TWO BIRDS—ONE STONE

NZ Truth, Issue 1191, 27 September 1928, Page 12

TWO BIRDS— ONE STONE

Draw, Said Referee, and Laughs Were Drawn ;

A draw m the Purdy-Casey flgfht at Palmerston last week covered a multitude of grins,, but the roar of laughter could not be suppressed. .■■■&?■

MURDER will out and murder did come.out. out when the referee, after hoisting Charlie Purdy's' hand aloft, groped and found Harry Casey's and also sent it up heavenwards. So ended, the long -waited return mill between the pair. ':■■■ It started off all right, the only fly — to Purdy's .side— being. the splendid manner 'm which Casey .made his weight— lo.2. Harry entered the ring m the 'best condition "N.Z. Truth" has seen him for a long time. He also climbed through the /opes with one ambition— to annihilate,- obliterate and spliflercate brother Purdy. Purdy was to . be Casey's muttons for that evening. Just as it. should be, from a Casey viewpoint, but, looking over the fence, Purdy had another idea. A new model Casey . went out and tried to live up to the publicity given him, and he tried to climb all the hills on top. • . But, somehow or the other, he could never get to .the summit. He ripped, he tore, he 'shot and he banged them m, but his mixture was on the' lean side — too much air! In the; opening stages of the ..trial he was', outsped and outpaced, and even the great smother that Harrypossesses was found to be penetrable. Purdy ■' was shooting with the precision of a marksman and the target was reached more often than not.

Casey and his ? left swing-rip came home, too, but he did not land with the regularity, and precision, of , his opponent. ' " !; „ ' There was too much .falling into a clinch and a good stir-up by the re•feree would have stopped a "goodly portion of it. ... However, he was content to go, on ■repeating: "Break, boys, break." Two-thirds of the business saw Casey come into, his own for a. while, but he. -soon, found himself left out of it when the sprint started again — and the sprint was not backwards, it was fof points. When at long range, : Purdy was fighting, and punching, as he had never, done before m this country, and there was weight m. his . blows. Twice he hit Harry on the chin and, though they did not stagger thatworthy, they hurt. Casjsy said so afterwards, too. „° v The end came nearer, and it was obvious that, ';'■? outside of accidents, there was only jto- he 'one decision. The referee must have thought so top, for he* made twp : : into one and gave his * benediction to the pair. /He m killing two birds with cine, stone-! . .^ a . , But, it could have been worse. As one ririgsider said after the verdict had been given — "he could have given it to .Gasey." t He could have, but the crowd would not have laughed fhe'n'i '■•'.■