BOXING Good Bouts In Provincial Amateur Tourney

Press, Volume C, Issue 29604, 29 August 1961, Page 17

BOXING Good Bouts In Provincial Amateur Tourney

A modicum of excellent boxing, some hard-hitting, well-matched bouts, and a great deal of determination and courage provided excellent fare for more than 300 spectators at the Canterbury amateur boxing championships held at the Addington Show Grounds last evening. The following are the senior amateur champions for 1961, the boxers being from Christchurch unless otherwise mentioned:,!— Fly-weight, C. Murfitt (unopposed); bantam-weight, C Sheehan (Ashburton): feather-weight, J. Crossland (unopposed); light-weight, D. Murphy (unopposed): light welter-weight, P. Fitzsimmons; welter-weight, D. Davies (Timaru); light middle-weight, A. Curran: middle-weight, A. Fidow; light heavy-weight, B. Johnson: heavy-weight, no contenders. The best boxer to take part in the championships, P. Fitzsimmons, proved to be the most unpopular with the crowd. Fitzsimmons, last season’s Canterbury, New Zealand. and Australian lightweight champion, fought T. Black in the light welterweight division last evening. "Fought” was the operative word. Fitzsimmons rushed Black from the opening gong and was more like a bull in a china shop than a champion boxer. He swung viciously and wildly at Black and missed completely on many occasions. Other blows did not land cleanly, and Black scored some good points with hard, straight, left counter punches. The stronger Fitzsimmons landed occasional right and left hooks that shook Black. Fitzsimmons again began with a hectic rush in the second round. Black fought back gamely but was tiring under the onslaught. Fitzsimmons, with excllent footwork, weaved to avoid Black’s punches, then roused the crowd’s displeasure by propping Black's face with his left and ostentatiously measuring the distance for a right hook. The hook missed. Fitzsimmons was warned by the referee for a low blow with an uppercut. However, he was too strong and too good a fighter for Black, and the bout was stopped by the referee before the third round started. Well Matched The semi-finals of the middle-weight division were contested by four wellmatched, solid boxers. R. Cleverly (Kaikoura) displayed a tricky left hand in beating J. Imberson. In the final, Fidow showed up Cleverly’s weak defence to a hard right cross, and had Cleverly groggy during most of the bout. However, Cleverly rallied well to take the last round narrowly with hard, well-placed lefts and lost the title in a game display agaiast a rugged opponent, Curran boxed very well, except for a habit of hooking his left too much, to take the light middle-weight against T. O’Donnell, who had a real advantage in reach. In the welter-weight final, Davies narrowly beat M. Samson (Ashburton). Sam-

son had had a bout, but Davies, having his first bout of the evening, used his longer left cleverly to punish the tiring Samson. Davies also used his feet well on defence. L. Nye had a hard bout to beat K. Green in the bantam semi-final and this told against him in his bout against Sheehan in the final. Sheehan boxed well to get on top. The intermediate and junior divisions provided some vastly entertaining fare, with the bouts, at times, resembling a non-stop revue. Most of the contestants showed they had absorbed the rudiments of boxing skills. The referees were Messrs M. Drury and M. Purton. The judges were Messrs C. Winder, R. Wellsford, and R. McQuinn. Results:— Senior Middle-weight. Semi-finals: A. Fidow (Palmer’s) beat M. Matefo (Crichton Cobbers), on points; R. Cleverly (Kaikoura) beat J. Imberson (St. Anne's), on points. Final: Fidow "beat Cleverly, on points. Light Middle-weight.—Final: A. Curran (Crichton Cobbers) beat T. O’Donnell (St. Anne's) on points. Welter-weight—Semi-finals: M. Samson (Ashburton) beat C. White (Linwood Boys’ Club) on a knock-out. Final: D. Davies (Timaru) beat Samson, on points. Light Welter-weight —Final: P. Fitzsimmons (Palmer’s) beat T. Black (St. Anne’s) on a technical knock-out. Bantam-weight. Semi-final: L. Nye (St. Anne’s) beat K. Green (Linwood Boys’ Club) on points. Final: C. Sheehan (Ashburton) beat Nye on points. Intermediate Feather-weight—Semi-final: C. Grieve (Crichton Cobbers) beat

A. O’Donnell (St. Anne’s) on points. Final: K. Sheehan won unopposed as Grieve had injured a hand. Junior Under sst 71b.—Final: R. Carstairs (Linwood Boys’ Club) beat D. Thompson (Ashburton), on points. Under 6st 71b.—Final: E. Hussey (Linwood Bops' Club) beat M. Burgess (Linwood Boys' Club), on points. Under 9st.—Final: R. Newsome (St. Anne’s) beat C. Dyhrberg (North Beach Club).