EXIT THE “STAR-LIT NIGHT.”

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 218, 2 June 1915, Page 5

EXIT THE “STAR-LIT NIGHT.”

English boxers have at once made up their minds, following- the defea t of: Jack Johnson, tliat there must be no more White- v. Black contests for then championship and arc saying that Jesse Williards- victory is the best thing tliafc could’ have- happened. The same view is- likely- to- be taken in America, where the negro is scarcely tolerated and • where Johnson was abused and persecuted ever since he won the title from. Tommy Bdrns in Australia on Boxings :Day;, 190SL Never has boxing champioi* had' such as unhappy time on Sis throne, as- JOlinscra, and he has been iar too no*itorioua< for- the good of the sport. In the-ring lie has always coraS-ucted him* self w r el?, with a nice sense- of fairness-, and 1 that golden grin which has. tanta--Used opponents into defeat was simply the boyishness within the* man, proud; and 1 rightly so, of his prowess. It is ia. private life that Johnson- has abused the- title he held, and it can only be thought that the defoat: which has nowovertaken h im is Due- penalty for h» success and dissapaAbwh Never before has a boxer made teo- much money; and it has been spent ‘with- a recklessness that -would have* been, harmful: even if the supply had been inexhaustible. Ife Is not the Jo&ssoU; inside- the ringagainst whom there is- any grievance, but it is generally thought that irt future pngiJListic abilities of the nigger will be -confined to the black race. As a boxer Joknswti has been a working cham/non- opponents have had to wait untiy his superb physical fitness has, been undermined by Ms careless living. Thf ; giant Texas cowboy, Williard, gan ge* i challenge accurately, for cabled re ports of' the fight all tell the same s' tory of: thebreakdown of Johnson con- * stitutionally. Williard must be a bet* ter boxer than is suggested by his record, which even in the picturesque writing of American sporting journalist is a very modest one. He haa knocked out George Rodel , of South Africa, whom we have seen over .here, and two years ago was beaten on points by Gunboat Smith. It is the last result -which is confusing in attempting to weigh the capabilities of Johnson-'a conqueror, for -Gunboat Smith, when he recently visited England, was a dull and heavy boxer, of the uninspired typo. However we are sure to see WilHard. Within tw-o hours of the news of his victory an invitation was cabled to him by Dick Burge, the old lightweight champion, who is now conducting a very prosperous undertaking asboxing promoter. Frank Moran is suggested as the man who ought to meetthe new champion, but in any event, if Williard accepts, as he is almost sure* to do, ho will not be asked to fight until the end of the war.