New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-13
BOXING WORLD
IN A QUANDARY
OVER BIG BOUT
Experts Disagree When 1t
Comes TO Choice Between
packey and Mike.
BOTH MASTERS IN
ART OF DEFENCE
Cunning Meets Equal Cunning,
and Neither Man Lands al
Effective Blow.

There are many men o. many minds
in this world, and difference Of opinion
makes for sporting contests. Packey
Mcfarland and Mike Gibbons came 20
grips in q ten-round bout at tho Brigh-
ton Beach Motordrome on Saturday
night and the boxing enthusiasts are
still. discussing the result Experts
have disagreed rs 10 the winner. The
fans have reached no decision, and
there is scant possibility of the men
meeting again in the ring. The much
mooted question of superiority may
ever remain open.
Mike Gibbons. in the opinion OF The
Tribune representative, was entitled 20
the honors. for the reason that he did
the sharpest. clcanest hitting. His
blows were delivered with a clenched
fist. knuckleS foremost, as prescribed
by the rules Of boxing. His punches
carried a sting, and Mcfarland was
aware that he had been hit whenever
those whrling gloves thudded home It
d true that the total damage was neg
ligiblc. for the slight abrasions Of the
skin that each suffered are doubtless
healed by this time.
Mcfarland, however. overlooked the
all important factor that makes for
success in the ring. He placed his
[ ElONfN VII ll' llNHu anu bbN. VI plb'
bons time and again. but Packey hit
with wide open gloves, and such hit
ting, being in direct contravention to
the rules Of the sport, cannot be count
ed as legitimate points. II looked good,
TO be sure, but il was ineffective.
There was the tenth round, for in
stance. Not once, but half a dozen
times, Mcfarland hooked his glove be
hind the St. Paul mans neck and pulled
him forward or showed him over TO one
side. Mike staggered, apparently
driven by a blow. 1t will appear so in
the moving pictures, but as a matter OF
cold fact there were no real blows
struck. Packey mugged and paved
around, but he did not hit. Mike at
tended TO that detail.
Once again it has been proven that
battles between masters of defence are
not popular with the crowd. The fact
that both were 50 clever in avoiding
punishment failed to win its full need
of appreciation. After all, il is the
wallop that stirS the throng, and here
were two men who were so scientific
that no damaging punch could pene-
trate the armOr Of elbows, shoulders
and gloves set 90 resist attack.
The boxing audience has seen Glib
bons fit in and around a man. hooking
and stabbing him at will and raining
home gloves with merciless accuracy.
So. TOO, the crowd has become accus-
! toned to seeing Mcfarland butcher less
Skilful opponents. But on Saturday
night the two cleverest men boxing to-
day confronted each other in the whirl
Of battle.
Here was new condition. The
moves which those masters executed
with an case and grace that was sim
plictv itself on less clever men were
blocked off in their infancy. There
were no staggering wallops, no knock
downs, ~ moments Of grogginess when
g stricken fighter rallies from the shock
of a knockdown punch.
And so, each finding their best long
range work of no avail, their cunning
met with equal cunning, they settled
down to battle at close quarters. In
the stand-up strife both missed by
wide margins. This can only empha-
size the superlative skill of both, for
seldom it is, seldom it has been, that
either man missed as he did on Satur-
day night. In the clinches, of course,
there was little done, but Gibbons was
really the more effective, for here again
the open glove hitting Of Packey
worked against him.
1t is fair to assume now that Nc
| Farland is incapable of hitting a con
vincing punch. He has said time ard
again that when he entered the ring
to fight a really important battle ne
would disclose a hitting ability that
none believed he possessed. He Ger
tainly had his chance on Saturday.
Here was the most important battle
he had ever fought, perhaps. Ger
tanly il was for the greatest purse,
but that wallop Of which he so blithe-
" chortled during the training camp
days must have been left in Chicago
or some other place.
1t was a remarkable exhibition Of
/ boxing skill in many ways, but it was
not worth the eXOrbltant price pail.
| 1t was intended to settle long dis
puted supremacy in the ring. That
question is still as wide open as ever.
/ More open, il might be well TO say.
7 II may be that somewhere in the larG
some promoter will offer these men
still greater price to fight TO q
I decision in twenty rounds This, how
/ ever. is extremely doubtful.
W. c. Marshall, who promoted the
/ contest has taken his place with Tex
/ Richard and Jack Gleason and other
promoters Of great contests. Unheard
/ Of until last August, when he snapped
you're on" in response to McFar-
/ lands unheard-of demand for Sl7,5OO
4 for a decisionless ten-round contest,
/ he took hold of the management of
the battle and made a complete sue
cess Of it, lie took a long chance in
offering such purse, gambled against
/ the weather and everything else, and
luck smiled on him.
Although the official figures for the
Mcfarland Gibbons bout were not an
nounced, it was understood that only
POOP persons saw the contest. and
the receipts were sos, 069.
Scotty Montieth arises to remark
that Johnny Dundee had the Indian
sign on Charley White, and offers IS
evidence that the last named has re-
fused five hattering offers from all
over the country for bouts with Dun
dee at all distances from six to TWEEN
. ~ rounds.
The CerO Wins in
Doco Or, Tho Cnnr1