BOXING

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24987, 23 September 1946, Page 6

BOXING

MURPHY BEATS CLARKE FIGHT ENDS AFTER SIX ROUNDS From Our Own Reporter GREYMOUTH, Sept. 22. Saved by the gong at the end of the third and sixth rounds the Australian middle-weight boxer, Bobby Clarke, decided to throw in the towel before the seventh round came up for decision. Bos Murphy was declared the winner on a technical knock-out in a professional contest at Greymouth on Saturday night before a record crowd. While the bout did not measure up to expectations, boxing enthusiasts were enabled to see the champion, Murphy, in action, and that appeared the main object of most. The bout was one-sided, as after the second round Murphy manoeuvred Clarke into position for a barrage of blows which, delivered at close range, Clarke found difficulty in warding off. Clarke put up a game performance and displayed good ringcraft in keeping Murphy at bay as long as he did. While he won the first round, Clarke was over-wary and his blows lacked sting. Murphy took most of Clarke’s punches either on his gloves or lightly on the body when back-moving. l Murphy, fresh and unruffled throughout, played a waiting game over the second and third rounds, attempting to manoeuvre Clarke into corners, but the wary Australian forced Murphy off each time until Murphy swung in a powerful left hook late in the third which floored Clarke and the gong at the count of five was welcome.

Murphy set out after Clarke In the fourth with a barrage of lefts and rights. Clarke continued throughout the fifth to stave off what appeared to be the inevitable knock-out. With remarkable speed and a left rip to the solar plexus, Murphy had Clarke in difficulties, and he was down for a count of five when the gong sounded. Clarke was very groggy when the referee, Mr F. O’Neill, after a brief consultation with him, declared Murphy the winner at the end of the sixth round. Murphy weighed list 2Jlb and Clarke list 21b. The receipts, approximately £550, were easily a record for the association. In the amateur preliminaries, H. McClymont (Greymouth) beat R. Hawes (Westport), S. Gladstone (Greymouth) beat T. Forsyth (Westport), B. Shaw (Canterbury) beat K. McMillan (Greymouth), P. Ellis (Greymouth) beat F. Woodhouse (Greymouth), A. McGill (Waiuta) beat B. Henderson (Timaru).