RAYNER WINS AGAIN

Marlborough Express, Volume LXVIII, Issue 148, 25 June 1934, Page 6

RAYNER WINS AGAIN

FEATHER TITLE RETAINED A TECHNICAL KNOCK-OUT. SATURDAY NIGHT'S BOXING. Clarrie Rayner, of Blenheim, easily maiotained his unbeaten record asthe professaonal featherweight boxing champion of New Zealand: by knocking out Cyril Hurne, of Wellington, the latest challenger, in the sixth: of a schcduled 15 rounds eontest at the Town Hall 011 Saturday night. The champion out-punched and out-manoeuvr ed the contender, who was never safe from his hardhitting adversary. Although interesting and entertaining as iar as it went, the contest laeked the usual atmosphere of suspense due to the fact that all but the most sanguine supporters of the challenger oould not fail to forsee the outcome — toarring accidents, and Rayner saw to it that there were none of these. Two minutes after the sixth session started, when he was already a bit ahead on points, the title-holder connected with one of his celebrated left hooks, and flashed over a hard right cross that spelled the

end of the contender's aspirations. Hurne gathered himself together at the toll of "nine," but was down ia moment la-ter for the count' of "eight." As he was floored again on rising and was obviously unfit to continue, the referee (Mr L. C. Cotter) intervened and awarded the champion a technical knock-out decision. Hurne speedily recovered after being helped to his corner. It was a clean, swift flnish, distinguished by the fact that Rayner obviously laid ai trap for the challenger and set it off wlthout fuss or bother. HURNE'S HANDICAP. If the result added no little lustre to the victor's crown, it detracted not one whit from the line reputatiorn borne by Hurne as one of the most- skilful boxers in the country at his weight, and to this reputation must be added the laurel of reai g-ameness.. This will be granted when it is stated that he went i-nto the ring lat short notice to fill the vacancy ea used by the defection of George Wright, the bantamweight. champion, and accepted the championship conditions of 15 threeminute rounds notwithstanding that he had not trained: for the "marathon. course." But above all, the Wellingtonian laboured under the handicap of a, 121b:s difTerence in weight, He was 8st 21bs— -just over the fly weight limit— whilst Rayner scaled the exact 9st of the feather maximum. As in his previous fight here, the contender revealed qualities of ringcraft ouite out of the ordinary, and it was" that that kept him out of trouble so long. His footwork and st-raight, fast punching were at times brilliant. Prequenlly the champion found himself in the same predicament as a terrier trying to make a fight of it with a, hedgehog. However, strength and stamina, coupled with pace and a shrewd plan of campaign, resolved Rayner's dafEiculties smartly enough. and Hurne found to his cost that the Blenheimite is too good a boy to take liberties with, •FAST BOXING. It *is understood that Rayner experienced some difficulty in miaking the weight, and as a result of having to take off 51bs since Thursday he was not quite his confident self at the start. Hurne came in looking altogether too finely drawn, but he never hesitated to step in and swap punches. Little tirne was wasted in preliminary sparring, the initial round producing snappy exchanges. Hurne landed! with bursts of short lefts and a right- swing, but his punches laeked sting. After the firs-t minute the champion started to force the fight, stepping swiftly in to land hooks and straight lefts. His rights to the body and head were too far round. It was an even session. Rayner won the second by n. fraetion. scoring well as Hurne

came in. The eontender made Rayner miss by expert ducking. He gathered points off the holdcr's mistakes. Hurne, beating Rayner to the punch and evading his- returns, had the champion at a disadvantage in the next round. Gaining oonfidence, the vis-itor was pushing the pace over the latter half of t-he session. At the start of the fourth round Rayner was claiming with his left in what little clinching there was, and hitting with his right. Hurne landed a broadside of clean punches with both ha-nds, catching Rayner as he came in and also as he backmoved — fast work. Towarcls the end, the champion landed a slashing left to the body and followed in to bail the challenger in his corner and slam over a heavy right cross that shook the receiver. Hurne smothered and slid clear as the gong* went. Rayner's round. By the fifth rouind the champion's solid hitting was telling its tale. Clarrie rocked in left hooks and; rights that made Hurne give ground. Rayner was full of confidence and aggression now, and ^allied both hands to Hurne's body at close quarters. By contrast the sixth, and lasu round opened in ominous -cairn. Ray-ner literally loafed about the ring, wary but st-rictly neutral. The challenger began to speed up his attack, flashing in and out to score light taps. As the round wo-re on Rayner eircled to the eent-re of the ring. Then, with Hurne back on to the ropes and unable to back mcve, he dramatically spr&ng in and .floored him with twd perfectly-timed punches— left hook and right cross. Hurne fell flat on his face, but rose at "nine" and Rayner rushed in to finish- it. The challenger hung on j but Rayner shook free and dropped his m-an with a- single left hook to the jaw. . Hurne came up groggily after eight seconds, and on being ! skittled once more was saved further I punishment- by the intervention of the referee. A satisfactory "house" paid £90 admission. Rayner received just | imder £20, calculated on the 1 winner's pe-rcentage of a £35 purse. Hurne, under a special agreement, was guaranteed £20, plus exj penses. It was announced that he will probably b-ox Wright here at a later date, for the bantam title. AMATEUR BOUTS. A fast little boxer, J. Barker (8.0, Nelson), clearly outpointed E. Olliver (8.3, Wairau Club) over four rounds, employihg rj.ee straight hitting with A • '

both hands and excelleht- footwork. Olliver, a slower boy but dead game, made a grandstand finish, and Barker was hard pressed all the last round. R. Mellett (8.13, Nelson), a fastimproving boy, beat S. Foley (9.1, Rayner's School) on points in six rounds. It was an -awkward mateh, Mellett being a head taller thain his opponent, and endowed with ia tremendous length of rea-ch and leg. Foley forced the fight for all he was wo-rth, but was up against a speedy c 0 u nter- pu nche r . The local boy staked his all on a great rally in the fourth round and had Mellett beaten by his sheer aggressiveness until he stopped ;a. wild swing to the jaw that all but knocked him. From then 011 Mellett held the advantage again. R. Morrighan (10.8, Wairau School) conceded Jack Page (11.5^, Ccmmunity Club) ll|lbs and beat him 011 points. It was not a good bout. Morrighan landed heavily almiost at will, but was wild and butted badly. Page appeared to have forgott-en the art of punching, ana pushed futilely. Only a rock-like jaw and grit enabled him to see the four rounds out. C. Elsmore (9.9, Wairau Club) successfully defended the lightweight cup against a challenge by Doug. Hen-dra (9.5^, Rayner's School). Hendra, who was having his first bout for nearly a year, boxed well, but faded over the last three of the six rounds and lost on points. Elsmore's longer reach enabled him to show up to advantage, and he was hitting hard with both hands in the

last tw-o rounds, In the third Hendra hurt Elsmore with rights and lefts to head and body, but the eup-holder came up smiling and raked the challenger with great lefts. Mason MacDonald (14st., Wairau Club) went on the rampage the instant he was let loose against Alec Dasler, the N.Z. heavyweight smateur champion, who fought in Community Club colours. Fortunately, Dasler was in wo-nderful conditiori and his weight (12.st 21bs) bore out the impression that he has develop-ed considerably. Bent cn annihiilating the champion in the shortest time possible, the "manmountain" crashed into the fray regardless of the rules, and had to be repeatedly cautioned. Dasler took ihe roughing in good part and con-t-ented himself to keep out of trouble and pick his shots. After -a couple of sensational rounds of sheer "rough-house" stuff, Mason was "wiiided." This made him less reckless, and as the bout wore on he settled down to clean boxing, when he became a rea.l menaee to the champion. Stinging punches only made the big chap grin, and he went on grinning and punching to the last of the six rounds. Dasler was awarded the verdict on points, but if MacDonald had not disreg-arded the rules .so flagrantly he would have stood a ehance. The referees wer-e Messrs L. C. Cotter and E. Leslie.