Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-27

issue Of many fight was determined
by a heavy scientific fall Hercules,
who was the worlds champion at
wrestling as we'll as at boxing, was the
half-divine type and exemplar of the
oldfashioned English prizefighter.
After tine Sayers- Heenan fight pugi-
lism soon fell under a social ban,
though boxing, which was then highly
regarded as a training and prepara-
tion for the real warfare Of the ring,
still remained a popular pastime. But,
when 1t was divorced from the sterner
pursuit thus losing touch with the
realities of self-defensc in the English
style, boxing became more and more
artificial in proportion as 1t became
more scientific and, If you will, more
artistic. When in the early eighties
the writer took his first lessons, the
game as taught at the public schools
and the universities was as formal and
pedantic as the art taught by fencing
masters before the arrival Of the ter
rible Bertrand, whom they looked on as
a pestilential innovator. The academ-
ic fencing of those convention rid
den days was in no sense an image Of
in its way. but it was not war nor even
warlike. In an assault, between two
maitres d'armes a lunge, perfect In
style. but far too slow, would be par
a
riposte which, except that 1t was not
du tac-autac, was beyond criticism.
Then arose the incompatible Bertrand,
who broke all the academic rules wnen-
ever experiment and experience con-
vinced him that they were merely
academic conventions and made fencing
what it should be and is now, both in
France and England-a training and
preparation for actual fighting.
In tine eighties boxing as taught by
Gymnasium instructors (few ineed of
whom had ever taken part in glove
fight for prizes) was as slow and for
NAL and useless for practical purposes
as the fencing of Bertrand's academy
opponents When, after leaving Ok
ford, the writer sojourned for a time
in the East End Of London, where the
old traditions of the ring still survived,
he soon found that the learning he had
acquired-true knowledg his was not
was a snare and a delusion. Slim,
hatchet-faced youths could give him
stone or two and a bad beating be-
cause they knew how to hit hard and
fast, and also knew how TO take a hit
in the manner Of Sayers and other old
time worthless. Sayers, when hit,
would relax his right knee and draw
back his head lightly-with the re-
suit that there was so little resistance
to the blow that it was practically
harmless. Again, the East End lads
knew the values Of the various hits and
soon taught their pupil-for the first
time-the Sleep provoking effect of
knockout blow, for which they had
crafty manoeuvred. Furthermore,
they taught him the advantages of hit
ting with both hands at close quarters,
the weight of the body swinging as on
a pivot behind each blow against which
the old academic system of guards and
counters is unavailing. Above all, they
taught him in a series of personal OBJ
iect lessons that 1t is the pace which
kills-the fellow whose seconds wait at
the opposite corner of the "a foot ring.
Subsequently visiting America he
found that the best known boxers
there had. by taking thought, arrived
at the conclusion that to win glove
fight the better plan was to go in for
lighting as much as possible, to keep
on ones man throughout to take the
advantage which has always been CIV
en- to those who shorten their weap-
ons, exchanging the Macedonian pike
for the Roman short thruSting sword
or the long slog for the half-arm jab
or Jolt. AS a rule the American boxer
is an athlete with mind as well as
body; intellectually, he is generally
far superior to his English opponent.
One of them, a cultured person who
made fencing part of the days routine
of preparation for a thousand dollar
match, told the writer that j. L. Sui
Ivan was the Bertrand Of American
boxing No comparison between the
men Is possible: their personalities
are as far apart as the mock-heroic
and the heroic, the ridiculous and the
sublime Moreover, the former won
some Of his fights by taking advantage
of the referees weakness and hitting
his man before ne had time to regain
his stand after a knock-down blow.
But there can be no doubt that Sulli-
vans example of first, free, unconVen-
tional boxing did much to make the
modern game an image of the fight
with naked fists.
Clinching and the crouching attitudes
are corollaries Of the reversion to
less artificial innovatiOn-if we can
give that name to practice which was
common enough in the old prize ring.
as many ancient prints bear witness
no legislation is required. The first
rate poker, WHO duOpS llilo pbti'NuN ~
order to present as few openings as
possible for attack, invariably stands
up to get the full benefit of his height
when attacking himself, just as, to
take an example from the cricket field,
Mr.. Jessop ceases to crouch before hit
ting the ball. But clinching (Which Is
fine art with American boxers and
those of our professionals who have
been successful In the United States),
Is a source of boredom to spectators,
and must not be allowed to arrest the
growth of the popularity of boxing.
Some authorities attribute Its exist
ence TO the example of negro boxers.
The essential negro, as every inhabi-
tant of the southern states KNOWS,
holds his hands low when indulsing in
"scrapping- hitch" with a neighbor,
and his only blow Is an elongated
swing. If the swing misses Its mark
the arm goes round the other fellows
body and a clinch, followed by kind
of a dog fight, Is the inevitable Sc
z,,oI ypho Gr.t paprp invaders of the