BOXING.

NZ Truth, Issue 144, 21 March 1908, Page 3

BOXING.

{By Upper- Cut)>

Keys v. Thorn.

A Brilliant Battle.

The Keys-Thorn battle, fought at the Melbourne Cyclorama on March 2 panned out one -of the most brilliant and stirring battles witnessed m the Southern capital for many a day. Thorn cut loose . like a blood-thirsty tiger at the word go. He charged upon Keys, and the latter had to call all of his clever foot-work into play to. save himself from being hustled off the face of the earth. But Hock weathered the tempest, and finally steadied the cyclonic Thorn up, and the crowd that rolled up were treated to a brilliant exposition. Thorn, although he eased down from, the whirlwind tactics of the first round, continued to be dangerously aggresivo up to the tenth round, and then, apparently losing steam a bit, Hock began to score. t Up to the sixteenth round the Sydney man led brilliantly and then feeling that the prospects of victory were slipping .from his grasp, Thorn again came m furious fashion, and gave Keys a hot time m the old town during the seventeenth. The remainder of the^rounds right up to the twenty-fifth found Keys predominating. T-liorn made another frantic effort m the last sections of the lash to out his man, but the shifty Hock always managed to slip out of the danger. Referee Basto, at the conclusion of the conflict, pointed Thorn out as the victor. The decision was greeted with yells of protest from the audience, the opinion of a great section being that Kieys had won."

Ranji Burns was to leave Sydney, for this Dominion on Wednesday last. O'Brien, who is labelled Iry a local paper as "a Sydney crack welterweight", and Jack Fitzsimmons, who finds himself dubbed the heavy-weight champion of Canada, are located m Timaru just now, where Elliott, who upset Fitzjohn and Tresize's applecarts m the feather-weight division at the 'Australasian Amateur meeting last year,, also resides. All the aforesaid men will probably be seen m the hempen ring at a gathering to be attanged by the Timaru Association shortly. Enquiries are 'coming from all parts of this Island, Nelson, Blenheim, the West Coast and even Christchurch as to the dates of the Wellington Boxing Association's Provincial Championships. Tommy Robson won't like this poaching on his preserves a little bit. ; A beaten pug should never make excuses to the audience for , his defeat. In Sydney one of him came to the ropes and shriekc(|| that ib was owing to having a boil or something on his leg he got outed. "Gain !" yelled a galleryite, "you don't fieht with your legs !"