BOXING

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 188, 9 August 1924, Page 21

BOXING

RINGSIDE GOSSIP

I The indications are Uiat George Modrich and Jack Leahy will provide an interesting and exciting contest at the. Town Hall when they meet on Monday I night for a purse of £150. Since his arrival from Australia about a fortnight ng, Jack Leahy has been in bard training at Jim Tracey's gymnasium, Queen ■ Street, where the fans have gathered every afternoon to see him in action. A dearth of heavy opponents has militated against a really meritorious exhibition, the mnjority of those who donned the gloves with the Cornstalk being men of slighter build and considerably shorter experience; but Leahy has convinced a fair number of enthusiasts that be carries a hard punch in both hands, and that he h:is the ability to go the distance. Under the direction of Charles Peoples and Jim Tracey. Leahy has worked con- ■ sistently, and expects to be in tip-top ' } condition on Monday nipht. He claims to have won the heavy-weight champion- '■ ship of Queensland and Tasmania, and also that during his six years in the ring he has knocked out 38 opponents. Leahy is 2S years of age, and says he has knocked out such good men as George Cook, 12 rounds, at Goulburn; Jack Hilt j 7 rounds: the Englishman Jack Harrison. 14 rounds: Jack Deshong, 19 rounds; Jim Flett. 19 rounds. Jerry Hanson, 17 j rounds for the Queensland championship; I and Courtoakes, 3 rounds, for the heavyweight championship of Tasmania. In addition to being a pugilist of ability, Leahy is a champion woodchopper. who has figured prominently at meetings where the chips were flying in various ! parts of the Commonwealth. Ho is con- | fident of Riiocess on Monday niplit. On I the other hand. George Modrich has coni l,ic 'mini,,.! , t r,,W tl,n rlii-<-H-««n of Henry Donovan, and has earned the I reputation of being a diligent worker in the gymnasium. Every night he has been watched with interest at Parnell, and those who saw him knock out Jim j O'Sull'VHTi i" <*»tic routed n*il-" p fpw w rt fU«*

I ago assert that on gymnasium form he lis a much fmnroved boxor since then, i Modrich says he will fight every inch of j the way with Leahy.

Two pugilists who are expected to arrive in Auckland at an early date are Vie. Rowe and Herb. Thompson, two Australians, who will join Mr. Peoples, j carrying recommendations from that cmiI nent boxing authority. Will Lawless, bettor known as "Solar Plexus." Both are middle-weights, and hope to be given a chance to display their wares in this country. Thompson is paid in be n particularly fast boxer, of the type that pleases the average fight-goer.

Bert Facoory burns to be on the warpath affain. and to that end he hns been in training for some time. Little has lipen heard of him since he met Mike Flvrni at the Town Hill nearly 12 months ami TTo would •wplp'mio on with any feather-weight in the country. Bill Leahy, brother of the heavyweight who is to figure in Monday nieht'a contest, is in Auckland, giving a hand with Jack's training operations. He claims to be an ex-welter-weight chimpion of Victoria and Tasmania, and has spvpml loinoir-ftiifd to his pr<vlif.. He would be pleased to put on the gloves in a Xew Zealand ring. It is the little fellows between the poundage of fly-weights and featherweights who almost invariably do the real boxing < writes Trevor C. Wignall in the "Daily Mail"). They do not often produce knock-outs, nor do they even contrive to manufacture- those thudding noises which are such sweet music in the lears of the average boxing follower of I to-day. In the matter of artistic ability r—which nowadays counts for so little— 'even the second-rate fly-weight can usually provide more genuine entertainment in one minute than a heavy-weight can Kα a dreary hone-