DULL BOXING

Evening Star, Issue 19775, 27 January 1928, Page 9

DULL BOXING

TAYLOR BEATS GRIFFITHS When two bantam-weights lace each other inside a boxing img one does not expect so much a display of lug bitting as an exhibition ot last, snappy boxing and frequent exchanges of punches at long range. When, however, such a pair clinch like a pair of third-rate heavy-weights they make a dismal showing indeed. Such was the case in the contest between Tommy Griffiths and Johnny Taylor at the Town Hall on Tuesday night (says the Wellington ‘Post’). In spite of the orders of the referee, Mr Earl Stewart, to make a fight for it, and in spite of the pointed attitude of the spectators, the boys seldom livened up, ana clinched and tapped away for fifteen rounds. Taylor was the victor. He was certainly the more aggressive. Griffiths marred his boxing by incorrect hitting. Although they were billed as fea-ther-weights, Griffiths (Bst 51b) and Taylor (Bst) entered (the ring under the bantam-weight limit. Both were lit. The initial round was quiet, and almost one continual clinch. Taylor had the longer reach, and he landed with a straight left. Both paid attention to the body in the second, and the tactics were monotonous; at long range they showed a great respect for each other. Taylor was the stronger hitter in the clinches. Griffiths landed snappily with both gloves to the body in the third, but Taylor ripped his right to the ribs and then followed up with a left to the side of the head. Griffiths hooked a left to the body and back-moved from the counter. A left to the head and a right to the body stung Taylor in the fourth, but in the ensuing clinch Taylor got the inside position and hooked his left to the car. Taylor was doing most of the leading, but Griffiths was countering effectively. They exchanged two solid rights just before the gong. In the fifth, “ Go on, get in,” came from the referee. The boxers momentarily livened up and cut loose in a clinch, but soon dropped into a steady but uninteresting gait once more. Griffiths ripped bis left to the body twice in rapid succession just before corners. The safe boxing in the sixth was followed by a silent crowd. Griffiths was inclined to use the heel of his glove, and also lost effectiveness with a right to the pit of the stomach by slapping. Griffiths countered with a' well-timed right swing to the head immediately before the bell. Caustic comment came from several quarters ot the hall in the seventh, and some of the audience went home. The session was deadly tame. At the beginning of the next round the referee brought the boys together and ordered them to get a move on. A right rip to the stomach hurt Griffiths, and ho hung on until ordered to break. There was a little more life in the round—but just a little. In the ninth Taylor could not land a punch, and Griffiths was cautioned for using the open glove. The Otago man once connected with a solid right to the ribs. Ironical cheers greeted the boxers in the tenth, and then Griffiths bowled in, swinging both hands to the head. Taylor appeared a little shaky on the legs when they broke clear, and Griffiths went for the body, but was inclined to slap instead of punch. Griffiths dropped his guard when going away in the eleventh, and Taylor hooked his left to the chin. There were more ironical cheers from the crowd as they embraced each other again. More people went home. The chief feature of the twelfth was the counting out of the boxers by the optimistic portion of the crowd that had remained. Taylor shook Griffiths with a straight left in the thirteenth, and the spectators urp -d the Aucklander on as he tore iu Griffiths hit hack with a straight left, and evaded Taylor’s leads. Griffiths’s head got in the way of a right uppercut in the fourteenth. Then the monotony started again. Slapping by both boxers in the fifteenth was caustically accompanied with an obbligato of sarcastic clapping. The boxers struggled away in a monotonous clinch that lasted until the dreary end.