GILDO'S NARROW WIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 85, 7 October 1940, Page 5

GILDO'S NARROW WIN

TOWN HALL BOXING MATCH WITH RAYNER Largely because of his brilliance in the in-fighting. Young Gildo, of Honolulu, beat Clarrie Rayner, of Blenheim, on points in a twelve-round professional boxing contest at the Town Hall on Saturday night There was a fair crowd. Actually, the points margin in Gildo's favour was very slight, and the decision met with a somewhat mixed reception^ At long range, Rayner, with 'his slight advantage in height and inch or so advantage in reach, was the more effective. Gildo, at 9st 9£lb, was half a pound above the lightweight limit and several pounds above his best fighting weight. He had been resting for some weeks owing to an injury to his hand. Rayner weighed in at 9st 7£lb. Gildo's absence from the ring was reflected in his performance. For the first six rounds, anyway, he was sluggish in comparison with the majority of his efforts at the Town Hall. In his local bout against Johnnie Hutchinson Gildo fought in close over the whole journey, but in this bout he mixed matters at long range with Rayner from the start. The consequence was that Rayner picked up plenty of points with lightning lefts and occasional right hooks. Gildo scored, too, but there was little power in his punches. He made good use of a short right to Rayner's head, however. With nearly half the bout gone, Gildo abandoned his long-range policy and moved in close. He kept on top of Rayner throughout the remainder of the contest and completely outboxed his opponent at short range. Raytier made endeavours to keep his opponent off, but Gildo. ignoring his opponent's punching, worked masters inclose the whole time. Rayner several times landed snappy punches as he moved back. . . The bout as a spectacle was fair* nothing more, and the crowd was spasmodic in its applause. One of the best rounds was the fourth, when Rayner was fighting with great dash. He landed a number of heavy blows which Gildo made no attempt to block, and for a short spell appeared to be well on top. Gildo, however, came back throwing punches from all angles. Two solid blows to Rayner's face drew blood. The fifth and sixth rounds, too. were exciting, but in the latter session Gildo gave every indication of making it a close bout from then on. This resulted, and from the sixth onwards it was just solid boxing with few exciting rallies. Rayner's performance was one of his most impressive in Wellington. Against Jackie Sharpe recently, he scarcely had a chance to show his capacity, ij He looked particularly fit, in contrast to Gildo, who was carrying a little superfluous weight. The referee was Mr. Phin. Stone. AMATEUR PRELIMINARIES. Amateur preliminary bouts resulted as follows:—F. Southee (Railways), lOst ll£lb, beat L. Burns (Newtown), lOst 71b on a technical knock-out in the third round; P.-Oliver (Railways). 7st, beat R. Cutler (Hedberg's), 6st 131b, on points; M. Turner (Railways), list 7£lb, beat R. Lewis (Hedberg's), list 21b, on points; A. McMullms (Railways), 9st llilb. beat E. Willetts (Hedberg's). lOst 91b, on points; L. Domney (Railways), Bst 81b, beat M. McKenzie (Newtown), Bst 91b, on points; L. Mulholland (Newtown), Bst 6§lb, beat D. McPherson (Hedberg's). Bst 31b, on points. ■ , . The referee for the amateur bouts was Captain C. Mullany. The judges for all the contests were Messrs. P. W. Woods and W. P. Sommerville.