BASIIAM BEATS WELLS.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1920, Page 1

BASIIAM BEATS WELLS.

20 ROUNDS OF HARD FIGHTING. LONDON, November 14. Johnny Basliam, the welter-weight .champion of Great, Britain, met Matt Wells, ex-light-weight champion, at the jHol'born Stadium .last. night in a 20i rounds contest under championship conditions, in the presence of quite the ! best house that has been seen since i Beckett beat . Bombardier Wells there. Both men came at the required poundage, lOst 71b. After a. truly great contest in which 'both men showed some wonderful skill and endurance, Basham was the winner on points. Wells began at a great pace and for several rounds he had distinctly the better of it, but after that Basham found his form, and boxing beautifully, ho gained a decided and popular victory.

Before the big contest Mr Cochran made the important announcement that he had been able to induce, Mr B. JAngle to referee the Carpentier-Bec-kett light on December 4. After Mr Cochran had introduced Beckett and Carpenticr, both of whom had a ringing reception, Wells and Bushman faced one another. The contrast between the men was very great— Wells almost as hairy as a. gorilla, and Basham with a skin like a rose-leaf. Wells went into force it straight away and, playing mostly for the body, he had Basliam boxing on the retreat all through, the round. The Welshman recovered liis form slightly in the second and did some fine work with liis left, but towards the close he received a couple of left hooks that drove him to the ropes.

fast pace: The pace was very fast, and both men were already showing signs of each other’s handiwork when they came up for the third. This was not quite so exciting as the other two, but both again made good use of the left—'Basham straight and Wells with a hook. A short jab opened a. cut over Basham’s right eye early in tile sixth. Wells 'still bored in, and some of his tactics were not quite nice ‘but bis boxing had by far the more strength and purpose in it. It was wonderfully fast for a man of 35. Basham, although being pressed, was still boxing with wonderful coolness and some of his strokes wore really line. In the seventh it appeared to me that Basham meant to try to wear his man down, but in the eighth round he showed his best form, scoring freely with the left and narrowly missing two beautiful shots with the right, either of which might have ended, the affair. Wells made a very unlovely use of his head for which the referee might have admonished him more frequently.

BASHAM’S RECOVERY. At the end of the ninth Basham had retrieved all his lost points and was boxing in his true form. A good .deal of the sting had now gone out of Wells’s punches, and in the tenth be took some beauties from Basham’s left. Tu the eleventh Basham was absolute master and without taking any liberties he heaped up a whole lot of points with some fine two-handed work. Wells was still full of fight, but his attack was not half what it was at the opening either for strength or. direction. Weills still continued to butt .with his head, but be was still unad-

nionished. Basham kept creeping ahead, and although he caught a nasty left on the point towards the end of the tnrteonth, he was punishing his man relentlessly. Under a battery of body punches Wells was beating a hasty retreat and the fourteenth and fifteenth 6 ;uv him driven all round the ring. He rallied in the sixteenth, however, and recovered quite a number of points. Wells was game to the end, and although he still continued to use his head"for which lie again went unenntioned, the verdict went to Basham.