USED EVERYTHING BUT TEETH TITLE FIGHT WAS DISGRACEFUL

NZ Truth, Issue 1303, 4 December 1930, Page 16

USED EVERYTHING BUT TEETH TITLE FIGHT WAS DISGRACEFUL

Referee Allowed Sorry Exhibition of Slugg^ : Last^Saturday ''night's contest at Napier was billed as for the featherweight championship, but that was a printer's error— it should have been announced as^.the all-in championship.

IN, recent 'years boxing has been con-- ;? ducted in\a mariner that is 'credit- ■ . . able to all concerned, but soon after 1 Johnnie ; Leckie and Tommy Donovan started off on their 15-trip last Satr urday night it was easy' to see what was going to happen! -■ . ' Donovan, from • the first second, showed that he:. was going to concentrate his attack on Leckie's two in-' jured eyes; andi had ' He solely relied on punches to further his plans, all would haye : been .m order. But when; they got m close Tommy started to : try and' open the partlyhealed wounds with the inside of the hand. -He was palming for all he was worth, and when the referee paid no attention he went on. with it. Leckie had to. think of the law of self-preservation, and to , vary the palming he decided that pinning shamrocks on Donovan's chin was quid pro quo. • .. : 1 Alleged to be' a boxing contest, it would have done credit to.a bullfight, and at times the pair did everything but bite hunks out of ' each other. ■'.-"' Had ; somebo.dy handed, m. a couple of axes it would have "been a fitting finale to the shocking spectacle. Donovan had , only one idea. He tore into close quarters, head: down, Arid there ripped, tore, held, ' claimed and palmed.' Leckie, on finding himself, in the embrace, then tore and ripped m return! scattered shamrocks round:, as though, it was St. Patrick's Day, while neither boy was over-careful m placing body punches. ' They. landed high, low, front and back. -/:';.'. The referee did not seem to think the rafferty rules had been dumped, but' m the fourth 'he administered cautions; to Donovan and later he had /another go. On one occasion he worded the pair of them, but they promptly forgot 'that he existed.. v Leckie, with, a beautiful shamrock, all but lifted Donovan's head off m the fifth and this made Tommy very annoyed. For a few seconds. .the pair stood and: looked daggers at each other and then they resumed, with Donovan mumbling, m his/beard.- " A wild rush by Donovan and Leckie

was thrown hard to the floor m the sixth. ••'■■■ Donovan's forcing- was certainly j getting him somewhere, and m close he had a -good pull, but when it came to real fighting! with good, clean work, Leckie was the master. In the matter of correct punching there was only one m it. Knowing the referee's distinct, liking for a fighter over a boxer, it was no surprise to "Truth" when he proclaimed Donovan the new champion, but seventy-five per cent, of the-'house thought he had gone m off the deep end. ; If a -mixture, of -sl'ugrging and roughing is considered to be 'the essentials desirable m 'boxing, then Donovan won, and won comfortably. However, tlWway we interpret the rules is- that clean -hitting and defence are of paramount importance m judging "ia, bout, and sticking to both the letter and the spirit we can only say that the hooters had justification.