HOW PRIZE FIGHTS ARE FAKED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 317, 7 January 1909, Page 4

HOW PRIZE FIGHTS ARE FAKED

TRICKS AXD DODGES OF THE J ] lUXO. i (London "Tit Hits''.) ' With the exception of horse-rachg, there is no sport with which so many shady tricks and dodges arc connected as professional boxing, 'flic mule - world of the "noble art," in fact, is so peopled with Unit class of men—"bookies" of no standing, backers with little money, and bullies with less character, although plenty of punching power—that anyone who mixes with the boxing fraternity must often wond.'i it' a fair light ever takes place. Even big fights for world's champion-, ships have not been above suspicion of trickery at times, particularly on the other side of the Atlantic, where the »ame of feigning "grogginess," or getting knocked out with the tap of an open glove, has been reduced to a very tine art. TOMMY BURNS' "MESMERISM." Perhaps the most absurd assertion i made in regard to fake fights, however, I was that concerning Tommy Burns, after he bad beaten dinner -Moir, J'ai- [ mer and Itoche in succession. The re i port was circulated that Burns mis- ■ merised his opponents with his eyes. t But, as Mr. Eugene Corri, the well- • known authority on English sport and referee at the National Sporting Club. ' remarked to the writer, when ask-;.l what lie thought of Ike theory that • Burns mesmerised his opponents: — i "It is all nonsense. The only way in which he mesmerises tlicin is with a i punch." ! DOCTORED CLOVES. 1 This story of mesmerism reminds tb. t writer of a trick which was played "■ few years ago during a boxing contes; I, at Birmingham. One of the men in tin , match, not being quite certain of hi- I chalices of winuiug in a legitimate man ] ;, ner, decided to make sure with the ai: j [• of a certain powder, made for the mosi part of "snuff and cayenne pepper. A - little of this mixture was placed on t'ipalm of one of his gloves after the lir-i two rounds by his second as the latter refreshed the boxer with towel an 1 j sponge. The object of the boxer, of course. I was to hit his opponent on the side ol j the head with an open glove, and thusj partly blind and daze hiin. The game I was a risky one to play, for the trick might have been betrayed by the der flying in the air and affecting tin i judges". But so little was used, an.i so artfully was the dodge"worked, tli.il it succeeded, although it all came out a couple of weeks later through the sec ond talking too much while drunk. ° I'UXOHES WHICH WOULDN'T KILL . a , A FLY . l- The favorite dodges practised, lion I- ever, are those feigning a "knock-out,' ;, or getting the police to stop a fight which has been in progress for, say. three or four rounds. It is purely a commercial transaction on the part of the backers. They gel : * a couple of well-matched young boxers, and oiler them, say, £3 or £lO ea.b for a match. It is then announced 5> that "Peter I'ippy" and "Nobby Smut" will right for the "eight-stone-four" championship of. say. the Xew Cut, and the public think they are in for a good evening's sport. They freely pay 2s (id „ and os for a seat round the ring, and in B the meantime the backers have carefully arranged which man shall lose, and get l all the bets they can on the other man. • A DOUBLE FAKE. i After the first four or live rounds, the | pre-arranged winner gives his opponent E an apparently hard jab, maybe in the jaw, and the latter goes down. He gets up just before being counted out, liretends to be in great distress, and is knocked out in the next round. With the exception of those who are "in the' know," everybody thinks it a fair light, although a careful observer might have I noticed that those swings, jolts, jabs, body blows, and upper-cuts were for the , most part delivered with open gloves. | Then maybe the match has been such i an attraction that the defeated one i.<- | sues another challenge, saying he is not satisfied that be has been beaten by a I better man, and h'jits at a lucky blow, I etc., etc. Another match is arranged. | This time the winner of the first match loses, and thus honors are even, and I neither boxer has lost much prestige. I DOSED WITH WHISKY. One of the worst fake fights which ever took place in America was tli.it which victimised sportsmen in Boston. U.S.A., five years ago. A huge Irishman was discovered, who could take any amount of punishment, although lie knew nothing about (lie science of hit, stop, and get away. : Shady bookies got hold of him, boomed him as the forthcoming Irish champijii heavy-weight, and arranged a match which brought a £ls*o gate. The new champion was in such a funk when tiie time arrived that he bad to be liberally dosed with whisky, and when lie got n hard blow on the jaw in the first round ') he went down and refused to get up. Xaturally. there was an uproar in the - audience, and the Irishman and his backers had to show a clean pair of heels. BRIBED THE POLICE. Wben a certain Chief of Bolicc stopped n big fight in Madison Square Catden. Xew York, three years ago, many wrathful things \\fn ?afd about him by is the spectators. But they would have 1- been even more wrathful had those specd tators known that he had received a big d bribe from the principals and backers of e the light to step in and stop the contest i- after the sixth round on some technical point of law. i- Another favorite game with faken fighters on the other side is. worked in g the following way. A boxer with a good reputation is perhaps doing a n music-hall tour. He sends ahead of him, t about a fortnight before he appears e at a certain own, a couple of sparring partners. These men work up interest !• in boxing by posting forfeits with the principal town newspaper and fighting . local pugilists for the stakes. Then the winner of these small fightsissues a challenge to the world. True, the challenge gets little beyond the local I, newspaper; but it is a challenge for all that, and when the iwell-known boxer comes along and accepts tilie challenge the town is naturally agog with excitement. But the challenger cuts a sorry j figure, and nothing more is seen of him by the. locals, for the ample reason that t he has gone on to the next town to re- j » peat the performance—under another name, perhaps. . , .„'.<;'.J