Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-24
METZCER'S COLUMN
Fighting, Not Boxing is What h. struetors Are Trying to Promote in Army - Humorous Anecdotes of Moments of Relaxation in the Big Cantonments.

That's fighting! That's what I've been waiting to see! That's what counts! To the devil with this boxing stuff" These were the exclamations of a. Canadian officer who had been through two years of it over there." as he sat by my side at a ring side at one of our big army cantonments somewhere in America, after two heavyweights had been scrapping for the camp championship a little more than a minute. Up to this bout he had been silent. But when the two big boxers got after each other with all the fury of madmen, threw all dis cretion to the winds and kept up rain of dreadnaught blows upon each other the Canadian, for the first time, spoke. This wild, furious cave-man battle in the ring caused him to tell a story.
 T was over there early in the game he said, and I had quite a bit to do with our boxing. We soon dropped all that and just got the men to fight. Put the gloves on them and sent them at each other. Ohi Made them scrappers all the way through. They're all fighters now, every blooming one we send over, and we keep it up for them all the time they are in rest billets. Boxing don't go with us. We found out early in 1 the game we needed fighters. So we teach the men to fight-not box. Has it helped?"
 Say. you know" he said and his face. was lighted with pride. the Canadians haven't a half bad fighting record, have they?'
 l Speaking of fighting, instead of 1 hON inc on think of boy from Calgary, named Rolfe. Never had the gloves on be- fore he joined our army. Since he's been in France he's fought seventeen ] bouts and had sixteen clean knock
 outs. He can whip any boxer in the
 world, I think, though he knows precious little about boxing. He's just a fighter; they all are. That's
 what you want to go in for more and | more-fghting. This boxing is all 1 right but get them to fighting. Ii
 counts so heavily with the men when they mix it up with the Hun."
 I got his point as the heavyweights fought on. They were slashing eacf
 other with telling blows, blows that but for the gloves would have felle6 each of them and the doughboys pack ing the Big Y stood on the benches
 and yelled their heads off-or tried to It was the first time druing the even
 ing that he crowd had gone clear
 wild, though it had already witnessed
 three of the cleverest boxing bouts
 one ever had the good fortune to see
 Cheer them they had. But now ther,
 was din to the noise such a
 only several thousand well trained
 healthy soldiers can break out witt when the business at hand ha
 quickened their pent up admiration for the fighting spirit. They wer seeing for the first time that night
 wholesouled scrap, the kind of
 display of spirit that each of then knew he must show when he met tn Hun. And they were paying handsom tribute to their comrades who wer displaying this spirit.
 When it was over. when one of tn } contestants had gone down for tn count and was up again, they-th doughboys-broke loose again wit another reign of pandemonium whel l the two heavies shook hands in tn } ring. They felt mighty fit that nigh I-all of them-felt mighty capable o
 taking on the Huns and accounting
 for them, too which is the frame o , mind we want them in. For they ha } the old fighting spirit shown them, tn } fighting spirit the Canadian office had told me was one of the big an : contributing factors to the success c