Evening star., 1909-04-25
McAuliffe Gives His Views.

eyes. very willing replied McAuliffe.
but rotten. It's a pity. old sport. that
somebody doesn't teach the young boxers
Of today how to spar. Why. II either Of
those boys came at me with wild swings,
wide open. in my day I'd have knocked
his block or There they go. round after
round. in the same ding dong way You
remember poor Dempsey, Of course? He
was an artist. No man ever led to him
twice in the same manner without q re-
turn. and he never fought one round like
another. Sometimes he was aggressive,
and then again he would play possum
on the defensive. Dempsey was straight
puncher and his blows landed where he
aimed Them
''In 1891 the great little fighter George
Dixon was pitted against Billy Plimmer
for four rounds I'm Madison Square gar
den. The bout was for scientific points.
Plimmer was only bantam at the time.
while Dixon was the featherweight cham
pion. and consequently had about eight
but the way Plimmer caught Dixon on
the nose every time George rushed In with
swings surprised the big crowd. 1t was
simply another case OF straight. clean
puncher against wild swinger. Charley
Mitchell taught Mike Cleary the same
lesson when they met at the American
Institute building here in 1884. Cleary
was a follower OF Sullivan and belonged
to the same school of fighting. but Cleary
could hardly put glove on Mitchell. for
the latter got wireless every time Mike
started a swing and Immediately side
stepped It, Cleary was as much surprised
at Mitchells phantom footwork and
straight jabs as Leach Cross was when
Driscoll made the east slider look like q
green amateur at the Fairmont Club.
Fighters Have Their Specialties.
"Of course we've had lot Of clever fell
lows like Jim Corbett. Mccoy. Ryan and
Choynski, but they were not really out
and out swingers. They all had clever
specialties Of their own. Corbett's left
always did the best straight work. Nc
Cows famous corkscrew punch was as
straight as an arrow. with slight twist
Just before 1t landed. Ryan and Cho-
ynsh had mixture OF 1abs and swings,
but they would have been far better
boxers IL they had stuck to straight left
handlers.
"OM Jem Mace was the real master In
the art Of boxing. His style was simply
perfect. and all those English lads who
have been boxing here lately have adopt
ed his tactics. Along In the '7Os Mace
went to Australia and taught Larry Foley
and other young fellows how to hit, STOP
and get away. His teachings developed
America twenty years ago and proceeded
to waltz through our fighters with ease
AS soon as I saw Young Critic oox i'm
mediately recognized Mace's style. al
though I don't believe Grino ever saw
the veteran English pugilist. But It was
Larry Foley who taught Grtf1o. and Foley
got it all from Mace.
.There was Jem Hall, the cleverest big
man I've ever seen since Mace was In ac-
tive service Why, whenever Hall boxed
an exhibition with Choynski he shot out
his left to Joe's jaw SO cieverly that the
Californian was often dazed and Han
had to hold him up in clinches until ne
got his head clear. Still. Choynski got
when they were supposed to night for
keeps This was Halls game. never to
win fight when he could make more
hy losing 1t. Hall in his prime could have
outpointed Corhett or Mccoy ana thats
saying a great deal. 1 really believe Hall
could have won from Fitzsimmons at
New Orleans in 1893 II Jem had been on
the square. Fitz. by the way. was one OF
the Australians who learned his art from
Foley and then came here. He was a
straight puncher and quickly cut his way
to the middleweight championship, att
erward to the heavyweight title when he
landed his famous solar plexus punch in
Corbett's stomach.
Summers Teaches Britt Lesson.
Johnny Summers the other night at
the National Sporting Club in London
taught Jimmy Britt hard lesson in
twenty round boxing contest. Britt is
a fast. clever boxer, but he. like lot Of
American fighters, must go back and
learn the value OF straight hitting. That
was the proper caper in this country be-
fore the wild swingers got going.
After Peter Jackson had met Jim Cor
bett In a sixty y-one-round no contest. as
it was called by Hiram Cooke, the
referee, asked jackson If he didn't con-
slider Corbett the quickest man he had
ever faced In the ring. It was q hard
thing to get Peter to talk fight, but after
hesitating few minutes he said:
".Corbett is very fast. but l don't see
why he jumps back three or four feet to
avoid a blow when few inches an
sWers the same purpose
'.Some OF this fancy up-to-date foot
work is all very fine. but it's very firing
also. Mace was wonderful man with
his head and could duck a blow beauti-
fully. The fellow with a shifty head can
often save his feet, for II he jumps back
he must come forward again, all OF
which means more or less labor. A duck
or a shift of the head not only avoids
the blow but leaves you. in a position
to deliver a return In quick order.
II remember that Mace used to tie his