REVIVAL OF THE PRIZERING. Disgusting Exhibition in tbe Theatre Royal.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 100, 2 May 1885, Page 3

REVIVAL OF THE PRIZERING. Disgusting Exhibition in tbe Theatre Royal.

A glove-fight between Murphy and Donovan took place at the Theatre Royal on Saturday, April 25, for a stake of £40 and the takings There was a very large attendance, it being estimated there was between £50and 1 60 in the house. The majority of the audience were larrikins ; wo do not recollect an occasion on which there was a larger gathering of the scum of the city. Before the men wont to business, there was a long and unseemly wrangle about the appointment of a judge. Some of the audience desired that Belcher, who is, we understand, an old member of tie prize ring, to occupy that "honourable " position, while others were desirous that the office should bo conferred on a. local exponent of the art named Kirby. Eventually the hitter was chosen, and the pugilist-* stepped into the ring, and amidst , tremendous applause "set to." The men j wore small chamois leather glove?, ap- j pnrently unpadded, and capable of inflicting almost as much punishment as the bare knuckles. During the firft four rounds the men seemed to be very fairly matched, neither gaining a very decided advantage, though both were a good deal marked about the face, Donovan appeared to be the favourite, as whenever a blow of his took effect on the face ot his opp »nent, there was a perfect yell of savage pleas-ure from the wretched occupants of the pit and stalls. At the fifth round, the excitement became intense, and some of the few respectable members of the audience, fearing that the rabble were about to rush the stage, left the theatre At the sixth round, Murphy's face was pounded out of all human semblance, and he was apparently so weak that his partisans began to lose hope. Donovan, however, who, it subsequently transpired, had broken one of his fingers early in the fight, and was " groggy " in the legs, was also weak, and the result of the fight was still in doubt. At the seventh round, Murphy almost full through sheer exhaustion, and his second was compelled to throw up the sponge. Shortly after he rotired from the stage he fainted and with his face in a jellified condition, and his body bruised with body hits, he was conveyed home. Donovan was also considerably knocked about, as besides his broken finger his face was a good deal bruised. He is the heavier man, having earlior in the day scaled lOst 91b". Murphy, who is a thin, wiry individual, weighed 9st 61b. Saturday night's exhibition was without question, brutal and brutalizing, and steps should have been taken by the police to suppress it.