UNORTHODOX ?

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 96, 20 October 1934, Page 7

UNORTHODOX ?

NEW ZEALAND BOXERS

: "Whatever may have been the impressions gained by the- New Zealanders who met the Australians in tho amateur boxing tests at Invercargill, the visitors were mostly prepared to admit quite candidly afterwards that they received something in the nature of a shock when hostilities were opened up in the ring. With only one or two exceptions they found the New Zealanders boxing along distinctly different lines from what they were accustomed to in Australia. "Unorthodox! " exclaimed one of the visitors to the writer. "I never saw anything like it before. They just bore in and hit, and hit again, from start to finish, and they took a power of stopping. You could hit them with everything you had, and it made no difference; they still came in. "\Yhyl I hit my man flush on the jaw—if I'd stopped it myself I'd have been out for a week -—and he came straight back and. hit me with both hands." At this stage the Australian's words failed him, and he fell back on an expressive silence. There is no doubt that strength and ruggedness proved to be the New Zealanders' principal asset against the skill of their opponents. In this connection it might be mentioned that every one of the visitors was outweighted, in some instances by only a narrow margin, and that the only bout which did not go the full distanco was that in which Cadwalladcr won on a technical knockout. THE VISITORS' TRAINER. It was while tho matches were in progress at Invercargill that the visitors had it brought forcibly home to them that it would have been to their advantage to have had an experienced adviser in their corner. It was originally proposed that trainers should be provided for them at each centre at which they wore to appear, but when the team was on its way it was announced that Mr. '"W. Lake, a veteran Queensland wrestler, was included •in the. party as manager. ' It is stated that the appointment was

I made largely as a reward for services rendered in connection with tho ring sports which, in Australia, go more hand-in-hand than they do here, by Mr. Lake and, from that aspect, it can scarcely bo criticised. It would have been better for tho Australians, however, had Mr. Lake been given duties connected with preparing the boys in the dressing-room for tho ring, and; handed over the responsibility of giving advice at tho ringside to a man with greater knowledge of boxing.

Though they were loyal to their trainer as a man, members of tho team admitted that they would have been able to do themselves better justico had they had someone to tell them at the end of each round how they were shaping and what changes in tactics, if any, were advisable.

In this respect the New Zealanders had a big advantage, as Mr. A. Allison, the Masterton tutor, proved the right man for the job. He quic,kly and accurately sized up each bout as it progressed, and the visitors frequently found to their cost that an opponent who did "not present very serious difficulties in the first round was a different proposition altogether when he came out for the second.