Anitilea city bout put back

Press, 29 June 1985, Page 80

Anitilea city bout put back

By

John Coffey

The very promising Auckland welterweight boxer, Pio Anitilea, will have to wait until September before making his first appearance in Christchurch. Anitilea was to have fought Danny Morris (Canterbury), who beat him in the final of the national intermediate championship last year, at the Richmond Working Men’s Club tomorrow. But the young Aucklander will now have to wait until the national tournament before coming south. A New Zealand council decision ruled that Anitilea had a prior commitment at the inter-island Golden Gloves contest in Oamaru tomorrow. Mr Ron May, the president of the Auckland Boxing Association, said yesterday that Anitilea would be staying home. “We have been instructed by the council that Anitilea is to box in Oamaru or not at all. That is the bottom line,” said Mr May. The bout against Morris had been arranged some weeks ago and Anitilea — in company with a light welterweight, Paul Baker, and their trainer, Gill Sullivan — was to have his travel and accommodation paid by the host club, Richmond. Mr May said Auckland had not nominated Anitilea, or any other boxers, for the tournament in Oamaru, and had even heard it had been cancelled. “I am disappointed for the boy. It has broken his heart that he cannot go to Christchurch to fight,” said Mr May. Mr Kevin Barry, the Christchurch-based member of the council, said Anitilea had a prior commitment for North Island under boxing’s order of precedence. “He had made himself available, then pulled out after selection. We next heard he was going to fight Morris. If a boxer is picked in a team he cannot just go off and compete somewhere else,” said Mr Barry. Baker is still travelling from Auckland to box Lance Austin (Richmond W.M.C.) and, in another feature bout, Kevin Rickerby (Bell’sKearns Motors) will oppose Chris Scoles (Gore).