BOXING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2384, 28 December 1908, Page 5

BOXING.

WORLD’S CHAMPIONSHIP. JOHNSON DEFEATS BURNS. A VICTORY ON POINTS. United Press Association, Copyright (Received Dec. 26, 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 26. Light rain in tho early morning cleared off and left a cool dull day. For hours a stream of traffic flowed to the Stadium, where 20,000 people gained admission. A huge crowd surrounded the structure waiting to hear the result, and many hundreds camped in tho vicinity throughout the night.

The money taken Is said to he a world’s record for a prize fight.

At a quarter to eleven botli men entered the ring and received ovations. Burns wore elastic bandages about his elbows and Johnson insisted that they should be taken off. He •refused to fight unless this request was complied with. This announcement was received with vociferous hooting.

THE FIGHT.—JOHNSON’S COOLNESS. At a quarter past eleven the men faced each other and when Burns had removed the bandages the fighting started with a will. Johnson, in the first few minutes, toppled the champion over and he remained down for eight seconds. Burns went for his opponent’s body, but Johnson, standing erect, was battering his opponent over the kidneys. Burns got Johnson one on the chin, and so terrific was the impact that the champion fell hack from its force, but it did not trouble the giant in the least degree. Right through the fight Johnson’s coolness was remarkable. Burns was boxing superbly, but any of bis blows that got home seemed of no consequence to the blackfellow. Johnson made vicious efforts to get his right across his opponent's jaw, but Burns cleverly parried him. Johnson, however, punished Burns’ ribs unmercifully, and they soon showed evidence of his treatment. Burns made ’ frequent attempts to reach Johnson’s head, and at length one got home, but tho black only smiled, in fact ho had a continuous smile all through the contest, and appeared to take the combat as a joke. It was no joke for the champion, for Johnson repeatedly gob heavy body work in. Burns forced the fighting up to tho fourth round, hut did no damage, but in this and the fifth round sustained a Jot of punishment. Jbhnson surveyed him coolly, awaiting his opponent to lea-d, and after several seconds of this, Burns said, “Are you going to fight, you cur?” and Johnson’s reply was to swing a terrific left which found a resting place in the champion’s stomach. The champion kept going, but his mouth was bleeding. and Johnson followed with a hard one right across the jaw, bringing his right up under Burn’s chin.

BURNS OVERMATCHED. In the sixth round Johnson got a dozen on to Burn’s ribs, which had assumed a beautiful pink hue. Burns stepped up to 'his man gamely, hut ■Johnson only smiled, and at every opportunity got home on Burns’ jaw. Burns swung a stiff left into the black’s stomach several times, hut Johnson laughed. Someone in the crowd addressed a few sarcastic remarks to Tommy, and suddenly Johnson swung his left viciously to the body and brought his right over to the head,- but Burns got under. Johnson then hustled him to his corner, narrowly grazing the champion’s chin with a terrific left. In the next round Burns’ punishment was severe. His eye got damaged, and Johnson found the same spot several times. The fight eased off a hit, with Burns apparently tiring. Every time Burns tried to get in a blow Johnson retaliated disastrously, and then turning to* the crowd, shouted: “I thought ‘Tommy’ was an in-fighter.” After this remark he dealt with Burns’ eye again, eventually dropping him with one on ilie ribs, hut the champion only remained down a couple of seconds. Johnson was ■bleeding slightly from tho lip, but otherwise showed no signs of the struggle. In the ninth and tenth rounds the champion freshened tip somewhat, but apparently his blows produced no effect on Johnson, who remained itnnerturahle. Ho never missed an opportunity of inflicting punishment, and Burns’ jaw was becoming a monument to his work. Nevertheless Burns kept at it willingly, and al-though-his blows lacked strength, several heavy body blows caused Johnson to stand off, while causing Burns to remark, “Why don’t you fight.” The eleventh round, however, gave Burns plenty of fighting, and he received most of the damage, including a couple of hard blows on the kidneys. Johnson walked vigorously to his corner, but Burns limped to his. Burns came up in the twelfth round with a badly swollen face, and although he tried to keep it away, more damage was inflicted on his jaw. Burns got one home on the stomach, but received a half 'dozen on the jaw by way of reply. Burns attacked, hut Johnson, fighting steadily, waited 'for his_ lead. The men clinched repeatedly in the thirteenth round, hut Burns’ ribs suffered every time. THE DECISIVE ROUND. The fourteenth round was decisive. Johnson, who had a big advantage in reach, after brisk sparring, got Burns fairly on the jaw, and he went down for eight seconds, and, when he got up, lio received another on the forehead. The police then stopped the fight and the referee declared Johnson the winner. The great ' crowd took the victory sullenly. Burns, interviewed, said: “Johnson is too big for me, liis reach is too long for me.” It is stated that Burns’ jaw was broken.

BURNS’ INJURIES

United Press Association. Coryright (Received, 'December- 27, 4.15 p.m.)

SYDNEY, Dec. 27. , Burns’ jaw is not broken, but his ankle was badly sprained in the fifth round, depriving him of footwork.

GREAT INTEREST EVINCED IN AMERICA.

United Press Association, Copyright (Received, December 27, 4.30 p.m.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec, 2G

There was no great betting in San Francisco, but a tremendous interest in the result of the light was evinced. in America.

THE NEW CHAMPION.

(By “Leo-nco” in the “Lone Hand.”) Six feet and a quarter of an inch of copx>cr.-oolored brawn -and muscle, a small, closely-shaven head, suggestive of the knobby handle of some monstrous blackthorn walking-stick, a pair of gleaming, dark eyes, and a wide mournful oi golden teeth—that is Jack Johnson. He is 30 years and nine months old,, and lie has been fighting since lie was 15. Many a good boxer started his career witli a bar-room, “rough-up." Johnson began his with a scrap on a riverside pier at Galveston (Texas), where he was horn. He was charged by. a companion with some malfeasance or other, and forthwith sailed into his accuser. The latter was 20 years of age—five years older than the colored boy, and the possessor of a local reputation as a pugilist—bnt in a quarter of an hour be was “out."

Dan Creedon, of Australia, happened along ia few. months later, saw Johnson box, learned that lie was selftaught,, and predicted he would grow into a champion. Creedon, Tracy, and a few other experts tool? the phenomenon up, gave him a hint or two as to training, introduced a halfdozen new hits into his repertory, and pitted him against a Texan professional of note. Johnson won easily. From that day to this he has "looked back/’ in a fighting sense, on but two occasions. The first was when Joe Clioynski—"the toughest proposition,” says Johnson, “1 was ever up against”—defeated him in three rounds at Galveston, in February, 1901; the second, when Marvin Hart heat him at San Francisco, on March 28, 1905. His victims during the last seven years include such front-rankers as Sam Langford, Joe Jeannette, young Peter Jackson, and Bob Fitzsimmons. He has never been knocked out in his life, and is held by many good judges to be the most scientific boxer now living. There are no -baffling nuances about the Johnson personality. He is just a big, and for the most part good-natured black-fellow,, with a L.S. State schoo /education. a somewhat quaint wit, .an unabashhed liking lor the limelight, and a regard for his chosen calling that amounts to worship. He means to stick to it till lie droits. The idea of a pugilist retiring definitely while the suspicion of a punch remains to him strikes Johnson as banal. His ideal, as a public character, is Patti, who.’ as lie notes .admiringly, "retired” with profit many times during her long career. Johnson refuses to take Burns retirement talk seriously. He considers that to do so would be to cast a_ slur on Burns’ intelligence. For his , part Ji© hopes to be still "retiring” at 50. In a score of wavs one discerns in Johnson the character of the old-time Dug. He dearly loves a crowd the more of it the better; the incense of flattery is grateful to him. and lie appreciates the pageantry of his calling. Also, he adores himself. He regards his proficiency in his art with a sort of wondering veneration. Asked as to which hand he thinks he is liable to do the more execution with, his voice is hushed in reverence, and lie says, helplessly: "Wal, thar! riiey’re both so good, it’s impossible to rightly sav.” A consideration of the perfection of liis constitution fills him with awe. When lie was 12, the 'doctors said ho hail consumption. He laughed at them. Even at that early ago lie had a premonition of greatness imminent. Since then he has been examined carefully by a score of groat European physiologists. They agree that he.has a heart of wondrous strength. Within Jour or five minutes of the end of a twenty-round battle it is beating at its normal rate—a contrast to the hearts of most of us ordinary mortals, which thump hard for minutes after a sprint between a Circular Quay tram and a ferry boat. He takes pride in the thickness of his neck: it measures the same as liis calf and his biceps, viz.. IS inches. Pill advertisements and sworn testimonials as to liver medicines leave him cold ; he has never had indigestion in his life. It is impossible lor him to say in which style of fighting lie most excels, or which lie prefers. He is a "hurricane” on occasion. Withal, he lias won in his native land the pseudonym of The Iceberg—so cool and unemotional is he. Me thinks that if lie over had the joy of engaging'ex-champion Jim Jeffries, ho woidd put up a wary battle.. and would win. Jeffries, he opines, would' rush him. In that case Johnson would stand up to James, and "box him vurry ca’m.” A versatile citizen is Johnson. He owns to having been a fiat race jockey in early youth, and in that capacity he scored a number of wins. In the intervals of prize-fighting he has engaged in foot-races. "Long-distance matches or sprints?” ho is asked. "Sprints is the reply. "I leave longdistance running to little Tahmy,”— a graceful allusion to the alleged evasion by Burns of the colored brother’s clamorings for a meeting. Johnson is said to possess a fine singing voice, but as to whether it is a tenor, a baritone, a bass or a falsetto, there exists, among liis entourage, a good deal of uncertainty. He- is an enthusiastic performer oiv die double-bass. As he notes, he is nrobably the only heavy-weight pugilist the world has ever known who performs habitually during his leisure moments on the double-bass. He is prominent in the ward polities of Texas, and is one of the leading members of the Methodist Church there. A word as to the black champion's training methods. He walked or ran from his training quarters at Sir Joseph Banks Ground' to La Perouse and hack again every dav—a matter, of nine miles. Then lie "shadow sparred” at 'length. He re i nth e impressed the onlooker as being fast and neat, lmt not amazingly so. Ho punches the ball with beautiful precision, but with less "devil” than Burns. As a spar re r be appears superb by comparison with his partners. Seeing him in the act of making these competent performers look amateurish . and weak, one feels inclined to agree with the London writers, who hold that there is. no one living in liis class as a finished exponent of the boxing art. He has a multitude l of blows, which he delivers with either hand and in every conceivable position. A cloud

of attendants surround him when his "work” is done. He has the biggest staff of helpers the writer has ever seen in waiting on any fighter. The man who rubs him down doesn’t run with him; the runner doesn’t put the gloves on with him ; Jus sparring partner does nothing but spar. It resembles the state of tilings that prevails in a big British household, where each servitor knows liis or her duties., and is prepared to drop dead or "give notice” if an innovation is suggested. Johnson has no dietary rules. He eats and drinks whatever ho fancies. Puddings, creams, ices, jams—all the things that ,are anathema to the average athlete in training he absorbs freely when lie feels likes it. Also lie smokes cigars and (marvel of marvels!) was ready to consider the question of a glass of beer right up to the day of the match.

TOMMY BURNS

(An impression by "Byrock.”)

Ip the . presence of- Burns one notes, amongst other things, the pale, small featured face, the impassive blue eyes, the short, straight legs, with their heavy thighs; but the shoulders out-stand. They give to their owner, as he lolls back with his feet crossed before him (a favorite attitude), the appearance of a mighty wedge of flesh —a human triangle. From finger-tip to finger-tip, with arms out-stretched, Burns totals 74 inches. His ,arm measurements are nothing out of the way. They are under 30 inches, which is a l-ecord the average non-fighting man of his height can boast. The appearance of abnormal arm length, which has been remarked upon a good deal in the press, is due to his extraordinary width of chest, hack and" shoulders. And these latter are as thick and solid "through” as they arc wide. Burns is barely sft. 7in. By his torso, on the scale'laid down by the old Greek sculptors, he should be 6ft. 4in. All Burns’ movements —as an ordinary member of society—are slow, ponderous, almost ungainly. He walks heavily. He suggests, in his unprofessional moments, one who is tired and rather "old. I never in my life saw a human being of his age — white, brown, or black — who was capable of sitting quite still for so long a time. He rises to show a hit he lias "figured out.” Straightway the lassitude is gone; every muscle is tense, under control, and in perfect relation, and the onlooker realises in quick order that he is observing the fastest heavy-weight fighter the world has ever known.

It is hard, even on a week’s close association, to gauge Burns’ mental equipment, and feel satisfied about- the result. That- liis brains are above the ordinary there can be no doubt. He has conducted his various business negotiations with a skill and address that have won the rueful admiration of those who have engaged with him. But he cherishes a horror of "tall talk,” and of "small talk” he'has none—which traits handicap the character-student considerably. A phrase from one of G. B. Shaw’s prefaces sums up this side of him rather neatly: "The intelligent prize-fighter is not a kuiglit-errant; lie is a disillusioned man of business, trying to make money at a certain weight and at certain risks, not of bodily injury (for a bruise is soon cured), but of pecuniary loss.” That view, if the read it, would appeal to Tommy -Burns’ He is a capable man of business. He knows his own monetary value as champion pugilist as well as a first-class K.C. knows his value as a spell-binder of juries. No one can bluff him or confuse him.

"A man,” as he puts it with acid common-sense, "is only a champion once in his life, and not for long at that;” and so, .the conclusion is, it behoves him to amass all the cash he can during the short time of lig pre-eminence. People have charged Burns with being "afraid” lo meet Johnson. The word is ridiculous as applied to this sort of man. He has probably never known wliat it is to be physically afraid of anything. But undoubtedly, as a mail of affairs, lie has all along realised that- it is better business to meet inferior men before tackling Johnson. It- was not bodily injury he feared, if lie feared anything, but the more serious possibility of "pecuniary loss.” And so, like any other reasonable citizen, lie endured the gibes of critics with cheerful fortitude, and liis banking account has been his solace.

Apart from liis appearance, and apart- from whatever mentality he lias, Burns possesses another characteristic that impresses one- —namely, liis essential cleanliness. He is like a freshly scrubbed child. He looks clean, talks clean, and one is open to swear) thinks clean all the time. His health is literally perfect. In all liis 26 years he has not had a more serious illness than a bad cold. He has never taken any medicine. He has not spent >a ten-pound note on doctors and dentists combined. During the time that I was with him he neither drank alcohol (lie is a teetotaler) nor smoked, nor spoke a word that would have shamed the saintliest of iSunday-schools. He is the adult human animal in its most regenerate and highly-bred form. This is the fighter who has beaten, in quick succession, Marvin, Hart (to whom Jeffries yielded up his title of World’s Champion at Reno, Nev., U.S.A., three years ago), Roclic (Champion of England), and Squires (Champion of Australia.) The qualities to which he owes the success- he he has had are. putting them in their order of importance —(1) physique, (2) character, (3) thoroughness of method. :His training system, to deal first with the third and least important point, is worth considering. He gets u]i at 5.30 a.m., has a shower, and breakfasts at nine off prunes, a couple of -boiled eggs, tea, toast, and jam. An hour’s loaf, and then he has a ride or plays handball, or takes a gun and goes shooting, or a heavy stick and walks hard. Ho always gets a half-a-dozen miles from home, and runs hack. Another rest, and then iluncli on chops, or a steak and vegetables and stewed fruit. At 3 or 3.30 lie starts work, viz., ballpunching, skipping, shadow sparring and Saiulow exercises. These hrst about three-quarters of an hour, after which he has a-swim or a shower, is rubbed down, and finishes for the day. -

HOW BURNS WON THE CIIAM- . PIONSHIP.

"Tommy” Burns held the

world’s championship since Feh. 23* 1906, when he defeated Marvin Hartlor the title after 20 rounds of strenuous lighting. Hart had previously secured the honor in a peculiar manner. He.- was fighting a battle with Jack Itoot at Reno- Nevada, and vanquished him in the—twelfth round. "Big” Jim Jeffries, who at that time was the holder of the world’s championship, refereed the fight, and. he was so pleased with the display given by Hart that' he handed over the title to him. That'was on July 3rd, 190 0, and on Jan. 15, 1906, Hart successfully defended the championship against Patsy Callaghan, whom he knocked out in two rounds.. Hart did not scuccecd in holding his honor long afterwards, as about- one month later the redoubtable Tommy wrested the title from him, and lias held it ever since.