BOXING.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1921, Page 11

BOXING.

FULL-BLOODED CHINESE. MAKING STIR IN AMERICA. (By Frank G. Menke, in The Referee.) The "Yellow Peril of the Prize Ring” ?s whirling eastward with intent to annihilate tte starriest bantams along the Atlantic seaboard. His name is George Washington Lee. He’s a full-blooded Chinese, and 21 years old. He was born in ’Frisco, got his fistic start in Sacramento, has whipped a score of the best 118-pounders in the world—and now aspires to get another crack at Pete Herman. ( Leo battled Herman about a year ago. The king of the bantauns considered the affair more or less as a joke—for about half of the first round. But a stiff right-hander to the mouth, and a left-hand stab to the stomach changed Pete’s idea completely. He forgot the passive attitude. He started to fight—because it was necessary to save himself from a beating. Herman won the tilt—but only by a shade. Lack of experience and poundage really lost for the mite of a Chinaman. Lee, who got his first battling experience against neighborhood boys in Sacramento, who thought it fun to '"beat up a Chink,” joined a gymnasium when he was 18. At the time he was shipping clerk in one of the big mercantile establishments in that town. Lee had gone to work there after graduating from grammar school. Ancil Hoffman discovered Lee in the gym., tutored him carefully, and, at 19, sent Lee against some of the roughest, toughest kids on the Pacific Coast. The Chinaman occasioned immeasurable surprise by whipping them all. He demonstrated a punch a la Terry McGovern, aggressiveness reminiscent of the old-time idol, fleetness afoot that was dazzling, and wonderful gameneas. Lee in his two years as a ringman has won about 25 buttles via the knock-out route, and in all that time has suffered only three or four setbacks. He has developed wonderfully in physique during the summer, and now is eastward bound with intent to mix it first of all with Midget Smith, then Jack Sharkey, then Joe Lynch, and finally Pete Herman. Out on the Coast the experts who have seen Lee in action insist: "If Lee ever gets another crack at Herman, there’ll be an American-born but full-blooded Chinaman ruling the bantamweight division.” [Johnny Buff has since defeated Pete Herman for the title. WEAKNESSES OF YOUNG BOXERS. Says Carpentier:—What I believe to be one of the greatest weaknesses of young boxers is that they think too much of what they call infighting, which, as they do it, Is not fighting at all, but a combination of ail sorts — clinching, holding and wrestling—anything but boxing. My advice to all young men who would box with success is to cut out of their lessons any weakness they might have imitating the peculiarities of any particular champion. Because it happens that A is a croucher and -has won fame, they should ont Imagine that the first lesson for them to learn is how to crouch. Take the bedrock principles of boxing—they are the same the world over—and when. you have mastered them and you feel more at. home if you crouch, or affect this and that mannerism, why, by all means do

It does not follow that a man who has lived in boxing all his life makes the best referee; neither does it follow that an oidtime boxer is suited for the position. I could not, for instance, picture Descamps as :ne ideal referee; he has not tit© judicial temperament; and really the ability to referee very largely conies from temperament and long practice. Whether the referee should judge a contest from inside the ring or from a position outside is merely a matter of personal taste. Nearly everything depends upon the type and temper of the fighters engaged. BECKETT AND MoCORMACK. Although Joe Beckett practically knocked out McCormack in their match for the British heavy-weight championship on September 22, the Southampton man has not added to his reputation thereby, says an exchange. In fact, it is the opinion of many sound judges that he las gone back, and that it was the ill luck of the loser rather than inferior skill which led fo his seconds throwing the towel into the ring at the end of the twelfth round. McCormick has improved, and he was certainly a winner on points at tte tenth round, but he could not hit hard enough to bring his man down. With greater weight, he may and should acquire that heavy punch, which is so vital for success, and his future is full of possibilities. It has been claimed that McCormick hurt both his hands, and that from the fifth round onwards he was in trouble. If this is really so, then his effort in lasting .twelve rounds must be considered a good one. Beckett is entitled to all the credit which a win represents, and he took ail tie punishment coming without apparent inconvenience Perhaps it was the knowledge that his rival’s blows were not hurting him which made him so careless of leaving himself open. Certainly his defence was poor for a champion, and one hears that he will do little to enhance England’s prestige in international matches against topnotcherg. MicCormlck may develop further, and he and George Cook, of Australia, appear the most likely of the British Empire heavyweights at the present time.