Boxing tetests

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 192, 12 February 1914, Page 8

Boxing tetests

THE .MIDDLE-WEIGHT CIIAMWGXSIIIP. IRELAND DEFEATS MURPHY. THE LOSER BREAKS HIS HAND. The New Plymouth Boxing Association was mot with distinctly hard luck last night, when the bout between D. Murphy anil ii. Ireland, tor the middleweight championship of New Zealand, came to a sudden and dramatic end, through the former, who was the holder of the championship, tweaking a bouc in his hand at the commencement of the fifth round. The Association had gone to considerable, trouble in arranging the bout, and were rewarded by a very fair attendance, all parts of Taranaki being represented. The audience was in ► good humor, having teen well pleased with the preliminary bouts. Considerable entertainment was expected from the big fight, and keen rco-ret was felt at the accident, none regretting it more than the principals and the officials. The latter had made complete arrangements for the evening's programme, and all attended well to their duties. The principal officials were:—Master of ceremonies, Mr L. B. Webster; lion.' surgeons, Drs. Walker. Blaekley, and ?•!,- tee; timekeeper, My Si Bennett; official seconds, Messrs. G. Hawkins and W. Whitaker. The secretary, Mr E. W. Griffiths, proved the right man in the right place. The intervals prior to and between the bouts were very pleasantly filled by a bright programme of mm : provided by Van Heck's orchestra, cash selection being enthusiastically applauded. The bouts resulted as 'ollow: THE PRELIMINARIES.

J. Sutherland (Gisborne), flst, v. L. Chapman (Tongaporutu), 9st 41b. Cha man forced the fighting in the Kdv round, of which he had much the advantage, scoring with three or four lefts to the, face. The second round wns willing. Chapman again forced tlia fighting, but his opponent stood up much better and steadied him with soma stiff left upper-cuts. A fairly round. The third round found both sparring for an opening, but soon been me wildly excited. Chapman -forced his man on the ropes, and gave him a bad time with Tight and left swings. Sutherland weathered the onslaught, and towards the conclusion more than held his own, scoring freely with his left to the jaw. The end came in the fourth round, when, after a spell of vigorous fighting, both men were very tired. Chapman want down in quick succession for eight, nine, and eight, and, going down again, mainly through exhaustion, the referee intervened an 1

awarded the contest to Sutherland. Both men were accorded an ovation. S. Woods (New Plymouth), Out fill) v. J. Hartley (Wellington), 9«t Sib.— In the opening round Woods got ad over his longer and slimmer opponent. Woods proved much too clever for him, and drove him all round the ring, hitting him whenever he liked. Thy second round proved a repetition of the first, Hartley going to the mat for eight, and at Ht conelnuon the towel was tossed in from the Wellington man's corner. AVESTLING. E. Hine (champion of Taranaki) 11,7, v. J. Sorrcnson (champion of the 11th .Regiment), 12.0.—The first bout went to the Taranaki champion, who scored from a half-nelson neck hold after five minutes' strenuous wrestling, in which both showed much cleverness, particularly on the mat.

The second bout proved of short duration. After about a minute's wrestling Hinc secured the fall and the nv:-i with a scissors hold. MIDDLE-WEIGHT CHAMPIOIvSHII-. IRELAND DEFEATS MI'RPHY. With the minor unpleasautt'ies out nl the way, the boards were cleared for the big fight of the evening, the professional contest between Denny Murphy, of Wellington, holder of the welter arid middle-weight championships of the Dominion, and Barney Ireland, of AVaipawa, who recently defeated Bartlett (of Christchurch) at Hastings. Murphy defeated Ireland for the middle-weight championship at Masterton in Ml 3, and afterwards, added the scalps of HoelKcys, Rob Burns, anil Petto Chapman to bis list. Murphy has, in his recent fights, shown marked improvement, aad then- is no doubt about his science and hard hitting. Ireland is a different type of boxer—less scientific than Murphy but a harder hitter, and his partv were confident last evening that his weight and strength, in addition to generallyimproved boxing, would win the championship for him. Weights at the ringside were:—Murphy 10-t !llb, Ireland list. Murphy won the toss and chose the top corner. Round one opened promisingly, Murphy going for his man at once, but his left hooks were merely taps, and Ireland swung a solid right to Murphy's left cheek. Spurred on "by this reverse, Murphy forced the fighting and tapped lefts to Ireland's face. Referee Tim Tracey gave the round to Murphy. Both got to work quickly in the second round, but as is the ease with clever boxers, attack was met with excellent defence, and dangerous-looking blows spent their force on opponents' gloves. Murphy hooked sharp lefts to the face, but the conclusion of the round saw Ireland using his weight and smacking stinging rights to the face, levelling up matters so that the official verdict was a drawn round. Round 3 opened with hot exchanges, a clinch, and some in-fighting, which showed Ireland up as a greatly-improved exponent of that branch of I he game. Murphy here appealed to the referee against Ireland hitting in clinches. "Box on!" commanded the imperturbable Tim, and Murphy (for (he moment

appearing to lose his self-possession) rushed in and drove a straight right to Ireland's jaw—a good blow!; Ireland quickly retaliated with a right swing to the face, and almost immediately drove a weighty left to the jaw. Tim Tracey gave the round to Ireland. In the fourth round; Murphy came to light with right hooks, and before Ireland awakened to the change in attack a couple of blows rattled on his ribs. Ireland, however, was fighting strongly, and appeared confident. Ireland scored with both hands, and Murphy's returns appeared weak. "Ireland's round" was the verdict. The, fifth round had barely begun before a sensational event happened. Murphy fended a couple of blows, and then advanced to the ropes and declared that both his hands were "gone." "I will leave it to the doctor t» decide,'' he said, and Referee Tim Tracey had no' option but to place bis hand on Ireland's shoulder and proclaim him the winner. A small section of the crowd stood on its hind legs and raised a feeble hoof, Intt any doubts that may have been in the minds of the "light fans" were immediately set at rest when the Association's honorary surgeon, Dr. E. A. Walker, cxaiifnicd Murphy's hands and announced to the crowd that both hands were badly injured. It was bad luck for the ex-champion, and this mishap will keep him out of the ring for several months. His engagements in Australia will have fo be forfeited, and the much-coveted title goes over to Ireland. ■■ Ki

Interviewed by a News reporter, last night, Dr. Walker stated that he had examined Murphy's hands at his surgery, and found the metacarpal bone of the index finger of the left hand had been fractured, and in addition Murphy's right hand (which was injured 12 months ago) had given way again. Denny Murphy has proved himself to be a good sport, ami it is regrettable that some of the spectators were not sportsmanlike enough to recognise that bis withdrawal from the fight was quite unavoidable. Referee Tim Tiacy gave the first round to Murphy, 'the second was drawn, and the third and fourth were in Ireland's favor.