Woolston boxers enjoy tournament successes

Press, 30 May 1983, Page 3

Woolston boxers enjoy tournament successes

Woolston W.M.C. boxers had a great run of successes when their club held the Warren Stewart memorial tournament yesterday. The Woolston trainers, Ron Mitchell and his son, John, entered 10 boxers for the 13-bout programme and nine of them enjoyed victories. Three of the bouts made up the competition for the Dick Gould Trophy between Woolston and Temuka and the host club clinched it, 3-0. Temuka’s Terry Sugrue was, however, a little unlucky to be shaded by Stephen Henry (Woolston) in the main bout on the programme. The two lightweights were very evenly matched and gave good value, Henry coming out on top in a split decision; two of the judges gave it to Henry by 59-58 and 60-58 respectively, while the other gave it to Sugrue, 60-59. In the previous bout the heavyweights, Henry Schuster (Woolston) and Tali Talanoa (Fidow’s), also provided plenty of entertainment with their contrasting styles. Schuster, having his first fight, fought well to take a unanimous decision, making good use of his superior height and reach. For-

tunately, most of Talanoa’s enormous rights missed their mark by some distance. Talanoa, a stocky fellow with an ever-present smile, threw an amazing amount of leather at the start of each 3min round, but tended to tire somewhat later. Tom Heath, another firsttimer, showed quite an amount of finesse for a light-heavyweight novice with a win over Terry Saltnes (Fidow’s) and was awarded the Warren Stewart Memorial Trophy for the best performance by a Woolston W.M.C. boxer. One of the tidiest and most impressive boxers was an 18 year old from Barry’s Gymnasium, Paul Graham, who hit his fellow lightwelterweight, Brent Davey (Crichton Cobbers) with some stunning right and left hands. Graham, far from waiting to size up his opponent, had a penchant for coming straight from the ball and ramming home a right to the face. Brendon Lilley (Woolston) and Moni Masina (Fidow’s) had a close bout, which required a majority decision but the margins would have been closer still had the latter not been deducted points after warnings for

slapping and holding. Lilley, a little behind initially, landed some good rights and hung on best.

The younger competitors also had some lively bouts, among them Gordon Samaeli (Fidow’s) and Noel Columbus (Woolston) although there were lengthy periods in which no contact was made. Samaeli, the eventual winner, finished with a bloody nose, but for the most part Columbus found him extremely elusive and Samaeli’s near-disco dancing style led the ring announcer to label him “John Travolta.” Results:—

Dean Calvert (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Beven McCully (Temuka), majority • points; Bruce Smith (Greymouth) beat Tod Hazeldine (Bells’), majority points; Ron Carroll (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Brian Zampese (Greymouth), points; Tom Heath (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Terry Saltnes (Fidow’s), points; Colin Adamson (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Jamie Jones (Temuka), points; Jason McDonald (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Quinton Rice (C.C.C.), p.s.c. 3; Peter Heinz (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Andrew Dolan (Ashburton), majority points; Gordon Samaeli (Fidow’s) beat Noel Columbus (Woolston

W.M.C.), points; Jeff Shanks (Ashburton) beat Carl Franklin (C.C.C.), points; Brendon Lilley (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Moni Masina (Fidow’s), majority points; Paul Graham (Barry’s) beat Brent Davey (C.C.C.), points; Henry Schuster (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Tali Talanoa (Fidow’s), points; Stephen Henry (Woolston W.M.C.) beat Terry Sugrue (Temuka), majority points.