Santos Champion On Split Decision

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 18

Santos Champion On Split Decision

(From Our Boxing Reporter) WELLINGTON. Manoel Santos, of Auckland, won the Empire professional light-weight boxing championship when he beat the title-holder, Bunny Grant, of Jamaica, before a delirious crowd in the Wellington Town Hall last evening.

Grant, the Jamaican veteran of 58 fights, out-punched Santos over the first six rounds, scoring freely with his very fast straight lefts and left rips. Santos, longer in the reach, had more of the fight in the middle rounds, but the decision in favour of Santos surprised many experienced ringsiders.

The three judges were Dr. W. P. Sommerville and Messrs B. F. O’Brien and C. Head. Mr Head gave his verdict for Grant. Mr O’Brien is the president of the Wellington Boxing Association, which promoted the fight Grant weighed in on the light-weight limit of 9st 91b and Santos at 9st B|lb. After a slow start, the pace increased in round three when Santos used his longer reach to punch straighter with his left hand.

In the fourth round Grant was cautioned by the referee (Mr T. R. Fox) for hitting behind the head and probably lost the uneven round because of this. In round six Santos twice pinned Grant on the ropes with hard straight lefts and made the Jamaican miss with his left leads, to take his first clear round.

In the next three rounds Santos did his share of the attacking and kept his opponent at bay with two hard right crosses. Round seven brought the first real cheers from the crowd as Santos hit the title-holder two very hard blows to the face and chest, with a left hook and a left rip. Two Even Rounds Both boxers steadied the pace in rounds nine and 10, which were even. Grant flicked out his left lead to score points, and Santos replied with slower but heavier left rips. The pace quickened, bringing the crowd to its feet in round 11 when Santos twice put Grant on the ropes with left rips and swings to the

body. But Grant’* übiquitous left was still scoring points to Santos’s face and head. Round 12 was the start of an exciting climax, as Grant scored with a series of rapid light lefts and Santos moved in close and scored with two looping lefts. Grant produced a hardhitting attack in round 13, scoring two to one in clean punches, although Santos carried the more weight in his blows.

The two slugged it out in the last two rounds but even then the shorter Grant was hitting two clean blows to his opponent’s one. The decision was greeted with tremendous applause. To Complain Officially

Interviewed after the fight, Dr. C. Western, trainermanager of Grant, shouted: “They don’t know how to score. They don’t know how to run a professional contest. “We are going to lodge an official complaint with the British Boxing Association.” Many experienced ringsiders considered that Grant had built up an unassailable points lead by round 10. In the last round, when both boxers were slugging toe to toe, Grant appeared to have the better of the exchanges. A number of Wellington Boxing Association executive members declared they were going to resign over what they considered to be the unfair decision, “robbing" Grant of his title. 70 Years Out of Date

Dr. Western asked the age of one of the judges, Mr Sommerville. When informed he was about 70, Dr. Western said: “He must be judging by rules 70 years out of date.”

He would stand Mr Sommerville against a wall and give him an eyesight test Mr Sommerville gave the fight to Santos by 296 points to 290. Mr O’Brien found for Santos by 294 to 291. Mr Head gave his decision to Grant by 298 points to 286. “The Press” boxing reporter gave Grant nine rounds, Santos three, and three even, with Grant a winner by at least eight points. There is no clause in the title fight agreement requiring Santos to give Grant a return bout. But both Dr. Western and Mr O’Brien told “The Press” before the fight that there was a gentlemen’s agreement that Santos would fight in Jamaica if he won, for the same purse that Grant took last evening—£2ooo.