AMATEUR BOXING

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 116, 20 May 1925, Page 16

AMATEUR BOXING

WELLINGTON CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

HARD AND WILLING CONTESTS

THE NEW CHAMPIONS.

Some ' splendid contests in the semifinals and finals of the. Wellington amateur boxing championships were witnessed by a packed house at the Town Hall last evening. The standard of the boxing, was fairly high, but whatever deficiencies there were in the way of clever. ne3s were more than compensated for by the gameness and willingness of all the contestants. The one regrettable feature of. the evening was the decision awarded D. Livingstone over M. Gastein in a featherweight contest, Gastein, in the opinion of most authorities, won handily, and yet'the judges . unanimously voted against him. As the result' of the tournament, the new title-holders are as follow : —. '

Pap'erweighWH. Thomas. ' Bantamweight-^-A. M. Birch. ' Featherweight— D. Livingstone. ' Lightweight— E. Morgan. [ Welterweight— C. Brown. Middleweight— R. Hill. Light-heavyweigl-.t-R. ' Fitzsimmons. Heavyweight—Gerald £vatt. : PAPERWEIGHT. Surprising cleverness for a little fellow was shown by A. W. Campbell, 6st 101b, who was defeated on points by H. Thomas, 6st .1243b, in the final of the paperweight. Campbell did all the leading, and was always forcing his taller opponent but Thomas: used a straight left to advantage and scored repeatedly with this weapon. It was a great little battle; and both boys were loudly cheered as they left the. ring. This was the , only paperweight contest of the tournament, FLYWEIGHT. I 9!" r":e ( .)7°°ds, 7st-91b, retained his flyTH5™ w ? outP°in^"& C. Hurne, ill i ' W°? ds was too strong for his taller but _ slightly-built- opponent, and his aggressive tactics gained for him the verdict Hurne at times showed some IPietty boxing, but he was not stron" enough to. stand up to "his man. ;, • BANTAMWEIGHT. m"- M- i? dh > Bsfc Oglb. a strong boy with an awkward style; outpointed Ted r"? t!6,T' a?St 13Ib- Birch ™de the ug.it all the-.way. and Priestley could not effectively foil'his unorthodox at-i l°- CV i V fi"aL ha'f-*inute, during which the boys stood together and exchanged punches, was the most interj esting stage of a hone-too-spectacular contest. ' .

lhrea:-rounds of hard fighting were provided by H. Larsen, Bst l^lb, and 1. Maoney Bst l^lbl' Larsen had easily the better of the first round, and ho connected to the face with heavy left and right swings, Maloney showed better lorm in the remaining two rounds, and made a good fight of it, but Larsen punched too hard and -often for him -the verdict in favour of Larsen was well received. ,

1 here was some hard fighting in the final ot the-bantamweight between Larseu and Birch. Larsen was the aggressor m the initial, round and' in the sewnd ho dropped his man with a welltimed right,. Birch stalled his way out of trouble, and took .the points in the final" round, during which he kept his opponent on the defensive all the time The verdict in favour of Birch was well received- - ■ ■. • .. . ■ : : FEATHERWEIGHT. :D: ■ Livingstone, Bst 81b, knocked out G. H. Smith, Bst 101b, in the second round. The loser showed great gameness, .but his-opponent carried too many »uns for him. Ther-e was little of incident in the opening round, but the second^ while it lasted, was quite torrid. E. Cowan, Bst, 121b, defeated G. Adams, 9Et, in a willing though far from scientific encounter. - Both boys ' were willing to fight, and at times they indulged m some brisk rallies. There was not muck in it. at the finish, and the verdict went to Cowan. M. Gastein, Gst, handed D. Livingstone Bst 81b, a bad beating for three rounds but at the finish the judges declared for the lighter boy. It w£s only Livingstone's -gamen«,s winch kept him on his feet, and he was receiver all throughout the whole contest.' Gastein did all the leading, and gave a very convincing display, but the verdict was given, against him Livingstone, who was. nearly always on the defensive, swung 'some heavy right-hand punches •at times, but he certainly did.not "earn" the unanimous verdict of the judges.'Messrs. J. fc. Staples and P. W. Woods, although they decided in his favour. Gastein was an easy, winner. : The featherweight title went to D Livingstone, who outpointed E. Cowan, the winner, a game, battler, with a good punch, made a good ' showing, considering that he was fighting his' third contest of. the evening. It was a dose ngnt,_ however, and Cowan nearly turned the tide of! battle in the last round. The verdict; for Livingstone was well received. '..:...■ LIGHTWEIGHT. One-of the best fights that lias 'been seen in the Town Hall in recent amateur tournaments was that between E Mo?----g?"» Qst 941b, and E. Livingstone, 9st LSlb. Morgan opened aggressively, and, forcing his sturdily-built opponent to the ropes, punished'him with snappy left hooks to the head and body. Livingstone came back strongly, and swinging a heavy right, had Morgan in trouble ltl lua own corner when the gong sounded. Round two' saw Morgan again on the attack.' with Livingstone gamely taking., everything which came his way. He still continued to ficht" back, and occasionally connected with both hands to the face, but Morgan took the dangerous punches as he was going away. Ihe pace was a cracke- in the third, with honours in favour of Morgan. He dropped his man towards the end of the round, but Livingstone, though obviously groggy, staggered gamely to lv« leet. He was »ti]l ready to fight when the jjong sounded. Morgan whs the winner, but t| le efforts of both boys were loudly reiojjiiisyd.

Hie lightweight liUe went !.■> K. Mortt.'in, who was given the .cluc.isiou over v\. Greathead in the final of the tenstone class. Groathcad made :i promising opening, and beat "Morgan at his own game by adopting the "southpaw" stance. Morgan, wi.o had previously engaged in a hard tussle, took matters easy over the first session, and 'the points went against, him. In the second round, bolli boys varied thdr stylos in opposition to each other, and as or.a man adopted the "southpaw" stance, his opponent changed to the ortliodox style. Greathead sLill seemed to maintain his lead, and in view of the fact that he" at least held his own in the last round, it seemed that tb"-verdict must go his way. The judges disagreed however, and Morgan caught the referee's eye. It was a good close fight,

but the verdict in favour of Morgan was not generally applauded.

WELTERWEIGHT.

C. Brown, lOst 21b, outpointed W. H. Pearce, lOst 81b, in an uninteresting welterweight contest. ' During the boui the referee suggested to the contestants that they should do something more than scramble. It lasted the scheduled three rounds, and Brown won.

MIDDLEWEIGHT.

E. Hill, list lib, knocked out F. Davis, lOst 13£lb, in the second round. Davis had what science there was between the pair, but he was not strong enough to stand up to his rugged op.nonent. Both boys were on the floor to heavy punches, but Davis stopped a battery of heavy stuff early in the second. He came back gamely, but a left swing -sent him down and* out to the mat. Ihis was the only contest in the middleweight, and Hill therefore secured the title.

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT. 'An unpopular decision in the final of the light-heavyweight was awarded to K. lutzsimmons, list 131b, over Gerald ivatt, list llilb. Evatt did all the leading in the opening round, but he missed repeatedly with right swings. In the second round, Fitzsimmons loosed some heavy punches, which had Evatt in trouble. The losu- came back strongiv m uhe third; and it 'was found necessa-y to stop the contest in order to adjust iutzsimmons's lip, which was imoaled by his eye tooth. Both boys were'"all in"' at the finish, but they were still wrestling and mauling each other as the bi<r men do, when the fuial gone sounded Ihe verdict in favour of Fitzsimmons was not well received.

HEAVYWEIGHT.

R, Fitzsimmons defaulted in the heavyweight to Gerald Evatt, who, therefore, was declared to be the titlerholder. •Mr. Earl Stewart acted as referee, and Aldndge. <->.•«..