Scaife helps N.Z. take Oceania title

Press, 28 May 1979, Page 32

Scaife helps N.Z. take Oceania title

NZPA Sydney The New Zealand lightwe 11 e r-weight, Grant Scaife, stormed to an upset win and helped his country to win the teams trophy at the finals of the 1979 Oceania Boxing Championships in the western New South Wales town of Dubbo on Saturday evening. Scaife gained one of New Zealand’s four gold medals and scored the upset of the championships when he knocked down the Australian champion, Brian Tink, in the second round of the light-welter-weight final.

Tink’s World Cup hopes were dashed by a hard right which sent him sprawling half-way through the second round. Scaife won the right to \ represent the Pacific area ■ in the World Cup cham- ! pionships, which will be held at Madison Square Gardens in New York in October. 9 Tink was slightly ahead on points and had Scaife , back-pedalling on the ropes when the New Zea- | lander put an end to pro- i ceeding with the best punch of the championships. ! Scaife’s defeat of Tink overrode the sensational defeat of the Commonwealth Games Gold medallist, Phil McElwaine, in the semi-finals of the middle-weight division.

Fred Taf la continued New Zealand’s run with a points decision over David Hall, of New South Wales, in the welter-weight final, and brothers Andrew and

George Stankovitch gained two more New Zealand gelds in the middle-weight and heavy-weight divisions.

Andrew had a points win over Robert Thompson, of Queensland, and George beat Roy Bijkerk, from New South Wales, when the referee stopped the contest in the third and final round. Queensland’s evergreen, Benny Pike, gained his third Oceania gold medal when he beat Arden Fatu, of New Zealand, in the light-heavy-weight division with a split points decision which angered many spectators. William Johnston, of New South Wales, had a points win over Peter Rock, of South Australia, in the light-fly-weight final. There were no entrants in the fly-weight division.

Richard Pittman, of the Cook Islands, scored an impressive points win over Gordon Willis, of Queensland, in the ban-tam-weight section. James Spencer, of Western Australia, had a points win over Ronald Jackson, of New Zealand, in the light-middle-weight final. In the light-weight division Edward Daly, from Western Australia, knocked out Les Hall, of New Scuth Wales, in the second round.

Garry Williams, of New South Wales, scored another upset with a points win over Norm Stevens, of Queensland, the present Australian titleholder, in the feather-weight final.