BOXING SURPRISE

Evening Post, Issue 47, 23 August 1935, Page 14

BOXING SURPRISE

BEEVE DEFEATS JACOBS

CONTEST AT TOWN HALL

LOCAL BOY DISAPPOINTING

Opinions expressed in the Wairarapa district that the Pahiatua boxer, Harold Reeve, would probably be too good for Em Jacobs (Wellington) proved well founded when the pair met in a professional contest of ten three-minute rounds at the Town Hall last night. The local boy's many supporters received something of a shock but there could have been no two opinions regarding, the verdict.

Jacobs had the advantage in experience—he had had twenty-one professional contests in Australia and six in New Zealand during the past two years, whereas his opponent had" ,had only two professional. matches; he had the ' advantage in weight—list 121b to the j visitor's list 71b; and he also nad the advantage in height and reach.. Yet Reeve pursued a winning, course practically, throughout the journey. It was generally he who made the fight, and, though many of his punches landed harmlessly ; on his opponent's arms and gloves, he > connected cleanly a : sufficient number of times to be comfortably ahead on points at the finish. It was an interesting contest, and "both boys displayed ' cleverness and punching ability. Both, also, were prepared to get in and mix it.' Reeve scored by virtue of the greater speed of his attack, and it was apparent that it was his desire to. keep the exchanges as open as possible. He hit with plenty of vim with both hands and used both '- Jacobs's head and body "as his target. A LIKELY PROSPECT. Reeve has. still plenty to learn, but lie is a natural boxer and his faults should not be difficult to eliminate. His defence is -..■■open to considerable improvement, tie had much to learn from Jacobs in the matter of in-fighting, and his right, which he1 uses frequently, is generally "telegraphed," Jacobs often ducking and allowing it to pass harmlessly, over his head. Still, he" gave the impression last night of being the, most likely, prospect in' the middleweight division in the Dominion at present. Jacobs's showing was decidedly disappointing, particularly1 in view of his recent victory over the New South Wales champion,, Les Brander. How-ever,-he did not appear to be at his best, and it is on the cards that he will prove equal- to reversing the decision in a return engagement. His contest with. Bander left him with a "cauliflower" ear which not only made him lake things easily in his training; but which also made him endeavour to protect it last night. His plan of campaign was mainly to! work at close quarters, and ho scored with both1-gloves when, he and Reeve came together, but his .tendency to hold resulted in his being warned several times by the referee. AMATEUR NOVELTY. After the encouraging support which was given to:the : local association's first bout of the season the attendance last night was poor,- and it was a pity because a particularly entertaining programme was ■presented. The supporting amateur programme included a novelty whichr proved a great^ success: Teams of twelve from the Miramar and Newtown Clubs met in a i series of oheminute" contests," and the result was twelve minutes of continuous and exhilarating action which kept the crowd in a state of keen enthusiasm. Miramar won by seven ■! matches to four, with one drawn. Mr. Arthur Ourtayne was the' referee for the evening, and the judges were Messrs. P. W. Woods and W. P. Sommerville. Mr. GJ'. A. Broad acted as announcer. Reeve had Mr. A.' J., Allison as his principal . second,, while Jacobs was looked after by Mr. Joe Mears. Challenges to the winner were received from Ray Nicol, the New Zealand '' light-heavyweight champion, "Kid" Fisher, Val Luttrell, and Billish. ROUND, BY ROUND. Reeve assumed the offensive from the outset and drove Jacobs into a corner, but the latter, made good use of his feet, causing Reeve to' miss badly. Employing a two-handed' attack to the body Reeve repeatedly forced Jacobs against the ropes, but the Wellington boy scored with blows to the body- in the in-fighting. Jacobs landed a righthanded body, blow early in the second round, but- Reeve : again sent him against the ropes. They were trading punches fairly freely^ but most of the blows were:: blocked. Both boys mixed it willingly at the start of the third round when Jacobs was told by the referee to close his left glove: : Reeve was still taking the fight •to his opponent, ; biit most of his punches' were smothered. Reeve tried hard to connect solidly in the fourth round, but Jacobs used his longer reach to keep his opponent away. When Jacobs temporarily left himself open Reeve sent a hard right in to the jaw. ■The Pahiatua::boy, connected to the side of Jacobs's head with both hands and a vicious uppercut also found its mark. Some fast work came at the start of the fifth round with Reeve more than holding his own. k A stinging left found Jacobs's jaw and a similar blow sent him down for a count of nine. Jacobs was not greatly distressed when he rose from his knees, however, and had little difficulty" in seeing out the round. Reeve chased his man in the . sixth round but Jacobs fought back: and steadied Reeve in the course of a bright encounte_r. Jacobs was frequently leaning on Reeve, and it-appeared at times that the latter was tiring. < JACOBS DOES BETTER. Reeve came out as fresh as ever in the seventh round, but found that Jacobs was boixing more purposefully than in some of the earlier rounds. Reeve was shaken by an uppercut, but he was again! crowding Jacobs on to the ropes at the bell. It was even pegging iri.the eighth round of which Jacobs, if anything, had the beller. . Reeve. rushed in with both hands plying busily in the ninth, but, when Jacobs neatly side-stepped, he went headlong through the ropes. Before the round ended Jacobs was again spoken to by the referee for "wrestling." There were some• vigorous exchanges in the final round in which Reeve was still going strongly enough ■to make hia position secure. AMATEUR PRELIMINARIES. Results of the amateur preliminaries were:— D. Boswell (Moera), list 41b, defeated R. Cameron (Miramar), lOst" 121b. Boswell was a south paw and Cameron endeavoured to overcome his opponent's awkward stance by getting in close. In this he was often successful, particularly in the early stages, but he was repeatedly warned for holding. Boswell shook Cameron in the third round arid his advantage in weight and reach carried him through. R. Hawes (Silverstream), 6st 21b, defeated R. Burns (Tracy's), 6st 21b. The boys kept going busily and did some clever.,boxing. It was even pegging for the first two rounds, but Hawcs had his opponent in a bad way in the third. F. Finnegan (Tartan). Bst 101b, defeated W. Wilson (Tracy's), Bst 121b. It was/not a particularly good bout, but Finnegan. was undoubtedly the better boxer. H. Dunn (Moera), 9st 51b. defeated IT. Knopp (Newtown), 9st 61b. It was a spirited contest between two boys

who knew how to box. Dunn was generally the master, however, and scored a clean-cut victory. TEAMS'MATCH. The results of the teams' match,' With Newtown boxers mentioned first, were: —A. Birchfield lost to; J. Jones; R. Barber beat L. Woolcott; J. Parker lost to K. Coveney; H. McNaughton -lost to E. Key; N. Tanner beat R. Wood; C Sampson drew with W. Dally; W..Dunning beat S. Paul; C. Nichol' lost to Pauling; R. Steer lost to W. Flipp; A. Gear lost to I. Watson; R. Luddon lost to G. Bedding.