UNFORTUNATE ENDING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 142, 13 December 1923, Page 11

UNFORTUNATE ENDING

MURRAY WINS ON A FOUL

VOLAIRE'S CREDITABLE SHOWING

BOXING AT THE TOWN HALL.

Quite a considerable number of years have elapsed since a professional boxing contest in Wellington was won on a foul, and when last evening Les Murray, lightweight champion of the Dominion, was crowned by Referee Earl Stewart, after he had been hit low by Eugene Volaire, the popular little Frenchman, the crowd, which filled every corner of the Town Hall, was so taken by surprise that for the moment it forgot to voice its disapproval or even to cheer. A subsequent outburst, however, indicated only too clearly that the greater part of the audience resented the referee's action. The contest scheduled for fifteen rounds, came to an unfortunate ending in the twelfth round, when Murray, after causing Volaire to miss with his left, jumped to avoid a right swing to the body, and stopped the punch below the , waist-line. Doubling up in evident pairi, he prepared to continue the fight, but, as previously stated, the referee intervened and raised his hand in token of his victory on a foul. Volaire looked dumbfounded, and dropped his hands to his sides, while Murray indicated his willingness to proceed witt the business in hand, but the third man was obdurate, and again signalled Murray as the winner.

To say the least of it, the ending was as unfortunate as it was unexpected, since all preceding rounds had been contested in the best sporting spirit, the tactics of both boxers being beyond question. All through the contest Murray had shown a decided tendency to leap up and away from his opponent, and that Volaire should be disqualified for a foul which was contributed to by Murray. himself to an almost equal extent is certainly a matter for regret. Whatever happened, the blow, though admittedly below the specified mark, was in no way intended as a foul, and this, of course, must have been abundantly clear to everyone present. Again, however, it is most unfortunate that the referee must give his decision, having regard to what actually did occur, and in no way taking .into consideration what was intended or what might have happened.

Up till the time that the bout was stopped, Murray had a fair margin of points in his favour, but with almost four rounds to run, Volaire, who is, recognised as being a man who boxes stronger towards the finish than he does in the opening rounds, might have done anything and everything. When interviewed after the fight, 4h«L referee had nothing to say- except thaij the blow was a foul, and resulted in the Frenchman's disqualification. He would not even express an opinion as to whether or not the breach was accidental, though he did concur with "The Post" reporter that the points swayed towards the New Zealander.* Volaire, while feeling sure that it' was Murray's own fault he was hit low, made no complaint about the actual decision of the referee, and in his characteristic fashion admitted that "it was very unfortunate, 1' The New Zealander was two pounds lighter than Volaire, who tipped the beam at 9st 13Jlb. .. '. .. . .

; THE'STAR ATTRACTION; Shooting out two successive straight lefts, Murray danced lightly around his opponent when the opening gong sounded, but Volaire back moved and then came in with a heavy left hook. He landed a hard left swing, followed by a heavy right when the pair were in a neutral corner, though Murray prettily ducked and walked away from his dangerous position, stopping occasionally in his retreat to send a straight left to Volaire's face.

The champion's supporters cheered wildly in the early part of round two, when Murray, with a lucky left hook, caught the Frenchman off his balance, and sent him to the floor. Volaire was not hurt however, and bounced up immediately, falling into a clinch. Murray notched points -with a series of rights to the solar plexus, and used both hands well in the close work. Volaire scored with a heavy right to the body. Volaire missed by feet with a right upper-cut in the third round, catching his man, however, with a long straight left and a right to the body. Murray commenced to do the attacking, and altered his stance so that his right hand was foremost, though in this position he did very little effective work at this particular stage. The Frenchman evidently feared a trap, and cautiously moved around his man without taking any unnecessary risk. Working a neat "shift" from his right foot, Murray landed % hard left hook to the head in round four, and followed up quickly with ' left and riglit to the body. H» drew blood from Volaire's nose, but the Frenchman defended confidently, and a few seconds later stepped in with a left rip to the body. He swung his right hard to the head, but Murray was cleverly evasive. Neat headwbrk by Murray made Volaire miss so badly m round five that he slipped to the canvas, but he was up and fighting without a second's delay. Murray's right eye was at this stage beginning to show noticeable signs of wear, and a left hook brought the claret from, his; nose. He was figiitly strongly, however, and jabbed short left and right hand blows to the face with pointscoring precision. Very little serious work was done in round six, both men seeming to be content to make an attempt at "spelling " The versatile Murray did a considerable amount of "southpaw" work •in the seventh round, and connected with some point-scoring straight right* to the head Volaire stood off his man and, waiting for the lead, countered heavily to the body Murray stepped in with a short right to the head, but as he swung away Volaire ripped his right glove to the body. . ■ The Frenchman boxed very well in the eighth round, and shortly after the gone he cornered his opponent and partly connected with a heavy right awing some of the force of which was taken on Murray's glove. Murray slipped a rather slowly-delivered straight left and pivoting, caught the visitor with. 'a left swing to thelody. Murray boxed with his usual confidence and scored well with fas(t jabs to the head. A left hook, delivered with surprising rapidity caught Murray on the mouth in round nine and steadied, him up for several seconds. He came back deter minedly, however, but stopped a ,Win» ing left to the body. Murr^ ag^X" the aggressive, and sank a straight right to the midriff, causing his opponent to commence to move back along the ropes Several neatly-delivered l e f (, r £.u t ' punches caused Murray's supporter**^ applaud in round ten, but W? e Fr 6nc^ man was not damaged to any noticeable extent, and replied with lefts to i), body. The New Zealand*'. 8 le & *J« combination was much in evidence and annoyed his opponent in no small mea* ure. Well-manoeuvred head work ™,i* lifted the effects of VoIaW. .££ swings. b "^

Volaire plied a left hook in v eleventh round, dancing away B | SJu>

ray attempted to lead, but the New Zealander was not to be denied, and bored m, punching- with both hands as he ad-, vanced. Again he jabbed a series of lefts to the face, and danced away before Volaire could counter. Then the twelfth and final round, as already described. THE PRELIMINARIES. Five preliminaries were staged, in four of which members of the crew of H.M.S. Chatham were seen in action against local amateurs, the latter winnino; a n b u t one bout. . ; The flyweights, J. Crowley, 7st 91b, and M. Carroll, 7st 131b, provided three fast rounds. Carroll use his weight to advantage, and ■ gained a very narrow decision. Much useless clinching marred the bout between Stoker J. M'Arthur, list 41b, .and V. Gunnion, list 31b Gurinion was always on the aggressive, but the naval man, who boxed well in the close work, took the referee's nod .W. Hamilton, Bst 121b, gained the decision over Seaman Kaye, 9st, though, there was not such a great dea} between the boys. mA tall/ fast-ffloving youth, A. Cleverly, K)st 101b, had little to beat 'in Seaman Ridgeway, ' lOst 71b. The town boy created a* very favourable impression by his well-timed use of a long straight left, and easily discounted the sailor s crude efforts. The decision went to Cleverly. " A very unpopular verdict was awarded E. Nixon. 9st 61b, over Stoker C. Canty, 9st 101b. The judges must have found it very hard to separate the pair, who provided three rounds of interesting boxing. During the evening, Harry Stone, the clever Australian lightweight; George Curran, professional featherweight- Petty Officer Arthur Firth, middleweight; and the burly heavyweight, Stoker Bettifer, were introduced to the audience, and were announced as challengers to any other men in their respective classes. The judges were Messrs. J. E. Staples, P. \T. Woods, and B. A. Guise