoot states that the Hastings people 1 considered it a good contest and says ’ j he has been invited to fight there

! again. This he contends is ample. ! i proof that the light was good. Broad- ■ foot thinks he had a bad spin when 1 the decision went to Hay and he wants ! to t ry conclusions i Hay, by defeating Broadfoot. has earned a unique place in the annals i of New Zealand "pugdom,” for that ! victory' signalised the winning of his i third title. Hay lias held the welter- . ' . weight title for a long time and he > , added the vacant middle-weight crown : ' by defeatng Lachie Macdonald in . Auckland. Only recently he was sue--5 : cessful in defending the title in a re- ‘ - turn bout with Macdonald. Broadfoot 5 won the light-heavy-weight, champion- I ship when lie met Parker in a title ? i bout in Auckland, Parker taking *he j decision, but loosing the title through ' ; being over-weight. Ilay now holds ‘ - i the three titles and whether he loses them sooner or later he will always | be remembered for that distinction, j L ! just as Billy Grime, now among the j 1 ' has-beens, is still remembered as the j I ex-triple champion of Australia. i Successful Boosting 1 ' And the greatly boosted fight is over, j J 1 Everybody with the exception of Sarron and those who paid £ 2 2s for a ringside seat, is happy, including the j association which is reported to have i netted over £I,OOO. The poor fighters ‘ | receive £l5O between them and when > ! all other expenses have been paid the New Plymouth Association will have i I cleared anything between £6OO and ; £7OO. Applications from poorer i i associations for loans will be referred t j to the secretary. t J The boosting was certainly sue- j ? cessful. Without it the fight would 1 have been regarded with only ordinary ' interest by most of the followers of boxing in New Zealand. After all, L Donovan is no better than many other [ boys New Zealand has produced. But he happens to be the best of the very 3 poor bunch which are today’ New Zea- ' land’s boxing men and the association. ‘ with shrewd business instincts which 3 most of the other associations lack, * went right in to make it as important ‘ as a world’s championship. And they I [ got away with it. The result—well there it is. The referee said it was a foul. One report ’ states that Mr. Meale said the blow was 4 not a rabbit-punch, while others state that it was. Well, if it wasn't a > rabbit-punch, what was it? Anyhow whatever it was it ended the fight. Mr. Meale’s Inconsistencies The peculiar point about it is this. » Mr. Meale has refereed many fights in Auckland and time after time has allowed similar blows to pass and has permitted infringements, but immediately’ he goes away to some foreign - part he comes down on them like a ton i of bricks. A*t Te Aroha he called off' : a fight when he thought the contestants l were not trying and now at New Ply- , i mouth he ends a fight for a foul blow. And quite right too. Why he does not ? do it in Auckland is a mystery. In ■ i future we will look to him to be as ; strict here as he is when away. It’s j

! about time we had a strict third man. ! in the ring. * How Americans Do It ! A chatty private letter from an j American friend gives some interest- | ing facts and some bright comments. - ! Francisco) I've witnessed quite a few tasty brawls. The best Ik*ul was when Wesley Ketchcl kayced Pet Myers in the second frame of a go: I battle. 11l never forget that first | round. Honestly, for three minuteKetchell did everything but stick I knife into Myers. I lost count of the : number of times he bit the floor: did the rest of the ‘screaming lima- ! tics.’ but 1 guess it must have bi n i eight or twenty-seven or something like that. When Myers staggered to his corner at the end of the round J ho looked l.ke the wreck of the He> i perus. His seconds worked over him ; frantically, while the crowd kept up j continual din. which grew in volume a.i the bell went for round two. Myers | staggered out. badly hurt, but stili . game. Ketchell started pounding froo where he left off, then swung a terrific right to the jaw that knocked Myer- : as cold as 20 dollars’ word) of frosted ; chocolate, and if they hadn't swept i him up he'd be there yet! • Statistics prove that only half the ; crazy people are in asylums—the other i half are boxing fans. Didn't that i crowd go wild. It was reminiscent of j tho days when Nero used to throw tb * I Christians to the lions, while the ! Homan populace would jam the Colij seum and cheer their heads off.’ Civilisation hasn't changed one iota —w i dress differently, that’s all. Hey! The I semi-final was between two boys who stood toe to toe and slugged each othci ; into a gory mess, while the mob veiled | for more action. Such remarks as •Throw those bums out.’ “Make 'em fight,’ ’What's this, a waltz,’ and tin like, were hurled at these two ganu - cocks, who were flailing away wit] both hands, scattering their blood all over the ritig. ‘•Primo Camera, for whom natuisolved the transportation problem •• his native Venice by putting gondola> j where his feet should have been, hawon all bis fights to date in the Land of the Spree and Home of the Have. “The 2701 b Italian behomoth received the sum of 43,200 dollars for threat leged fights, in which Primo did ah th© swinging and his tete-a-tetes ah the diving. But h© can’t keep on meet ing all set-ups. and as soon as he steps into the ring with someone win knows what it’s all about, then the vast Venetian will get knocked right from under his gondolas, and I don’t j mean maybe! | “Primo left his Italian home because lie ate so much that he threatened to starve the other members of th family to ddatli. and took up the fight game because he'd heard a fellow coulo make enough money in It to buy all h« wanted to eat! “IJis first fight lasted 70 seconds ami the next 47 seconds. The big bulk and batter man just bounced out of his corner, let out a couple of grunts like a. railway engine, and then knocked his adversaries for a loop. The third bout, however, was different. His opponent, ‘Cowboy’ Owens, established an American record by staying on bis feet for the first session. But the going got rough in the second stanza and being anxious to catch n. train. ! Owens did an Annette Kc Herat an and ; everybody was happy! Owens lasted j a total of three minutes and 43 seci ends, officially, which wasn’t so bad j for a guy who didn't know a lefthook .from the time-keeper and who j thought an uppercut was a I fangled game!’’