JOHNNY LECKIE BEATEN

Evening Star, Issue 22031, 17 May 1935, Page 5

JOHNNY LECKIE BEATEN

BUCKLEY WINS WJLUHS FI6HT SUCCESSFUL T6URNAMEHT AT OAMARU The fortunes and reverses of the professional boxing game were illustrated at the Oamaru Opera House last night, when the former New Zealand featherweight champion, Johnny Leckie, was defeated on points over 10 threeminute rounds by his former sparring partner and preliminary boy, Charlie Buckley, after a willing contest which was the feature of the first tournament of the season staged by the Oamaru Boxing Association. Judging Leckie on his old standard it might be said that he showed the old dauntless fighting spirit and that he used his left hand very tellingly at times, but the quick backward move, smartness on his feet, and effective use of his right hand that were such pronounced features of his work when he was- in his prime were lacking, and he was much ’ less adept at getting out of trouble than in former days. He fought strongly enough over the earlier rounds, but as the bout progressed became more spasmodic, and it was Buckley, who was in the ascendancy in the closing stages, his grand-stand finish clinching the issue. ■ Buckley , thoroughly deserved ms victory, ; and once he' settled ’ down gay e - a gooddisplay of two-handed straight work, in which_ he was superior to the ex-champioh, his use. of his right. hand both ■ to the body* and jaw frequently making Leckie give ground. He forced the fighting strongly for most of the journey, : and scored the only knock* ddwn. of the - bout in the eighth round, but he could not measure his opponent, and Leckie weathered the storm. Buckley made good use of the ring, and. showed up well at the in-fighting. , / Those who saw Leckie in action when he defeated Brookes. in InvercargillTecently stated he showed improved form last night, and the issue was in doubt to ,the last'round, the final tally showing that Buckley won the honours of five-rounds, four w-ent to Leckie, and the boxers broke even in' one heat. Mr Tommy Fairhall. former famous Australian welter-weight, who is now living in Timaru. refereed the bout and made a thorough success ,of the job. Mr J. Stevenson was the M.C., and the judges for "the amateur preliminaries were Messrs Notman and Thomson. Messrs-Moore and Hodge were the, timekeepers, and the referee of the amateur bouts was Mr : G. J. Sceats, who. also gave an excellent account of himself. The . general arrangements for a most successful .tournament were.in the hands of the president'(Dr L. Douglas) and the secretary (Mr G. M‘Leod). , - Both men came in just' over the feather-weight limit, Leckie weighing 9.1 and Buckley 9:2, both men coming from Dunedin. THE BOUT DESCRIBED, The contestants .got, busy, from the start, and Leckie connected with lefts to the head and body, judging his distance nicely and. hitting accurately. Buckley went to close quarters, and had the - better of - some in-fighting, Johnny being; rather slow on his feet. Buckley slammed: a right to the body, but Leckie fought hack vigorously and connected with , a left hook to the head, and a/right uppercut to the chin. It was* Leckie’s round. Buckley did the forcing in the second, and scored well in straight work with both .hands, Leckie responding well with a straight left to the face and body, though he was not following up with his right. Leckie connected with a left jab to the mouth, but Buckley used the ring well, and scored well with both hands to the head from long range, Leckie getting his distance nicely with two hard lefts to the chin just at corners. It was a willing session , slightly in favour of. Buckley. Leckie showed glimpses of his old form in the third round, in which he fought strongly, driving lefts to the head and body. Buckley showed the smarter footwork, however, to get out of trouble, but Leckie came oft the ropes, plying his left hand, and connected three times in succession with telling lefts to the chin, hut he was bowling his right. • Buckley was a bit short with his punches, and the round was Leckie’s. • > In the fourth heat Leckie again came off the ropes to 1 connect with his left, but Buckley was'judging his timing and • distance better, ana checked Leckie with two lefts to the body, Leckie landing a right to the ribs. Buckley made Leckie miss several times, and brought over two good rights to the jaw. Leckie was still using his , left well; hut was not quick enough in following up an opening, Buckley being superior in straight work in the closing, stages, and landing his left to ■ the chin and right to the body. ThiS < was a fairly even round, Buckley finishing the more strongly. A strong attack by Buckley in the fifth round made Leckie give ground, Charlie scoring* with deft jabs to the face and solid rights to the body. Ha was making good use of his right to body and jaw, and, back-moving smartly, had Leckie falling a bit short with hjs punches. Leckie slammed a right to the body just before the gong, but it was Buckley’s round. Buckley again came out strongly for the sixth, and connected* with both hands to the head. Leckie moved in, and drove three lefts to the chin and a right to the body. Buckley connected with-'a', right jab to the mouth, and there were some gopd exchanges in mid-ring, Leckie doing the ( harder punching'and taking the honours of the round.

The pace eased off a' bit in the seventh, but Buckley stung Leckie with a ; well-timed inside right to the jaw, Leckie coming, back strongly with his. left. Buckley was not to, be denied,- however, and towards corners was forcing the fighting for all he was worth, connecting repeatedly with his right. It was Buckley’s round. Leckie ran into trouble in the eighth, • and Buckley landed several Sits to the jaw, one of which floored nny. He was up .after the referee had just begun his count, but he appeared shaken, and for a while faced a heavy bombardment, though he kept his left going to avert trouble. Buckley was doing all he knew now, and hitting Leckie with both hands to the head, the round going to Buckley. In the ninth Leckie staged a -fine recovery, and there were several good exchanges in mid-ring, Leckie connecting tellingly with straight lefts to the

chin, Buckley landing a right to the jaw and doing fairly well in close. It was Leckie’s round. There was not much between the men when they came out for the last round, but Buckley clinched things by taking the fight to his opponent all the way, and driving both hands to the head he forced Leckie on to the ropes, the exchamipion using his left well to keep out of danger. Leckie just grazed Buckley with a right uppercut to the chin, and then a couple of hard rights steadied Leckie. Buckley staged a grandstand finish, and connected three times with solid rights to the jaw. The round was his. and the decision went to Buckley, being well received by the crowd. THE PRELIMINARIES. L. Walsh (6.9) and G. Gray (6.8) provided a willing mix-up, but the former was the cleaner and more accurate puncher, Gray’s judgment of timing and distance being not too good. In the first round Walsh connected several times with lefts to the _ face, and though Gray went in gamely in the second round he made little effort to place his punches, and drove him out with a two-handed attack to the face. Gray was still willing in the third, and landed one or two lefts, but Walsh came back strongly, and gained a comfortable decision. . The audience must have lost count of the number of times P. Scargill (9.3) assumed a reposeful condition in his bout with J. Greeves (9.5), but had Scargill elected to keep his straight left Soing instead of folding up under reeves’s barrage of left and right swings there might have been a different tale to tell. Greeves showed plenty of aggression, and though he frequently punched holes in the air some of his vicious swings landed, and almost every time they did Scargill bit the canvas. Scargill fought on the retreat throughout, and Greeves obtained the decision. “ Blondie ” Conovan (12.2) won a poor bout against G. Shalders (11.12), hut had Shalders opened out earlier he might have caused,his opponent some trouble, since Genevan had as much trouble keeping his long mop of hair out of his eyes as he did in evading his opponent’s punches. The audience was vastly entertained when Genevan’s second proceeded to comb the boxer’s hair at the end of the second round, and this was the brightest interlude of a boiit marked by much wild and inaccurate hitting. Shalders was short in his punching all the way, but “ Blondio ” occasionally did connect with a straight left and right swing. A distressed cyclist had nothing on Shalders when it came to back-pedalling, and Genevan collected the verdict, simply because he attempted to make a fight of it. This was a three-round affair. _ In a willing four-round affair “Tiger” Edgington (Timaru, 9.4) outpointed Bert Ryan (9.12). Edgington employed a left hook and right jab and proved a quick puncher, though prone to use the open ; glove. Ryan used a good straight left in the earlier stages, but was a bit short with his punches later on. Edgington’s twohanded attack and strong finish giving him the verdict.

J. Ramsay (9.4) carried too many guns for A. J: Taylor (9.3) , the latter, a sailor off the e.s. Mahia, being 1 a southpaw. Ramsay used a good straight left to the head and rights to the body, and showed better judgment of timing and distance than his opponent, who connepted with one or two lefts to the head in the second round. It was a one-sided bout, and Taylor’s condition, gave out in the third round, at the end of which he signalled that he had had enough, 1 Ramsay being the winner. It was subsequently announced that Taylor had not had the gloves on for some considerable time. A four-round bout between Ken Giles (11.5) and W. Thompson (Dunedin, 11.5) was a well-contested affair, but Giles’s cleaner two-handed work carried, the day in the finish. Thompson was always willing to mix it, and used a good straight left to the head; but ho was inclined to be short with his right, and in the closing stages Giles, despite a gash above the eye, launched a hot attack, and finishingly strongly won the decision in a good bout. Clean two-handed straight work and aggressiveness throughout gave L. Greaney (Dunedin, 8.7) a comfortable win over C. Hoad (9.0), though the latter showed gameness aplenty Greaney fought confidently all the way and kept on top of his man through-, out hitting much more accurately than his opponent, who used his right fairly well in the’ last round of a four-round contest. Greaney had a big lead, however, and won well.