BOXING.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17460, 22 May 1922, Page 9

BOXING.

HEAVY-WEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP. McCLEARY beats pooley. THo ChristelvJivh Sports Club staged its second professional fight c£ the season at the King Edward Bui rack-j on Saturday evening, when Brian McCleary (Christchurch), holder o£ the title, and Albert Pooley (Auckland), challenger, met in a fifteen rounds bout for tho heavy-weight championship of New Zealand and a jmrso of £195. McCleary, who holds an unbeaten record, recently joined the professional ranks, his first effort being' against Whitaker, whom- he defeated on Easter Saturday. Pooley has bc«n much longer at the game, and as far back as 1310 vra3 amateur champion of New Zealand. It waa expected that Pcoley'a greater experience wou'd giv« him victory over his smaller opponent, . and great interest was taken in the match, the accommodation at the King Edward Barracks being taxed to its utmost. The management was not without fault, tho reserved seating accommodation being insufficient, while there waa considerable overcrowding at the doors and in the passages. Several preliminary bouts were staged, but tlic&o were of short duration, and tho big crowd was kept wailing a considerable time after these had finished before tho two professionals put in an appearance. The weights announced were; McCleary list Sib, Pooley list 81b, but both, men looked pounds heavier.

The fight was a good willing one from start to finish, and went the full fifteen rounds, the verdict going to McCleary, who outclassed hi 3 opponent practically all through. Pooley poetesses a powerful punch which he endeavoured to land- on numerous occasions, liut JlcCliiary's clever footwork and general defence enabled him to keep out of all trouble. McC-leary repeatedly drove lefts to his opponent's face, and waa certainly the better conditioned of the pair. From the start both men showed eagerness to fight, and in tho first round' McCleary opened proceedings by driving liis left to Pooley's face and narrowly missed e. right swing to tho libs. Pooley drove a left to the face, und landed a fairly solid right to MeCleiiry's ribs. In the second round McCleary showed marked superiority, driving his left. to the mouth on several occasions. Pooley was quite content to. mix matters, and attempted to upper-cut McCleary on several occasions, but, always the latter'fl footwork got him out of trouble. The third round was opened by the cham pion's lefts to the face, but theso appeared to have, iitt'o weight behind them. Pooley landed a good left to McCleary's jaw, but the latter retaliated with a heavy right to tho head, probably the best blow etruck up to this stage. McCleary still held a alight advantage in the fourth und fifth rounds, ft heavy right to Pooley's cyo drawing blood. Pooloy appeared to be sacrificing ouite a lot In tho hops of getting in a fight-finishing punch, and in the fifth round landed left and right to the body, both punches with plenty of vim behind them. In the sixth and seventh rounds Pooley opened out promisingly with . lights to the body, but McCleary evened 1 up by sending his left to his opponent's damaged eye. McCleary's elusiveac-sa was tho. feature of tke&e two rounds. The eighth round was a veTy merry affair, and Pooley administered two uppercuts which plainly hurt, but in reply he received a stinging left to the face. Thtoe was a deal, of in-fighting in this round, with Pooley holding the advantage. Altogether ho had something the better of tho totehangts. McCleary, by clever ducking; made Pooley miss badly on soveril occasions in the ninth and tenth rounds, and made a target of Pooley's right eye with left, right, left. Pooley was called to order by the referee for holding, and the crowd got very enthusiastic when McCleary, on the ropes, ducked a heavy right swing and followed this up with, a right; to the side of the head. There was. also a good deal of. infighting, and Pooley showed. a better knowledge of this part of the business than did his opponent. McCleary, ,in trying to side-step, ram into one of Pooley's right swings, which steadied him up somewhat, but he come back full of fight, and more than- evened matters. It was a round full of interest and both men were loudly applauded. There was much in-fighting in the twelfth round, which was not by any means spectacular, though McCleary ledr on points. In the fourteenth McCleary's footwork was more in evidence than ever, and he jumped round like a Jack-in-the-box, making Pooley miss time and again. He varied tha proceedings by poking !eft» to the face, which were certainly not appreciated by Pooley. , .In the fourteenth Pooley scored with a oouple of right chops, and drove a good punch to the ribs. A couple of solid bcidy blows from McCleary steadied Pooley, whose only bhance of winning was a knock-out. The final round was marked by more clever boxing by-McCleary, who was much fresher than his opponent and appeared to be going jlist as otrong as at the start. The verdict of "McCleary the winner" waß hailed with unanimous approval. PREIjIMINAKY BOUTS.

Following are the results of the preliminary bouts:— FEATHER-WEIGHT. N. Moulin Bst lSlb defeated E. Moir Bst 13Jib. Ai the end "of the second round the referee stopped the contest, and) declared Moulin the winner. C. Moulin 6st lllb defeated J. Tucker Bst 131b after an amusing bout in which, the former had all the better of the exchanges. WELTER-WEIGHT. , J. Gibson- (Aehburton) 10st 9lb beat A. Thompson (Cliristchurch) 10st lib. This bout was- of short duration, Thompson's second throwing in the ton-el in the first round. ASHBURTON TOURNAMENT.

At. a meeting ol Ihe Ashburton Athletio Club it was reported that Brian McCleary and Cyril WhitaKer would be present at next Saturday's tournament, and that botn bad aeroed to give an exhibition bout. It was further reported' that Wellington. Dunedin, and Christchurch amit<rura had definitely decided to be present, and that they would carry out their respective engagements.' As the teams will bo in Ashburton over the week-end the matter of ©nfATtnmmff them was left in the Jiands 01 Page and Mr H. E. C. U&lm. A SYDNEY CONTEST. ißv Cable—Press Asaociationr-Copytight.) (Austvalian and N.Z. Cable Association.) fKpcoived May 21st, 6.5 p.m.) (Kecqivea SYDNEY, May 20. j iu II,» <3lndium Vinco Blackburn knocked „AS oSSE u» thirteenth .™d 11. finish camo as » surprise. Green h£ all the better o£ tho contest till the thirteenth round, when Blackburn landed heavy blows r i<rht to the point of Greens chin, and, following up his advantage, floored Green, who took the count. DEMPSEY TO MARRY. (By, Cabie—Press Association— Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received May 21st, 6.5 p.m.) • NEW YORK, May 20. ' Dempsev has returned from England. Ho has announced his engagement to a boyhood sweetheart. Miss Edith Rockwell, aged nineteen, of Bouldsx, Colorado. Tho wedding will take placo before Christmas. DEMPSEY AND CARPENTIER. (Br Cable—Press Association.— Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received May 21st, 2Q The sporting newspaper "Auto" condemns tho proposed Carpentier-Dempsey match as without sporting importance, and calculatwl to prejudice tho "nobie art," seeing, that tho Frenchman "has not tho slightest chance.

A TWENTY-BOUND DRAW. (Received May 22nd, 12.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, May 20. Jamito and' Sullivan fought a twenty-round contest, which ended in a draw. The fighting was stubborn and even throughout. NEW ZEALAND COUNCIL. A meeting of the Council Committee was held on Friday, Mr A. B. Kirk presiding. The excutive reported hr.ving granted tho Napier Association permission tb match L.

Bobinson and D. Maddox for the featherweight championship. The Northern Association, Auckland, had written that July 10th "had been selected as the date for tho New Zealand Championship Meeting. The Association had been informed that the rules governing the North and South Island championships provided that these should be held in the last week of Julv and the New Zealand championships a week later. It would, therefore, do necessary, to select a date in accordance with those rules. Further correspondence from the Northern. Association contained a, protest against McCleary and "Whitaker being matched for tho heavy-weight championship, the Association claiming tnat the championship should have reverted to Pooley. A reply had l>een sent that thp Council had acted as provided by the rules. Tho Manawatu. Association, which would carry out the North Island championships, had been supplied with information on various points. The Association had also been informed that the cost of providing fflovjes must bo borne by the promoting body, that being the custom pursued in connexion witn tho Now Zealand championships. Tho report, was adopted. ~ The Northern Association reported that Mr C. Sanders had been appointed president of the Council for the year. . , m» Correspondence was received from tho 1" Kuiti Association containing a resolution nrotesting against the action of tho Council in placing on record in tho balance-sheet tho announcement. that the Association had failed to pay its subscription; no request had been received for tho subscription. The secretary stated that this was the fit correspondence ho had Deceived from Kuiti Association. A letter had bwsn sent to tho Association notifying it of affixation, and the amount of its. subscription for tho Vr»?t-vear cf membership. The Association also had been furnished with all official rpcorts o' meetings. Tho secretary, was instructed to reply in accordance with ! "Ablution was received from | Bay Association, in connexion ve t amusement tax, accompanied by a re^ ue " , i , .» Pnmicil would forward it to affiliated Associations, and kindred .spor a Greymouth V Ass«iation "forwarded^ under suspension 'b^n bi \ CO ,S to le e ad° o the Association to forward the for favourable coi^ideraGi, Correspondence was wHll a claim borne .^ Bay Aseociation for the from tho Hawiee> ' { the expenses inpayment of » P ortl T ( ~ bby N ew Zcacurred in. bringing £ lct ters reland. This Snorts Club, lir CouncU doalin S with alterain reply to the circulations to the vote in contion of tho resul g taini ng to the S South l lsland championships, was referred to tho executive. ■