HE BEAT HEENEY.
HECTIC DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND PRIZE RING.
JIM SULLIVAN’S CAREER,
One of the few men who have beaten Tom Heeney is an Aucklander, Jim Sullivan. These days, Jim cheerfully confesses to the fact that he tips the beam at 18 stone, but when he beat Heeney lie sealed 14 stone, was G feet 4 inches in height, and had a reach of 81 inches, nine inches more than Heeney.
1925 was a hectic year in heavyweight boxing in New Zealand. Tom Heeney was carrying all before him. He beat Cyril Whitaker at tho Auckland Town Hall, the Southland boy meeting a tragic death as a result of the fight. Then followed victories over Flett and Brian McCleary, the latter of whom was in hospital for several weeks as a result of the pounding he took from the Gisborne man.
Jim Sullivan was next on the list. A great, raw-boned bushman, Jim was trained by Charlie Peoples, one of the cleverest trainers in New Zealand, who shrewdly divined that it would be fatal for Sullivan to go in and mix matters with the ham-mer-fisted Heeney. Sullivan made a running fight of it, poking out his long left, and banging at Heeney from long range. In vain Heeney tried to rush his man. Sullivan kept him off, and got the decision on points. The pair met twice afterwards. Ilccney secured a much-disputed decision against Sullivan at Gisborne, his home town, where the crowd nearly mobbed the referee when it thought that Sullivan had been declared the winner. The official in charge then announced that Heeney was the winner, and Sullivan disqualified. Heeney, however, won the third fight between them by a knock-out. Although many good judges regarded Sullivan as a coming man, he dropped, out of the game shortly afterwards, there being little inducement for heavyweight fighters in New Zealand.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3826, 2 August 1928, Page 1
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311HE BEAT HEENEY. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3826, 2 August 1928, Page 1
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