LOFTY GIVES HIS BLOOD TO THE BIRTH OF NEW RING STAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 199, 24 August 1942, Page 5

LOFTY GIVES HIS BLOOD TO THE BIRTH OF NEW RING STAR

There was a time when Ken Kenneth was an amateur and a nice fellow. He was also a good wrestler.

He became a professional wrestler, but he stayed a nice fellow. He also stayed professionally unsuccessful. Then came Saturday, likQ a movie picture dawn. Just an ordinary Saturday to most war-worn folks, but to Ken a red letter day—very red. Blood red. Lofty's blood.

Now Ken is no longer a nice fellow. He is plain "ornery" wrestler, a new star of the ring firmament.

Yes, Ken is the man who smacked down Lofty Blomfield in five rounds. The winner on a technical K.O. over Lofty, who has put the world's best matmen on their backs. Blomfield contributed his rich red blood, and, temporarily, at least, his status as No. 1 man of the New Zealand ring.

The memory of how he lost his last mat tangle with Lofty must have irked Ken somewhat. From Ihe first gong at the Town Hall on Saturday he went in hard and often. Referee Jack McLean was just the man who gets in the way. Through the opening rounds he got in the way several times—and after the first time he ceased to smile.

It was even plugging- to the third, with each interspersing the hate stuff with some snappy hold taking and breaking. Then Lofty opened his main offensive with a barrage of jolts—four smackers. Battle was joined with a will, but, when it comes to jolting. Lofty knows how. A crasher to the jaw saw Ken wilt at the knees: a second removed his interest in things. Lofty threw 16st 31b on top for cL f&11* Ken came up fighting in the fourth, and in the fifth he went berserk. Fists, and no fooling. They rained on Lofty's face and the crowd yelled. Lofty tried to fight back, but those lefts and rights crashed home on Blomfield's left eye. The cheek bone came up in a lump, the brow was opened. The blood came like a flood. . _ . Jack McLean wasted no time. Redstained, he waded in between. Redstained. Ken's fist was raised —the fist that had given him victory. Calamity Ken will ride again. The Others Were Good, Too

Even without that sensation the crowd would have had their value. It was given in the secondary feature by Wes. Crowther. United Nations' naval champion, and by Bill Mclvor, local boy, who has improved so fast that he needs only a little more poundage to make the senior heavy class. Both of them rate it now for speed and efficiency. Crowther's style is reminiscent of Kay Steele's—wary and catlike. Bill just kept going in for more. Thev had the crowd on its toes. it finis'hed even, fall each, a draw. Crowther took his in the fourth with a strongly applied step-over toe hold, and Mclvor made it even with two crashing dumps and a press in the sixth. . A draw, no falls, was the verdict in the sole amateur bout. G. ..loore, 8.10, and R. Day. 8-5. were the contestants. Mr F. Murphy refereed that one.