BOXING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 300, 15 June 1912, Page 8

BOXING

TOMMY BURNS AND LANG FORD. On June 2 Mr Mcintosh cabled an invitation to Tommy Bums to come over and fight Sam Langford at the opening of the newly-roofed and very-much-reno- ! vated Sydney Stadium on August 1 next, (and offered the world's ex-champion (liberal terms, but up to the moment the Referee went to press last week, no reply had been received. It had been arranged that Sam Langford and Tommy Burns should engage in a ten rounds contest at Calgary (Canada) on Labor Day (September 1), but ;Mr Mcintosh's new agreement witli Mr Woodman and Sam Langford, which was entered into without Mr Mcintosh's knowledge of the Calgary scheme, settles all likelihood of the "Tar Baby" and Tommy getting to work on Labor Day, and it also precludes all possibility of Langford and Jeannette meeting under Uncle Tom McCarey's management at L<s Angeles in July. Late news regarding Tommy Burns in Canada is that he was billed to fight at Edmonton one Jack Connell, known a» ' the middle-weight champion of Mexico, and a packed house waited till 11 o'clock, j but Connell declined to enter the ring unless he was paid £2OO, and would not I accept a cheque. t Later still was a telegram published on Monday week last to the effect that Burns had made an offer, at Vancouver, to meet Bill Rickard, the Canadian "white hope" on August 8 if Rickard would put up a side bet of £2OO. The promoters were willing to give "a substantial purse," and it was stated that little doubt regarding the likelihood of the match being arranged. 808 FITZSIMMONS.

-ROME REMINISCENCES. Otto Floto, the well-known American sport writer, had a chat with Bob Fitzsimmons early last .month. What he said was a* follows: "Bob and myself have been friends for many years, for it was immediately after his battle with Dempsey at NewOrleans that I took him to New .York and became his manager. He is the same suspicious creature he always was, and for an hour or more his whole conversation was about the manner in which he had been skinned out of all the money he had earned since coming across the Pacific on the steamer Alameda with Captain Morse. " 'l've been the original Patsy,' he said, 'if there ia anyone connected with the sporting game in America that hasn't had a crack at me, either directly or indirectly—well, lead me to him. A chap of that sort will prove a curiosity to one Robert Fitasimmons. "' 'You know Jimmy Carroll kept handing me things from the day I beat Billy McCarthy, and from that time to now I have earned over l,0(X),000dol., and all I've saved from the wreck is the little farm in New Jersey. I reminded Fitz tliat perhaps fate was dealing cruelly with him on account of his first matrimonial troubles. When he and the little woman he brought from Australia with a baby in her arms parted—well, things have never righted themselves as they, should. True, she has been taken care i of," (The first Mrs Fitz married Martin Julian, Fitz's then manager, and brother of Bob's second wife)—"but Bob, what of him? He married Rose Julian, on& of the grandest women that ever lived, and she died after a few years. Then he married Julia Clifford, and the union has been anything but a happy one. They are parted now, and Bob is as unhappy as he can be. What of tint baby boy that came from Australia? His name was Charlie, if I remember correctly. We hear Fitz talking of young Bob, who, by the 'way, is a eon of Rose Julian. But we [never hear him refer to the firstborn, the little chap from Kangarooland. Maybe the hand of retribution has something to do with the affairs of Fitz in the matter of this boy we refer to. At I heart Fitz was one of the kindest of men. His was a trusting nature in some iways. He was suspicious of everybody, but once you gained his confidence he [would give you the very clothes off his back. It wasn't hard to skin him, and [when I tell you he was the biggest 'sucker in the world against any kind of a skin game, you believe me that it is [true." CARPENTIER COMING TO [ AUSTRALIA. \ It is now definitely known that Australia will a little 'hence be entertaining the famous French boxer, Carpentier, who defeated Jim Sullivan for the "mid-dle-weight championship of Europe" a few months ago. Two weeks ago Mr Mcintosh stated that terms had been arranged with Carpentier for a Visit to Sydney. The Frenchman will leave next month, and arrive in August. Whatever ■else might be fixed for hiin y he would certainly face Clabby, who promised to return to Australia by October at the latest.

On Wednesday, May 1. the Dixie Kid and Bernard, the French boxer, met at the Cirque de Paris, and the ending waa anything but satisfactory. The men were in a clinch near the close of the tenth round, when suddenly the Erenchman sank to the floor, apparently in agony. He wis. Carried to his corner, and referee Willie Lewis disqualified the negro. A little later, however, doctors examined Bernard, and as 4, result the decision was reversed. The judges deciding that the Dixie Kid was the winner. The contest all through was very tame, the Frenchman being outclassed. and he used litle or no judgment. Ber[nard.was beaten by what is referred to as "a double punch in the diaphragm, followed by one over the heart."

The glaringly unequal character of I the Jack Johnston-Jim Mynn alleged I match has provoked the following from Santafe (New Mexico):—"The Governor of the State has sent a message to the .State Legislature urging the passage of |an anti-prize-fighting law. Should the law be alopted, the Johnston-Flyim fight 'will be banred. The Legislature recently passed a Bill legalising boxing and confining the number of rounds to 45. Sporting cireles in America belieTe Frynn has no chance." Cabled information regarding the progress of Johnston-Flynn matters is to the effeat that the "bookings" are already sufficiently large to make up the purse required, and Johnston therefore is suffering no uneasiness.