Murphy Wins 10th Fight By Eighth-Round K.O.

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30389, 13 March 1964, Page 15

Murphy Wins 10th Fight By Eighth-Round K.O.

Dion Murphy, the New Zealand professional Light-weight boxing champion, knocked out Rezqui Guizani, of Tunisia, in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-round bout before a crowd of 3000 at Canterbury Court last evening. The end came as a surprise, after seven rounds of cat-and-mouse stalking, with no hard hitting.

At the beginning of the eighth round Guizani missed badly with a long, left swing at Murphy’s head, and walked into a short left to the chin as Murphy came off the ropes. The blow shook Guizani for the first time in the fight Murphy sharpened up his punching and went after the Tunisian amid the first fullblooded roar from the crowd. Murphy launched a twofisted attack and Guizani retreated. He took most of Murphy’s punches, all aimed at the head, on his gloves, but was forced into a corner by the barrage. Murphy hit Guizani with a left hook to the

body, then caught him off balance with a right hook to the head. Cut Above Eye The Tunisian spilled across the middle rope, then fell into the ring, grazing his head and right eye along the canvas. He was on all fours when blood began to stream from a cut above his eye. Guizani appeared to give up when he felt the blood streaming over his eye. He was counted out by the referee (Mr N. Fisher), still on all fours. The bout had begun very tamely, with no punches offered and no applause given

in the first round. In the second, Guizani scored with his favourite blow_ a long left hook, but delivered without the weight of his body and more of a hard slap than a punch. Murphy, his chin tucked behind his left shoulder, h s left out stretched and his right guarding his face, and adopting a crouched stance, was very difficult to hit once he had countered Guizani's long left hooks. Guizani. by contrast, adopted an almost casual stance. He faced his opponent square on, with hands held low, but was an adapt mover, fast on his feet and clever in weaving. He scored well at in-fighting in the first three rounds, but Murphy gave as good as he received thereafter. Guizani stumbled and went down when swaying back from a right to the chest from Murphy. Murphy scored most convincingly in round six with left jabs and right rips. Murphy was again well ahead on points in round seven. In the eighth, Guizani, attempting for the first time to put weight in his blows instead of flick-punching, walked into the left from Murphy that was the beginning of the end. Sporting Boxer Guizani did not look as At as Murphy. He was a most sporting boxer, shaking hands at the beginning of each round and offering his hand after he had scored with a punch in the early rounds. Murphy fought cleanly and well, and appeared to be well on top and well within his full power after three rounds. It was his tenth win in as many bouts as a professional. Murphy was 9st 61b and Guizani, 9st 81b.