BATTLE ROYAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 229, 27 September 1937, Page 14

BATTLE ROYAL.

HECTIC WRESTLING.

WITH JOLTS FOR LOFTY. THE CROWS HAD ITS WISH. To take jolts to Lofty Bloinfield would seem about ad useful as taking coal to Newcastle, but, tin n, with the jolt as "itli tlio coal, perhaps it depends on the quality. Joe "Kopa.h" Woods took jolts l<> Lolly at the Town Hall at Saturday night, uinl he brought the crowd U> its leet with his activity while ,ie juoiceded to knock Lot'tj oil his. He succeeded, too, on a number ot occasions, but. he never <|nilc not the fall he was aiming at. Lofty had liim jolting niacliiue in action also, ami the tun went at It hauino'i' and tiiiigs, all the way through, with the scales just about even. But, Lofty won, with a fall taken, by accident, in the Mnrd.

Perhaps that "by accident" looks a bit i ambiguous. It w.iMi't altogether acci-' dental that it. was taken in the third, but it was an accident that Lofty got it. It was .loe who did all the preparatory work. That, too, needs explaining. Bight from the kick,,ll' (it wa.s, too, lor Woods' foot took Lofty ainidship») the pair opened up with Woods warned twice by the referee, Mr. Jack McLean, for strangle holds. Lofty impressed those warnings by applying a real "strangle," and took his warning with the usual sugar coat. Each in turn had a share of head-tossee and attempts at dumps without finality. The second was equally hectic, with the pair joining in a l>out of in-lighting with Woods' righte and lefts working like pistons, sending Blomfield down several times; once it looked like a finish, but Lofty butted off a fourth assault and nearly came on top. Three in a Heap. So to the third, when Woods leaped at the start to a head-scissors, which wa.s broken by the referee as a strangle. And then the jolts Hew, with a packed hall shouting its collective head off. Tor a minute it wag even "swapping,'' but from a vicious one to the chin Lofty reeled, Woods followed in and under six more Lofty went down in the coiner. In a moment he was hoisted high in the air, but to avoid the dump Lofty twisted his foot in the ropes. Under his uplifted body the referee darted in to break the ropes hold, and he, too, was caught, the three coming down in a heap. Somehow, i Lofty was on tap, and the fall was his.

Through the fourth round they were nt it hard, Woods doing his best to justify the complaint* of ill-treatment he had offered right through the interval, but the fifth came without change in the position. Woods' head went over the ropes at the start, and lie came in swinging hard rights and lefts at Lofty's bcnly and chin. Lofty caught the fever, and they were at it again—and so was the crowd. Lofty went down again, and was jumped on, but that was just Woods' fun. The sixth had venom when Lofty wag rushed to a corner under a shower of jolts, and the pair swung freely, Blomfield coming on top at last with a full-nelson with the legs. Woods broke that, and had a toe-hold applied, but in a moment Lofty was in position for his octopus clamp. But he couldn't "swing it," and though he tried to use the ropes to drag himself upright, all he succeeded in doing was to tumble the referee. That pleased some of the crowd. Everything Went.' Another mix-up of 'flaming youth" in the seventh, with Lofty thrown through the ropes as the conclusion of a burst of jolts. He was jolted and head-thrown as he came back, and went through the ropes again before a flying tackle to stop a kick as he lay. Again Lofty went through the ropes under a flying tackle, and again he [stopped a kick, but the third time he shifted and Woods came through himself. IHe was well on top now, though. Under two jolts Lofty reeled, and was pulled down by the hair, but he managed to throw iWoods off, being himself thrown through "the ropes just as the gong sounded, ending one of the most hectic rounds ever seen at the Town Hall.

The eighth was equally so. Toe to toe, they joined in a jolting battle. Under a battery of seven tough ones Blomfield went down again, and was lifted up on the ropes, but he came hack with another shower, was again laid low, was dumped, but avoided the press. Under a headlock Blomfield: went through the ropes again and, outside, stopped a drop-kick, but he came back to head-throw Woods twice, and the gong came in another jolting rally. The crowd had wanted action -and they had it, in one of the fiercest matches seen in Auckland this year. The victory was Lofty's, and that pleased them, too. The Amateurs. Mr. W. Williamson refereed the amateurs, who turned on a bright show in the preliminaries. C. Hammond, 9.10, beat B. Sigley, 9.10, on points. J. Moore. 10.3, beat E. Pinches, 10.3, by one fall with a press in the first. Pinches was stunned by a fall out of the ropes in the third round, but over the latter stages was well ahead on points. J. Aspin, 11.4, beat T. Chester, 11.5, in straight falls. G. Halson, 10.0, beat K. Freakes, 10.10, by one fall in the second round.