SURPRISE DECISION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1938, Page 26

SURPRISE DECISION

In fights to a finish, Fred Henneberry would:be in-an ecstasy—if battered a«d bruised men of the gloves could ever get in such a state of exhilaration, wrote W. F. Corbett in the "Sydney Morning Herald."

He is the "storm trooper" of Aus-

traHan pugilism, forever In the smol# of bursting "bombshells." His strategy is a creeping barrage: Tftat is?why he Arequires time;for his attackiio: intensify. Atilic* iSabatino could not check his advances at the Stadium, in their bout Recently* They fought with -a ■ controlled fierceness I have never seen excelled. . . The longer Henneberry crossed,, lunged, and ripped, the more apparent became his effectiveness. ■ Sabatino was given the points decision in this epic of twelve rounds. Nobody need wonder, "after his "progressive efficiency, why Henneberry requests .that his next encounter with Sabatino shall be of fifteen rounds; The verdict was as great a shock to me as Henneberry's crosses were to Sabatino. When the referee placed his hand on the head of the Puerto Rican "artillerist," Henneberry's jaw relaxed for the first time. N Sabatino was leading in the ninth round, but that, I thought, was where his lead ended. Henneberry won, from my .viewpoint, according to all the precepts of i Queensberry "recreation." I awarded j him seven rounds —the first, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh. He was in such a commanding points position, as I compiled the ledger of profit and loss, that Sabatino would have had to* achieve a knock-out in the final round to win. Highest estimate was awarded for Henneberry's short-range fusillade, scoring which distant spectators did not appreciate because apparently they could not discern it. His smothering double-armed guard blocked most of Sabatino's retaliation, Henneberry outpunching him by big majorities. A brimming measure of praise is deserved by- Sabatino for clean-cut hitting, and split-second timing. He fought splendidly^ off balance at times in his endeavours to create openings, but he compensate* for that to excess. His crossing and,whirling right uppercut were scintillating—the sort that make an opponent see sparks. How bone and brain can withstand the blows that criss-crossed that night is a problem for a medical congress to solve. • i