Schwalger blow ends hard fought clash

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 3

Schwalger blow ends hard fought clash

By

JOE HARNETT

Vivian Schwaiger (Barry’s) won the feature bout at the Canterbury Boxing Association’s tournament on Saturday when he beat Lio Fialele (Crichton Cobbers) in the third and penultimate round of their middleweight contest at the Caledonian hall. This was a battle with the aggressive Fialele slamming Schwaiger with hard rightcross punches to win the first round. Schwaiger improved markedly in round two to even the points tally and the end came mid-way through round three when Fialele was felled with a hard right to the head. The referee, Mr Jack Hay, had no hesitation in applying the closure and awarding the fight to Schwaiger. Several Canterbury junior titles were decided and generally the standard of boxing was high. In the 7st 7lb division, Paul Graham (Barry’s) showed a welcome return to form when he comfortably defeated Darren Chand (Crichton Cobbers Gym). Graham constantly beat Chand to the punch with his educational straight-left, and in the last round particularly, shook his opponent with hard right hand blows to the jaw. The tiniest man of the tournament, Colin Adamson (W.W.M.C.) brilliantly won his semi-final bout against Ashburton’s Peri Reiri in the

5 stone division, but found the experience and size of Tod Hazeldine (Barry’s Gym) too great an obstacle in the final. In this bout Adamson fought with' courage and determination but Hazeldine gradually asserted his superiority and the fight was stopped in his favour late in the second round. For a youngster having his first visit to the boxing ring, Adamson’s performance was commendable. Shaun Carroll, a powerfully built boy from Green Island was for too strong for Craig Anderson (Fidows Gym). Carroll repeatedly scored with hard two-handed combinations to the head and body of his wilting adversary and was an easy points winner. Michael Bell, trained by his uncle, the former champion Peter, was too proficient for Ashburton’s Adrian Waiter! in the 6 stone final. Bell boxed coolly and skilfully to win each round. Although comfortably beaten, Waiteri refused to give up. He was still throwing punches at the final bell. Vic Nicholson (Dunedin) and Grant Craig (Papanui) ’ turned on three rounds of torrid action in their lightweight bout. Both young men fought to the limit of . their capabilities and Nichol- ’ son was a narrow points winner. Bayou Mane boxed with : skill and precision to beat

the wild punching Fauliga Toomailaiti (Fidows Gym) in a matched bout. Mane, an Ethiopian who trains at the Crichton Cobbers Club, evaded most of Toomailaitis’ attacks and based his point’s win on the judicious use of his excellent straight left punch. Two splendid featherweights, Tuna Toe (Fidows Gym) and Malcolm Platt (Barry’s) treated the crowd to three rounds of non-stop action in their non-title bout. Platt relied on his polished boxing skills and Toe on his tremendous punching power to gain points. In the final analysis it was Platt’s superior finesse and ring craft which told and he was a narrow, but popular winner. Other results: 5 stone slbs: C. Adamson (Woolston) beat P. Reiri (Ashburton); T. Hazeldine (Barry’s) beat R. Carroll (Woolston). 5 stone lOlbs: K. Jemmett (Ashburton) beat D. Anderson (Ashburton); M. Bell (Bells) beat A. Reiri (Ashburton). 6 stone lib: D. Teaho (Oamaru) beat M. Metuatini (Papanui). 7 stone 2lbs: G. Griffin (Oamaru) beat A. Leapepe (Twizel). The judges were Messrs W. Lightfoot, E. Platt, J. Craib and M. Garrett, and the referees were Messrs J. Mcllroy and J. Hay.