THE PRELIMINARIES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 627, 4 September 1933, Page 6

THE PRELIMINARIES

Cottrell v. Lewis Cottrellt (10.6) and Lewis (10.fi) both of Rotorua, provided the pipropener over three laps of three minutes. The pair were well xnatched and made it a willing go from gon," to gong. Cottrell, in his stockier build had rather the advantage of his op pofxent, but Lewis made it willing al the way. The first was largely spen on the mat with the honours very

even, but in the^ec^nd, ^ Cottrell threw his man *«d"findlly pinned him with a body-press. .-In the ensuing scutfle, .C'dttrell applied a hammexlock, hut Lewis wrigteled free and* Cottrell took the decision on a comfortable margin of poirtts with a fall to spare. Sorenson v./Hedges Sorenson (10.0) and Hedges (10.2), both of Hamiltoxx, provided the second preliminary and also proved to be a well matched pair. Sorenson was the more aggressive, but his opponent was vex*y agile and took a lot of pinning. He developed as the bout progressed and halfway through the second had Sorenson badly worried with a series of head-locks. Sorenson came very close to seeuring a fall early in the third when he applied a body-scissors and a shortarm scissors, but once again Lee escaped. Sorenson retaliated again with a head-scissors and wrist-lock, but Hedges broke away by bridging. Hedges was the worse for wear when he came out for the fourth and final, and after gruelling his man a little Sorenson seeured a fall with a body-scissors and wrist-lock to take the match. Carley v. Lee Another Hamilton pair, Carley '(9.0) and Lee (8.8), provided an evenly contested match for the third. Lee, though the slighter in build, was very cool and kept his man vex*y busily employed breaking some of his holds. Ple made a couple of determined efforfcs to apply the splits and was leading on points at tbe end of the second. Both made noises like lxoops and rolled away and all over the ring in the final get-together. Lee had his man fixed in a head-hold, but Carley escaped and applied a head press from which Lee easily broke free. Lee deserved the points decision. Pilkington v. Williamson Fast, snappy wrestling characterised the four, four minxxte tussle between Pilkington (Rotorua) and Williamson (Auckland) . The pair wrestled a draw at their last meeting and were obviously oixt to malce it a deeisive issue. Pilkington was hard-px-essed in tbe splits in the first and after a very strenuous four minutes the pair had to be untangled to get to their corners. After a brisk opening intexdude in

the second, Pilkington fixed 1ns man in a head-scissors and arm-bar, bxxt Williamson was very elusive and broke free. Williamson threw his man witlx a sex'ies of headlocks, but whexx he jumped into give the quietus, Pilkington unleashed himself and applied a body-scissors and arm-bar tlxat reversed the tables. There was action all the way till tlxe gong. In tlxe third, Williamson came out of a tussle to fix Pilkington in a crucifix. His feet were not locked, however, and after a hard battle Pilkington worked through tlxe ropes and escaped. It was another good round. I Pilkington had Williamson figliting to escape early in the fourth when he applied a hard body-press and then threw his man. Williamson rushed lxim on to the ropes in a vigoroxis come-back and in the ensuing mix-up the Auckland boy picked Pilkington up and toppled him over the ropes with the result that he was disqxialified. Despite its unsatisfactory conclusion, it was an excellent bout. Higgins v. Way Higgins (12.0), Takapuna, and Way (11.10), of Auckland, lost no time in setting about xxiatters in the final and star amateur tussle. Both were experienced men and they treated the crowd to wrestling with a spice of showmanship that would have done credit to the professionals. Nevertheless, both were obviously very mueh in earnest and in the second Higgins even lost his opponent and had a few moments interlude with the referee who was trying to disentangle him from the ropes. There were other interesting diversions in

this roixnd as when Higgins took a header from the wrong side of the ropes to get at his man and had himself tossed twice across the ring for his paiixs. When the gong went for this foxir minutes, Higgins had his man in the splits. Both had another v/alk on the oxxtside in the third, but still hoixoui's were very even and the wrestling very strenuous. The first fall came unexpectedly from a general free-fox*-all when Higgins tied his man in a knot, and applied a bar toe-hold wlxich eompelled Way to concede a submission fall. Higgins had very little time to waste in lxandshakes at the last and he was out of his corner so fast he nearly collected the referee en route. There was more troxible to come for the referee, however, for after Higgins had crawled through the ropes to escape from a toe-hold, the pair rushed together and jamnxed the third maix between them so hard that he becanxe thoroughly exxtangled in the works axxd only escaped after a hard gruelling. Nothing daunted the two stalwarts carried on at a very strenuous pace, but with points slightly in favour of Way over the final round, Higgins got the decision on his fall. It was another good bout in a series between the pair wlxich had already provided a win apiece and a draw.