BOXING

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 15, 25 June 1920, Page 14

BOXING

By "The Count."

ROLPII AS A BOXER FOR BIG MONEY.

Much discussion has taken piace about the unfortunate . conclusion of the RossCriqui contest. As far as the winner was concerned, there was nothing wrong. Criqui won all right. He won actually— that is, on the question of man-to-man antagonism — and he won technically. Of all the absurd things written about the rumpus that took place after the fight was over, "automatically," as one writer. with perfe-ct truth, described it, the most absurd was that which stated that the misunderstandmg arose because of the confusion of languag'es. In that respect, I had better say right away that Ross knows quite a lot of English words, and that Criqui knows a few When the referee said "Box on," Criqui was the one who understood, the command, and Ross was the one who acted as if he did not. It was not confusion of. language that mattered, it was confusion of mind, and Ross's -mind was confused because of the amount of punishment he had receivod. PLUCK VERSUS CLEVERNESS. Ross was in sueh a bad way that if Mr Corri had said "Box on" in Chinese the little Scoteh boxer could not have understood any better than he did when he was spoken to in his own language. The truth was that Ross was in such a bad way at the end of the fourteenth round that his seconds could not get him to recover in time for the fifteenth. Even though they stayed in the ring doing their best for their man, he was not in a fxt condition to understand his own language a minute or so afterwards when ihe referee told the two to box on. There is one thing that should not be lost sight of, however, and that is that R-oss is one of the gamest little fellows that ever lived. Had he been" otherwise he would never have attempted to continue after the fourteenth round. As all of you will know by now. Criqui was too good for Ross after the latter had expended some of his virility in trying to seeure a rapid knock-out. ■ That must go down to the little French soidier's credit. And there have been altogether too many critics who have forgotten the most important two things about the whole business : That Ross was splendidly plucky, and that Criqui was too clever for the holder of the Lonsdale belt for bantam-weights. What are the lessons to be gleaned from this business ? And how shall it be assured that nothing of the sort shall happen again? If the referee was at fault, it was because he seemed to have no set understanding as to how the seconds would be counted in the event of a knock - down. In the boxing-laws there is nothing to provide that a man who is knocked down shall be told how long he has been down, but the •chivaLrcus spirit of the game has prompted all of us who have taken part in it to give all reasonable assistance to the tpmporarily shattered man. While Ross was on the floor what chance had he of knowing how quickly he should rise ? WHY MR CORRI HESITATED As far as T could see or hear — and I was very close to the ring — there was nothing whatever done to indicate to Ross that he had been down nine seconds or so; officially, it has .been called seven seconds, but I have my own opinion. That sort of thing should he provided for, and when it is not there should be an inquiry why it is not. It is all very foolish for people to talk, as I have heard them talk in cixcles which have been described as authoritative, that there was any reluctance to give the verdict against Ross because he was a holder of a Lonsdale Belt. That is so much piffle, and I would always refuse to believe for a single moment that Mr Corri's hesitancy was due to that. Mr Corri hesitated simply because of his , great wish to be fair to both parties, and as he hesitated he did nothing but be unfair to himself. Iiad he have disqualified Ross at the* end of the fourteenth round, he would have done justice all the way — to himself as well as to the principals and the spectators. There must be something done to prevent this sort of thing happening again. A closer sympathy between. timekeeper and referee ' might do quite a lot to prevent a eimilar oontretemps. 'What a sorry sort of business that was between Harry Reeve and Harold Rolph

at the ring, London ! Those two fellows fought as hard as they could to knock each other out. There was nothing in the way of a punch with the right hand that they did not try, but not until the last few seconds of the twenty rounds did one of them — Reeve — show that he understood that the way for a right-hand punch is through a left lead or feint. BOXERS WITH DIFFERENT STYLES. Frequently they led with the left, and followed on so quickly with the right that when the bead was moved it was not only taken out of the way of the left, but out of the way of the right as well. These two boxers are of different styles. Reeves likes to stand up straight and box in the staid style that is British, but Rolph places his head forward in his crouching posrtion and then tries his hardest to get in a big blow. Of course, Reeve is a far better-class boxer than Rolph, but the former is not nearly so good as he used to be. What I can never understand about Rolph is how he ever eame to get the idea of hoxing for big money. He is not of- that class. He shotrld be content with something snialler. Rolph has very little idea of the intricaeies of professional hoxing as Eddie McGoorty showed us, and it is highly probable that, until he has learned to direct his punches bettter — half of those he tried went round Reeve and landed on .the latter's hack — he will never be able to beat anyone who is something like a champion. IMPRESSIVE BUT NOT EFFECTIVE. It is a curious thing that some professional boxers cannot get away from the idea that a swinging blow is harder and better than a straight one. . That is not so, and I will tell you why. The swinging blow "sounds" harder because in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is delivcred with the inside of the glove, and flaps out a nois© like a knock. . There is scarcely ever a swinging blow struck but what the recipient thereof has had just the small fraction of a seoond in which to see the blow arriving.