STRICKLAND'S BOUT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 79, 27 December 1937, Page 2

STRICKLAND'S BOUT

Our Own. Corrwpondent.)

■ m p Should Have Beaten Delanej Easily - -f DISAPPOINTING SHOW

(From

LONDON, Nov. 30. ' Slow hand-clapping during the fighf and an ironical cheer at the end of it from the thin crowd at Harringay Arena last night was all Maurice Strieteland, yon'ng New Zealand heavyweight could command froin his 10-rounds contest with Al Delaney, of Canada, writes Geoffrey Simpson in the Daily Mail. Strickland won the decision on pointi but as an exhibition of supposed frontrank pugilism the fight was one of tSfea poorest staged this Winter. Strickland struggled home narrowly from a will* ing, but not very knowledgeable, performer when he should have won conifortably, if not in decisive style. Whether he was upset by the a-b-sence from his corner of his American manager, Bill Daly, who is under sus* pension by "the Boxing Board of Control, is a point for conjecture, but the fact that he was apprehensive to- a! point where he aimost succeeded in . beating himself. He opened the fight like a scared novice, fencing and fiddling his gloves through the air as though he dare not allo-w his fists to travel. He got better once the warmth of battle was coursing through his veins, but there was hardly a round when he was 'not striving in an exaggerated way to do the safe thing. He saw danger in the slightest move of Delaney and gencrally made hard work of what was Teally a etraightforward task. Even when he shook Delaney which he frequently did with some excellent right-hand punches, all the fioor banging of depnty adviser, Ted Broadribb, couid not induce him to cuft loose..

Naturally the crowd lost patience, and in the second half of the struggie their criticism was loud and to the point. But this could not prevenfl Strickland, heavier by half a stone, from doing a lot of steady left-hand leading, and it was this which broughi' him home a winner of an extremely poor affair which has done nothing to heighten his prospects as a British titla contender. Actuallv, the liveliest work in T.his uneventful fight was provided by Dwlaney. For most of the time he waa * target for Strickland 's* left. He had the shakiest of defences against a. straight-from-the-shoulder hit; but spasmodically he would break out with. a furious onslaught of hooks and swings and frequently during these spells he would have Strickland in trouble.