THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1911. THE ART OF BOXING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10498, 8 December 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1911. THE ART OF BOXING.

A correspondent in the London Times .seeks to dissipate the idea, that boxing i» "an. agonizing business." The idea originated in t'he kighily coloured accounts, of o'ld-faslilioned figjhts wiitli miked' lists, and ait is true that endurance and, capacity for enduring paiir were im those daj's- the prize•fj\gh tor's chief assets. But now that giloves are used, lit <is different, ir is "by entering t'he mind of tire •boxer im faction, :by considering the {psychology of pugliKsm, that the common impressilioji of boxing as a prolonged ordeal of Ji'Prve-KlwUtoi'ing .pain l , giviing ri.se to a (kiiiiid of homic.idal mania in the <bneusb of either ■coiitha taint, is. most effectively confluted." The writer lias Juid many, •a bout wiitlli tilie gloves, inchtdji'ng two fights iii' Western America, and as a resuilt «)f fliiiisi experience, declares that there is absolutely r.o trutih in tlio impression that boxing is very painful 1 to the participants. The. pain, of a severe .'blow (unless it diistiurbs> tine Milan pilexus, im wliirih caw ilt may mean counted out) soon, passes unnoticed in' the exhiTara-tkm. of the game. One's own. diiittiiiig au)d mio,tion rau.se ecdiauvtwm, not tho other fellow's blows. He describes hjis OTiisM'tion.s (wt beiin-g knocked out ia* ,a en;litest '.im America. "It was 1 a .species of dreams; everything iu> and about the ring seemed phantasmal and shadowy ; the cries- of the spectators, rejoicilirg in a sequence of exchanges, .seemed to come from very far away—a weirtf, otlionwordly uMation that really did not matter at all. Hie call 1 of time wasa joy im ait self ; t*» sit oil' a chair and be sponged wa.s tlie sum of aill pos.siiblb aiwl (impossible •luxuries-." Afterwards the winmur eaane over and .sililook hauds, and the. loser thought /lie had never known a man- so well in thus 'life, or Hiked n mam wo much. Two or tlii'ee bruises ajtid a cut lip rnr nioibmg in comparison with

this feeling of good-fellowship. The writer declares that .personal aiiiinoel- - does not ex;ist tin a cowtest between two ihoxorw -who 3iave> "acquired itlue bastvs 1 of their art"—a-bil—-iiit-y to keep their temper. A good* Ulow to n boxer in the English tstvlle is simply an artistic achievement; there is no desire to hurt. There is "jio 11 lore agony uv a. btoxXng bout than- im a well-contested sprint or a wing-thireequartor's run. down tli*j touch-line." This may bo all quite true (and i!he writer says' hie is- supported. iby many famous boxers), but lie wiOll have considerable difficulty in convincing, ce-rtfaiiu opponents of boxing.