BOXING

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 42, 7 January 1921, Page 9

BOXING

flr>TTTHLANI> ASSOCTATTON HOLDS ; SUCCESSFUL TOURNAMENT. Tbe Southland Boxing Association held . first professional contest in the SLtre, on Monday night. So great the interest taken that long before r^clock a largs crowd had assembled and v°the time the first contest had comI ced hardly a vacant seat remained. In fAing ihe proceedings Dr Ritchie Craw|f rd congratulated the audience on the ° jn which they had turned out and congratulated the Association on its Luccessful enterprise. He then introduced the referee, Mr Kilmartin, and the judges, Messrs C. Davis and J. J. Ward. Among the officials wero Mr J. McGrath, anInouncer, who introduced the successful Southland professiona] Les Murray, to the audience, and Messrs T. Roche, J. Arthur and D. hurn time-keepers. Great credit for the success of the tournament is due to Mr J. H. Gilbertson, the secretary, who gpent a great deal of time to make the : evening a success. The less we say about the "star" bout 0{ the night the better, as it turned out to he a very poor affair; the amateur bouts being far ahead and provided some veiy clever and inter,esting boxing. [ BANTAMS * m (Six rounds of two minutes). I W. Rowe (Dunedin) 8.2 v. L. Adams I (Invercargill), 8.2. Adams opened attack at close work. Rowe scored at close quar. ; ters. Honours even. Round two, Adams using left hook scored at start. Rowe's I ducking and evasion good. Rowe's swing | iB-timed. Adams rushed to close quar1 ters and scored with both hands. Adams' smother effective. The boys exchanged at ■ close quarters. Honours even. The fourth was a repetition of previous rounds, | slightly in Rowe's favour. The pair I fought vigorously in round five with I Adams doing better work. The la-st | round saw Adams forcing Rowe, who however scored to face and body. Rowe sent two good lefts home. Towards the end | Adams sent several straight lefts to the [ face. The decision, a draw, satisfied the [ audience. WELTER-WEIGHTS. (Six rounds of two minutes). 1 W. Brown (Invercargill),' 11.11 v. J. McNaughton (Dunedin), 10.8. Brown attacked. McNaughton clever in evasion. First round even. NcNaughton's footwork and ducking made Brown miss. The | Dunedin man's principal punch was a i right swing which connected several times. At close work NcNaughton did better | work. The third round was well contested with honours even. - The fourth saw both strong, NcNaughton retreating. A fme rally at close quarters had the crowd i excited, both exchanging well. The fifth was quiet with honours even. Brown ; forced matters in the last round bu„t McNaughton's footwork took him out of danger. McNaughton gained a well- [ deserved win, HEAYY-WEIGHT. J (Six rounds of two minutes). B. McLeary (Christchurch), 12.2 v. C. Whitaker (Invercargill), 12.9.' The men j exchanged freely. Whitaker opened better than at any previous local tourney and at the close of the first round had a Ishght lead. McLeary forced matters in I e second and landed with effecta-several times. Whitaker responded well and some fine boxing was witnessed. At the start of the third round Whitaker sent a the face. McLeary, however, [ got in close and the pair exchanged freely Mrith McLeary making the pace. The [round closed with the pair in a clinch. In win 0Urtk McLeary forced the pace. Whnaker's ducking was good. The visitor ,*COr ^est at close work. McLeary's \ °Und" McLeary had all the best of round [ V6- Several of the vistor's punches apPeme to be on the kidney but this passed , P- •>; tte referee. I„ the l«f 0 et'ry did the attacking. Whitaker ■ n several nice lefts home but the visitor |P ®d with both hands. The round ;j^Se amM applause, The decision, "Mcwas the only one possible, IL u8 the local man was by no means B^Paced. lightaveights. | (Six rounds of Two minutes). ^ -Mitchell (Dunedin), 9.7 v. R. Mc. |n jJJ (Christchurch;; 9.8. Mitchell bored ffc yjeaL however, clinching and coverIbodv^ ti Mitchell scored to face and fchi'i n, ^rst round. In the second the ]y l"rch man did better, mixing fr,ee_ Mitchell ^ WaS a ,good deal of hoMing. [/third M SA?lng at close fioarters. In th© Mitdieii'0 6ar's l6ft eye showed effect of Mve Imt anghts. McAlear was aggres6 kl m»re than held hi/own.

McAlear forced matters in the fourth and exchanges wero fast and wiUing. Mitchell scoring well in chinches. - In the fifth Mitchell got both hands home to head but was cautioned for holding. The pair mixed merrily with Mitchell doing slightly better work. In the last round Mitchell went for his man, the hitting on both sides was heavy. The decision in favour of Mitchell was well received, though the loser fought a great battle. PROFESSIONAL BOUT. (Fifteen rounds of three minutes). Denny Murphy (Wellington), 10.6, holder of the welter-weight belt of New Zealand v. "Seaman" Frank Brown (Invercargill), 10.8, challenger. Brown was first to enter the ring and was greeted with a round of applause. Both men looked fit and capable of putting up a good showing. Brown was the most enterprising boxer in the first round, Murphy being content to watch his man. Brown was quick on his feet and hopped and skipped about in all directions, and trying to beat his opponent by change of tactics. The next three ronnds were lifeless, Brown being content to wait. All ringsiders ex. pected Murphy to open up and show something new in the way of boxing, but they were bitterly disappointed. There was more aggressive work in the fifth although Murphy was still inclined to wait for his opponent. The sixth was a continual clinch in which the champion was better man. Brown scored with his leads in the seventh but the Wellington man always had the upper hand in the close work and gave his opponent a lot to think about. Brown again attacked in the eighth and continually rushed Murphy to the ropes. The ninth round went in favour of Brown, who made the pace hot throughout. In the tenth round there was more take and give in which Murphy held the upper hand by his superior knowledge of , in-fighj>ing. Things were warmer in the elevenSi when Murphy showed for the first time signs of aggressiveness. Round twelve saw things moving on both sides but Brown showed his superiority in the open encoUnters. The Invercargill man at. tacked throughout the next round but could not make headway again Murphy, who always endeavoured to get to close quarters. Both men made the fighting willing in the fourteenth. Brown always had th© better at long range while his opponent showed his superiority at close quarters. In the last round Murphy made a good impression and kept things his own way. The verdict to Murphy was greeted by a mixture of hooting and applause. FEATHER- WEIGHT. (Six rounds of two minutes). L. McDonald (Dunedin), 8.2 v. W. J. Sycamore (Invercargill), 8.13. Both men made the contest willing in the first round. McDonald being the . cleverer boxer, but the differenee in weight was too great for him, and in the second round the Invercargill man sent his opponent down for nine. On rising the latter fought gamely, but was soon-in difficulties again. The referee then stoppedThe fight and gave the local man the verdict. Y. Cox (Invercargill), 10.0 v. and A. Brodie (Invercargill), 9.5, faced each other in tjre special light-weight bout of , three rounds of three minutes. Cox held a slight advantage in the first round. In this bout as in the last the men were again badly classed as regards weight, and the heavier man soon had Brodie in trouble and the refree stopped the uneven contest and sent Cox to his corner a winner. After the contest Mr J. McGrath presented the eheques to the professionals.