BRIGHT BOXING

Evening Star, Issue 21994, 2 April 1935, Page 5

BRIGHT BOXING

STIRLING RETAINS WELTER TITLE WILLING PROFESSIONAL BOUT Boxing m Dunedin needed just some such tonic as was provided at the Town Hall last night, when Don. Stirling, of Oamaru, defended his New Zealand professional ' welter-weight championship successfully against Johnny ME.ay, ot Gisborne, the bout being one of the brightest and most willing seen here for s long time past. . , ' It was the Otago Association s first venture this season, and a crowd of about 1,500 witnessed a contest which * lacked nothing in the way of action or incident, and which was of fifteen three-minute rounds. Although Stirling has appeared here as an amateur, this was , his first appearance as a professional, and M‘Kay was also fighting here for the first time. The men met previously in Oamaru, when' Stirling won on points. In the early stages M'Kay did most of the forcing, and. Stirling was kept fairly busy ,averting’trouble in the face of the challenger’s vicious right swings arid (occasional left • hooks or straight lefts. , • From the' fifth round onwards, however, Stirling wanned to his work, in great style, arid : fighting - very confi-

dently filled up a very useful lead\ m points, having his man on the canvas (‘ for a count of six in the ninth round. In the eighth and ninth rounds, Stir- : lihjg cut loose in great style, showing ! pleasing variety in attack. His cleaner , straight work with, both hands and_the S , hefty wallop he packed behind his right • were the deciding factors in his favour, ' and at the conclusion of the mill he

had a good margin in his favour. Stir-. : ling won nine rounds, M'Kay five, and : one was fairly even. ; With the title went the ‘ Truth ’ belt, which has been vacant for some time, and. Stirling thoroughly earned the trophy, giving a good display of boxing and showing that he can punch. There are still some crudities in his style, of course, and he was inclined. to make too much use of the ropes, _ while he did not always measure off his punches to the best advantage. On the other hand, he displayed good ringcraft and refused to be bustled. He took*time to get his judgment of timing and distance, but stood up to his man in good style, and generally gave quite an impressive display. ; . ' • M'Kay lacked Stirling’s cleverness, butl played his part in making the fight what it was. He is not a particularly clean puncher, but he is game and willing and a forceful fighter, while his evasiveness and smart ducking often had Stirling missing, even though M'Kay had taken severe punishment. Stirling weighed 10.0 J and M'Kay 10.0. Messrs Les. Murray and D. Bore ? ham were in Stirling’s corner, and Messrs T. Harris and Sweeney were behind M'Kay, who was played to the ringside by two pipers. Mr Jack Kilmartin - was the referee of a good, clean fight, and Mr R. S. Glendining (president of the Otago Boxing Association) was ah .efficient M.O. 'At the conclusion of the mill he presented the belt to Stirling. Messrs S. Brown and T. Long were the timekeepers. THE BOUT DESCRIBED. M'Kay forced matters from the start, coming in with his head well down on his shoulders and getting ,to dose quarters in an effort to offset Stirling’s advantage, in height and reach. In the in-fighting the challenger sang several ■hort rights to the body ‘ and a right swing to the head, but Stirling moved out, and standing up to. his man connected with a good straight left to the head and a left rip to the body. It wm a good, willing .first round, with honours fairly'well divided.

The second round opened with a rally in mid-ring, and M'Kay was carrying the fight to Stirling, who was a bit out in his judgment of distance, missing several times in the straight stuff. M‘Kay was scoring in close, and connected . several times with a right jab to the head and a left hook to the jaw. Towards corners Stirling landed a solid straight to the chin, but it was M'Kay s round. M'Kay continued to bore in, and had the better, of the third session, hooking a left to the chin and connecting with right swings to the head, though prone to _ use the open glove. Stirling scored with an occasional left jab, but M'Kay’s bobbing made him an evasive target, and Stirling missed several times. M'Kay had the better of the round. Stirling came out fighting in the fourth round, and the men mixed it vigorously, the champion’s left jab being plied frequently to M'Kay’s head and body, but he found trouble when he moved oh to the ropes, M'Kay swinging a right to' the eye which opened a gash above Stirling’s right eye. Stirling was getting his distance better, but M‘Kay_ staged a strong finish, connecting with a left hook and a right swing. The round went to M'Kay. There were some, hot rallies in the fifth, which was the best round so far. Stirling settled to his work in good style, using his left in telling fashion, and connecting several times with a hard inside right. M'Kay tried to get to close, quarters, and landed some short rights to the body, but Stirling •drove him out . with *a left to the jaw, and the men were riiixing it willingly

in mid-ring when the gong went. Stirling had a shade in his favour in this found. Fighting confidently, Stirling scored well m the straight work to the head with' both hands in the six.th round, ,and used a good right to the body, M'Kay being short several times. The Gisborne man was steadied by left and right to the jaw, and a right to the body had him stalling for. the gong. This was Stirling’s rqund. Both men fought strongly in the seventh round, * but M'Kay forced the pace, and frequently connected with a right, swing to. the head. Stirling backmoved smartly to get out of danger, and connected with a solid right cross to the jaw. M'Kay was not to be denied, however, and staging a strong rally won the round. • Stirling went after M'Kay in the eighth round, which was the most colourful of the bout. _ The _ titleholder ; showed great variety in his punching at this stage, hitting M'Kay with lefts and rights to the body and a heavy inside, right to the jaw. M'Kay connected with a couple or short rights to the jaw, but Stirling’s fierce twohanded work took a lot of the steam out of the challenger, and a right to the jaw shook him badly. Stirling was getting ■ home with ■ his right in good style now, and won the round well.

The ninth was Stirling’s round all the way, and a beautiful right-hander flush to the jaw steadied M'Kay, who was very watchful. M'Kay was forced to give ground when Stirling connected to the jaw with both hands, and going after him Stirling again drove both hands to the jaw, M'Kay being down for a count of six. M'Kay was on the receiving end, „ and was father sick at the gong. This was Stirling’s round. After the fast clip at which the preceding rounds had been waged, it was not surprising that the contestants eased down a little in the tenth, which was. the quietest to date, though Stirling made M'Kay come out of a crouch when he landed a right uppercut to the chin. Stirling also scored with an inside right-counter, but smart ducking by M'Kay made him miss several, times. Stirling’s round. In-fighting marked the opening of the eleventh round, but Stirling had M'Kay giving ground when he started plying his left jab, and going after the Gisborne man, just! grazed him with a right but drove a hard left to the jaw. Stirling placed a couple of rights to the head as the round ended, clearly in his favour. There was some hard fighting in the

twelfth, in which Stirling picked his opponent off several times with lefts and rights, M'Kay being warned for the use of the open glove. Stirling was outboxing him, but Johnny was still willing and fighting hard, connecting with a right iab to the chin. A willing rally ended the session, which again favoured Stirling, who was iy>w well ahead on points. , *'**'• M'Kay slipped Stirring’s right over his shoulder in the thirteenth, but Stirling employed his left nicely, though bbth men indulged in a good deal of short punching'ln this round. M'Kay planted a solid straight left to the chin, but Stirling boxed very coolly and connected with a couple of inside rights to the head and short rights to the body. A great twohanded rally in the closing stages gave Stirling the round by a good margin. In the fourteenth round. M'Kay rallied in great style, and scored to the body and head with lefts and rights. The men went into a clinch in jnidring, and coming out of it M'Kay connected with a left' hook and right swing to the head.' Stirling checked the onslaught with a right to the chin, but the gong was sounded with both men trading punches for all they were worth. This was a dose round, slightly in favour of M'Kay. Following a preliminary rally at the start, of the fifteenth, Stirling cut loose with both hands at long range, and in a hot rally did the cleaner work, M'Kay using the open glove. Stirling drove a left to the mouth, and also connected with an inside right to the head.' Stirling’s straight punching in the closing stages had M'Kay stalling for the gong. Stirling won the round

well, and the referee’s decision in his favour was the only one possible, though a small section of the crofvd greeted it with booing. THE PRELIMINARIES. G. Anderson (12.0) was given the decision over C. W. Mack (12.0) after the judges had disagreed; but the vcri diet in his favour was very hard to follow, since the first two rounds were clearly in Mack’s favour. Mack had an advantage in height and reach, and boxing at long range scored with a left jab and-a right to the head, winning the first round all the way. Anderson lacked judgment in timing and distance, and was frequently short with his punches in the second round, Mack continually scoring with a straight left. In the last round Anderson did what he should have done earlier in proceedings, and went to close quarters, connecting with short blows to the head. Mack rallied, however, and finished strongly. The decision went to Anderson for some unaccountable reason. This bout was of three two-minute rounds.

W. Thomson (11.1) and W. Wilkinson (11.6) had a good lively contest, the two men mixing it freely from the start. Thomson used his left effectively, and connected with rights to the head; but Wilkinson landed several right swings to the head." Wilkinson landed a right uppercut to the jaw in the second round, but he could not keep Thomson out, a . left to the jaw and a right to the body shaking Wilkinson badly. He had to be helped to his corner, the referee stopping the bout, which was awarded to Thomson. This bout was scheduled for six twominute rounds.

From the workmanlike manner he went about the task of disposing of his opponent, the spectators would like to have seen more of Seaman Ambrose (H.M.S. Sussex, 10.0), whose bout with W. Spence (10.0) was listed for six two-minute rounds. Ambrose measured his man off early, however, connecting with a beautiful right uppercut which did not travel very far, but had all the sailor’s weight behind it. Spence was down for nine, and another uppercut floored him for eight. He showed pluck, and tried to fight back, but he fell an easy victim to. another uppercut and took the full count, Ambrose winning in the first round. Mr Don Paterson refereed the preliminaries, and Messrs P. T. Ruston and W. D. Wilson were the judges.