Contrasting boxing winners

Press, 31 August 1984, Page 12

Contrasting boxing winners

By

JOHN COFFEY

Danny Morris and Stephen Ross, the only Canterbury boxers to bring home winners’ medals from the national amateur championships in Rotorua last week, could hardly have had more contrasting preparations for their title tilts.

Although troubled by frequent injuries to his right hand, Morris was a regular participant in tournaments in Christchurch before retaining his New Zealand intermediate welterweight championship. Not so Ross, whose appearance in the senior flyweight final was his first in any ring for four years. What is more, it was Ross’s debut in the open ranks. Ross went to Rotorua with a solid, if somewhat distant, boxing background. He had fought for five or six years as a junior but four years ago, when he was 17 years of age and after only one season as an intermediate, he “decided to give it a rest for a while.” It seemed that Ross would be remembered by his Woolston Working Men’s club-mates as a youngster who had shown sufficient promise to have won a South Island junior Golden Gloves title in 1977.

But as casually as Ross had taken off his gloves he was to lace them back on three months ago “to have another crack at it.” With no recent form to commend him, Ross was not chosen in the official Canterbury team. His nomination for the national championships was made by his club, which, with Ross contributing $lOO, subsidised his travel expenses. Ross was one of only three competitors entered in the flyweight division, and he was fortunate to draw a bye through to the final. His first bout since 1980, then, was against Shane Samuels (Auckland Trainers Club) for the title.

There was no ring rustiness evident in the early rounds as Ross built (ip a point advantage.

“He gathered me up a bit in the last round, but I thought I had done enough to win,” said Ross. So did three of the five judges in a majority points decision. Ross intends to keep in training, though he is uncertain of his future in the sport. “I’ll take the future as it comes. It is too hard to get properly fit from scratch, so I will keep going. There is a lot of work to be done, not because of any weight worries, but mainly to increase my speed,” said Ross. Morris has now won three consecutive national titles, starting with a junior success in 1982. That is a remarkable record consider-

ing that his right hand has been broken six times. Doctors and physiotherapists have found no solution.

Now 17 years of age, Morris will have exceeded the intermediate age limit next season. Most of his recent fights, however, have been against senior opponents because of a lack of suitable matchings. “It has been a big problem, conceding advantages to boxers who are several years older, more experienced and stronger, and who might have 50 to 60 bouts behind them,” he said. . Morris’s career extends to 20 bouts since he began under the guidance of Peter Bell four years ago. When

Mr Bell temporarily gave training away Morris transferred to the Richmond Working Men’s Club gymnasium and now has the former New Zealand representative, Kevin Pyne, in his corner.

At Rotorua Morris beat Leon Smith (Southland) and, in the final, Pio Anitellea (Auckland), both by 4-1 majorities. The result might have been similar, but Morris said they were different contests in attitude and character.

“I took the Smith fight too lightly and just about blew it,” he said. “I lost the opening round, but he had to take a standing count in the second and I also won the third.

“The 4-1 decision in the final was a bad one — the

judge who voted against me never seemed to think that any Canterbury boxer won any bout. No way was it a majority; I won comfortably enough for it to be unanimous,” said Morris.

Whether Morris is entered for the national championships in his first senior season will depend on his obtaining enough fights in the next 12 months, according to Mr Pyne. “It all depends on his progress and getting half a dozen or 10 bouts in the next year. Danny has much potential and should have a very good future ahead of him. At his age it is a matter of timing, of getting the right fights without pushing him too hard,” said Mr Pyne.