VIGOROUS BOXING

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 923, 16 September 1910, Page 6

VIGOROUS BOXING

AT THE OPERA HOUSE. FEATHER-WEIGHT "STARS" MEET. The Opera .House was filled Inst evening,, when -the "Wellington Boxing • Association provided a tournament of events which came well up to the expectations of those .interested in. "the..manly art." The tournament had not.. been in progress more than , a few minutes when his Excellency the, .Governor, '.accompanied by Captain .Makgill Maitland, A.D.C., arrived. The honour.; usually . accorded to yice r royalty was followed by-n fine burst of .cheering, which I.ord Islington acknowledged.' ; The riag-side arrangements Were supervised by.. Mr.'Sampson, ami nil the officebearers,; from the/ president (Mr. E. W. M'Villey) to" the 'members of the' com-, toittee, attended to details on the stnge iindin the auditorium.' ~ The crowd' awaiting, /admission outside -the i doors at 7.15 p.m. was so ■large that a queue wasfornied,: and "kept .intact.'by'the police uiklor-.. Sergeant - Kelly. . Dr. Napier M'Lean acted as referee, and Mr. Alex.'' Laurenson 'was timekeeper, An' orchestra : played selections between the bouts.'. . "Curtain-Raiser." .. The programme opened '.yrith an. encounter between J, Gould and,E. Galvin, two lads from, St. Anne's Club, Newtown. J.' ! Gould, was the more forceful boxer .if the two, ..but both ladv sacrificed style ' fori vigour, and the display, suffered accordingly.: ; y '. ! .Ellis Beats Kerr. . The.second event was a five-round bout between. - Jr.-,Kerr\ (tfst.),. featherweight 'champion of New Zealand, and F. Ellis (Sst., 131b.),' winner of the bantam .ohampionship 'of 'Wellington this year. The first round, opened, with' both men. nervously eagei.- JGllis; who' is in fine , form, did . most;, of the: leading, and made th« mostof -the close-quarters fighting. .He r ioutreached. his man, guarded, and,smothered., more,' Effectively 'than ;his opponent . from. the. outset. Kerr showed out in occasional; flashes,- biit was . more successful in:; evading-' his. aggressive, rival than' in getting in solid work.' In the third round ;Ellis showed a pretty-facility-in right upper; cuts, and his, well-placed - blows were fairly, weighty. They : told, on his man.' In, round -four -there; was a good ■deal .of : close work, /but, eveii in. the. in-'-fighting,- ■ the* ; champion,- bantam got,, the; better of. the majority of the encounters. Ellis ;led from ;this out. There was only one verdict possible—it was against. Kerr.

Lockie-Burns. ■ :' / The 1 ..next event: on' the programme was a/six-round,; professional middle-weight, 'contest' between A; Lcckie (lOst. ' 91b.), of.'3yellington,. and "Doss".- .Burns' (lOst. 81b.), of I'eloQC. : Both ' men . stripped 1 looked ;much/the .harder and:fitter../.The■'first:round .was interestirig./': Both "displayed' no:'desife .'to waste , time; .Burns in particular, leading ."energetically. •He ■ was clover and,' graceful, 1 and/by . his timing, arid .'feinting/took the; eyo 'of; the "fancy." The "knowing birds" 'detected a:'lack of: weight: behind.. 1 ! hts blow's,: but notwithstanding this, his work was so:'attra'ctivo that- lie had;many slip-, porters; The' second: round, / saw. both standing .up .-to' their work,: and'/'mixing it" wifli a 'good! deal/of elan. Leclcie displayed a.tendency to'swing wildly, and :Bnrhsj|;hardly :-made : the'. best : use- of /the pppnings./lcft'him./ /The 'round: finished a. 'good.; deal. more;even' than the . first, 'i'eckip'jwafmed. up in "the ; third' round, x arid!: appeared; to. get the/ measure" of. his: m.an/moro' accurately/ His right/and'left body blows- got iri -with lrionotonous' regu-/ larity. V Burns,/the... promise, of'the first. round, 1 departed'like .last year's show, tired' visibly, under:' the' .sturdy.'/pertinacity : of ;LeckieV solid;,attack./• A hungry man awaitipgi' tho i gong/: at'-: sea, after three days'- mal : :do trier, .could not.have :wel'comed its -pound more' than - did /' Burns. The fifth and final' • rounds were all /Leckie's.; Bum's was short of .'condition, and- drooped -,in'; spirit , and energy, but took his -.punishment!. well!i.The verdict:. *.Xieckie.';-:'')r-- '■"■■■v ;!-; Sullivan Beats Wells.

>The;:star bout of ' .the';' evening was •between - "Sid'^-'Sullivan,' (9st.)','';ex-feathor-; weight',,:.champion:;'.'of,; Australia;,:;aiiil "Dealer":W T ells.-,,(list." 21b.), ,who. .defeated :WyElliott, professional champion feather--weight of ;Nnw Zealand.; .Both tho.boxers -had, been " imported from . Sydney for tho event. • . Tho "make-up"-', of ' the. pair', formed tho, strongest contrast. Sullivan ; is a: smart, quick-actioni'd, thick-set, short, yoiing man, with a brown;-healthy: skin— ;a - miniature "Tommy" Burn's in physique. Wells'; Pn; the' other hand,: is' fair; ■ sparei'ramed,' and tall. Sullivan '' had his 'brother ■, :(" Bat."),: ? and , Eronast ": to wave ~ the towel, duties. which. were' performed ::in tho. opposite. borher. by Harry •Sandow. and '"I'im"-Tracy. ; /I'lio lads .opened carefully,, but Sullivan soon.*, commenced , jumping,, '-'in "eagerly,, . and ;-never seeking . to . avoid tho return. This boy, ..who 'fights ; rather': than boxes, adopts the' forward crouch. * Wells* stands up straight,with his left leg well out and his Oiead' thrown iback. The one'was all dash, the other .stood for caution...-In. the. next round Sullivan "speeded up/' and piled' on a good many points for body biow's, a proportion' of which he must:have.'lost by -'declining ~t6:;avoid punishment. Still-his vigour double-hitting .' lii clutches Scored--in' his.'favour/,, ■.•

The following round saw. Sullivan still the aggressor, and-the . three, uupcr-cuts iwhiclr in near, the finish of the round, counted, for. him; In. the- fourth: round Sullivan' kept so merrily,'.at- his man . that .many' began to. : wohdor ' wliero. Wells had secured.' his- iiicknauic-, - : and ;why;' .His blows had,'so far, nothing-like the:-forco : and .velocity .6f the littls man's. -, The question was answered to a certain extent',in .round •' five, when there. : were soine solid .-.exchanges,' :' and Sullivan showed-i{. more';respectful attitude to .the dealer of a couplo ot mco straight rights; This 'had been, the hardest-l'ought round so far. • ■ ', ■

' -'Round 6 saw a lively opening, in which Sullivan went to the boards partly tripping, .partly ' through - a swing':; from. Wells. Wells 'came von again, and--.got- home, with a'couplo of. straight lefts, and. showed tip; better id the in-fighting: Both r finished up- strongly, but it ; wa;s Wells's, round.ieasily. In the next round AVells';: with his: long, straight lefts, 'tapped. Sullivan to, thb ■ tuno' of a few:.;/.points,'. .'.The''.;*going was '..fairly even' in - : the eighth : round, Sullivan having quietened down , a bit, and in the next round there was a good deal of wrestlingt, ivith Sullivan leading in the open with irrepressible vigour, but boing kept 1 in oheck by, Wells's . long-reachiur,' Straights.. The smaller-man was, at his opponent;in the tenth round, when, the ."iiealer"' did not deal it out to any 'extent.', 7 : . ,

•Then came ' the momentous eleventh sound, 1 ;led off' by Wells .with'.a.nicelvv placed left jab..- .Sullivan rushed infor revenge, and," coming out, caught; Wells with a half-arm jab under, the. chin, and followed this upvtvith a fiery, hamm'er-and-tong3 attack,, which extended Wells to tho full. It was .an ■ exciting ; 'minute. 7 Tile gong, was :'a good friend 'to Wells, whoso' blows,had apparently as much effcct on Sullivaiv as they ; would' hayo had on " a dummy. Wells was still "out .of .it"- in the' twelfth .round,; but lie guarded , well and staved off Sullivan's less speedy attacks.,, ' " : -

Vln round 13 Wells pulled himself' together, and led-nil through oil boxing' points, though there was little danger in his blows,' In the next round Wells continued to deal out light goods, with Sullivan"'boring'in- for til-fighting. ■In, one mixture Sullivan planted a couple of upper cuts' handily, and Wells, was looking troubled when the gong boomed. The last round, which was colourless, < was fairly even. The referee signalled Sullivan as tho winner amidst applause.

WAIKATO CHAMPIONSHIPS/ (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) Hamilton, September 15. The Waikato boxing championship finals resulted Light.—OUalloran -(Auckland) knocked out Cottevell (Auckland). ' Welter.—Lewis (Auckland) defeated Norden (Hamilton). Middle—Holt. (Auckland)' defeated Scott (Hamilton). Heavy—Savory (Auckland), dofeated Sampson (Ngaruawahia). There were three knock-outs during tho evening. ,