BOXING.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 220, 16 September 1919, Page 8

BOXING.

POOIEY BEATS MODRICH. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP. DECISION IN FIFTH ROUND. The fijrht put on under the auspices of the -Northern Boxing Association for the heavyweight professional championship of New Zealand, and a £50 purse, beween A. Pooley (holder) and G. Madrich f challenger) attracted such a crowd to the Town Hail last night that the accommodation was inadequate, and hundreds could not gain admission. The seating accommodation was overtaxed a quarter of an hour before the advertised hour for the starting of the preliminary bouts, and trouble was threatened by those locked out. -but it quietened down before a posse of police, which :utd been summoned, arrived on the scene. Tlie half-dozen amateur bouts which were the preliminaries to the big contest provide;! good entertainment for an hour and a half. A particularly bright epot was t'ue welter-weight bout between L. Graham and L. Cadraan. in which pood footwork and heady defence was shown, but was overshadowed by the .-lean. aggressive play of both men, Cadman trying for his forte at, in-fight-ing, while Graham showed up in placing hw >trong right swing*, wli'u-h kept bis opponent from {retting dangerously dose, and won him the bout. A touch of comedy was supplied by the bantamdame style of one of the featherweights, Facoory. who revived what used to be ! at one time a common to? dance style of shiftiness, and proved to be a strong, aggressive rype of boxer. A different mood was shown by a portion of the ; house which did not agree with the ref- ] eree in the decision between J. Brown and .1. Keenan, :■ bout in which both I men were inclined to hold in the clinches. | This, however, blew off. and the house j settled down for some excitement when j the men came out for the big fight. It was obvious from the reception of the boxers that Pooley was favourite, but the bis Dalmatian also had many friends. The latter, a finely-built figure of a man. had a stone advantage in weight (13.6 to 12.0). but he lacked an inch in height and probably a couple of inches in reach of the rangy Ancklander. In action he olaved light "with his left, and pinned his faith on his right, but j both hands were slow for boxing. Pooley j did the forcing from the jump, and jabbed his left wice to the face In-fore they fell iirto clinches, where Modrich used his weight to press heavily, and fried to get his riarht into action on the body. Pooley baulke.l the weight of the body blown with a twist that reduced the* surface for a bit. In the second! round Modrich. a r r taking a left jab to ! the month, shot his right across viri- j ously, but Pooley back-moved, and the ! Dalmatian went down with the swim* of i his mUeed hit. Again they fell into j clinches, with Modrieh pressing heavily ' in an endeavour to use his ri"ht just ! over the belt, but failing. Another left j fab to the head early in the third round drove Modrich to cover, and after landing left and risflit on the rrloves. Poolev uppercut heavily to the body twice. This ! brought Modrich's guard down, and Pooley bis right to the bead. Asain in the fourth round Pooley got rights to the body as his opponent covered from the left jabs. Morlrieh several , times tried to connect with the left as Pooley came in. but the other man took it on | his shoulders. The Dalmatian, whose ; weisht in the clinches was having effect. \ scored to tlie face with his right, but the round finished with Pooley well ahead on points. Tn Hie fifth round, Pooley set out to shift his onponpnt'3 j head sruarj. nnd ssrain got a telling righthander to the body as Modrich slaved for the clinch. Hardly had they broken wlien JTodrich's henri giinr.7 drooped in nntieipation of another body blow, and Poolev flashe.l h<-» ri<rbt ncross bard to t!,<. = -dp of t'.e liead, follow-n"- it with a hefty Vft hook that lifted his omionent's cliin to meet n rigbt book that i rnn'e in hard and certain to the point. "VTwiricli went down for the count, and Pooley was tlie winner after a botit lasting less than twenty minutes. THE AMATEUR BOt'TS. BANTAMS. C. McCarthy (S.O) v. B. Cro.ker (S.I). This bout was of short duration. After the opening exchanges in which ; McCarthy rattled ilia opponent somei what by rushing, l rocker steadied up and scored with his left, but stopped a right hook to the jaw which sent him down for the count. CROSERWEIGHT?. ' -T. Russell (12.21 v. .7. O'Brien (12.2). ! RlKsell. who iiad the a-dvantage of I reach, found O r ßr:en ru.liing and leav i ing openings coming in. ami after a I tame rirst round scored frequently with I his left > n the second and third. Both jof them mixed it in the fourth, and both of them were too tired to raise a bit by the time the .gong went. j Russell won. LIGHTWEIGHTS. X. Vernail (10.3) v. F. Craig (0.3). i Vernall scored with lefts to the head j in the first round, but Craig made it an I even second round, and in the last two iby consistent lefts to the head he J secured the win. <.;. Brown (9.13) v. J. Keenan (9.13). This was an even bout for the first three rounds, botli making it a willing go In the lant round Brown scored strongly with his left, and took some punishment also. He anpeared to accidently foul Keenan in comin-r in, j but it w:is not seen by the referee. The verdict in Brown's favour was unpopj ular. biji it wae deserved. FEATQ IERWEIOHT?. Fletcher («.(j) v. H. Facoory (5.7). J Facoory wa.s much more matured ' than his youthful opponent. and J stronger, which enabled him with a i rush of swinging rights and lefts to i establish a lead in tlie first couple of : rounds. In the two las; rounds Fletcher ; improved against his opponent, a boxer of tbe dancing type, and scored several ! times with an effective left, but Facoory I was easily the winner on point". I WELTERWEIGHTS. IL. Tadman (10.12) v. L. Graham (10.9). j After an even first rounj, Graham ; scored in the second round with stinging ■ right hooks to the face, and though ! f\tr!-rar ~ot ::i some heavy ])od_v blowin the third. Graham more tha:i evens.! l matters with rights t« tbo face, which I included a stinging upper cut. In the • last round Graham showed a etraight Ilert and scored nicely with it. Th« vexdict for Graham was a. popular one