SCHOOLBOY BOXERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 September 1936, Page 14

SCHOOLBOY BOXERS

M '.RIST. TOURNEY CONCLUDED

For hand-to-hand, furious fighting, the Spanish civil war had nothing on the boxing . warriors of the Marist Brothers’ High School, who waged hostilities in the ring at the Greymouth Town Hall, last evening, when the inter-house tournament, the preliminary bouts of which were decided on two previous evenings, was brought to a most-successful conclusion. There was a large attendance, despite the late-shopping night, and the stage and circle were fully occupied, while the body of the hall was well patronised. The fact that no fewer than thirty-seven bouts were put through in a little over two hours, demonstrated the splendid organisation behind the tournament. There was no delay, and the next pair of boxers were waiting to step into the ring as soon as it was vacated. The majority of the encounters were of the toe-to-toe variety, science heing subordinated to “slather.” while wild swings and “haymakers” flew through the air with the' .greatest of ease to the huge delight of the enthusiastic spectators. In quite a number of the bouts, however, the hoys showed evidence of efficient coaching, and the standard of boxing gave promise of good things in later years, if the game is followed up. Youthful energy had its full fling, and there was scarcely a poor bout, while in more than one case, the boys were so well matched that it was necessary for the referee to order an extra round, nnd even then two contests were drawn. There were exceptions, in which the disparity in physique was too big a handicap, but. taken right through, the boys were well matched. Each contest was of two one-minute rounds, and there® was action all the time.' As one spectator remarked. “If only the professionals would fight like that, how they would fill the house!” The tournament was conducted under the auspices of the Greymouth Boxing Association, and the referees were F. Bell and F. O’Neill. Other officials were: 'Timekeepers, A. J. Fraser, E. R. Moss and H. Brown; seconds, J. Mathews, G. Scott, B. Casev, and T. O’Connor; stewards, J. Larcombe, F. Birchfield. E. O'Brien, C. O’Neill, R. Williams and W. Gieseking.

A win counted three points, and the various house totals last evening were: St. Paul’s 38, St. Patrick’s 32, St. Joseph’s 21. St. Columba’s 21. These, added to the points gained previously, made the grand totals as follow: St. Paul’s 141. St. Joseph’s 78, St. Columba’s 77, St. Patrick’s 75. The results were as follow, the houses being indicated thus: St. Paul’s (Pl), St. Joseph’s (J.), St. Columba’s (C.), St. Patrick’s (Pt.). Each bout was won on points, except where otherwise stated. No weights were announced.

FLYWEIGHT. Challenge bouts: E. Harding (Pt.) defeated P. Kennedy (Pl.) after an > extra round* J. Ward (C.) defeated P. Gould (Pt.) Semi-final: A. Mundy (PI.) defeated D. Sumner (J.) Final: C. Mundy (Pl.) defeated A. Mundy (Pl). Both boys were stylish boxers, knowing the value of straight ■ punching, but C. Mundy carried rather too many guns. I •

SUPER-DREADNOUGHTS. B. Ward (J.) defeated M. Woolhouse (Pl.), after a willing mill. Semi-finals.—B. Ward (J.) defeated J. Barclay (Pt.) L. Gardyne (J.) defeated J. Rooney (C.) Final: Ward defeated Gardyne. A popular little battler. Ward went like a train in each of his three bouts, and won the final easily. PIGEON-WEIGHT. I Semi-final. —J. Clancy (Pl.) defeated J. Pascoe (Pt.) by default. Final: Clancy defeated K. Heslin (J.) The winner had an advantage in reach, and was the cleverer boxer. Challenge bout: W. Meates (C.) defeated E. O’Brien (J.) The latter showed himself to be a good two-hand-ed scrapper, and was rather unlucky not to receive the decision of Referee O’Neill. LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT. Semi-finals: A. Coyle (C.) defeated D. Sweetman (J.) J. Tucker (Pt.) defeated J. Dwyer (C.) Final: Tucker defeated Coyle. An aggressive boxer, who used both hands well, had his opponent down for a count of one in the first round, and finished well ahead on points. MIDGETS.

Challenge bout: T. Dwyer (C.) defeated T. Sinnott (.1.) Semi-finals: O. McCarthy (C.) defeated K. Stapleton (Pt.) P. Kennedy (Pl.) defeated A. Deveseovi. (Pl.) on a technical knock-out in the first round. Final: Kennedy defeated McCarthy. The winner had a noticeable advantage in weight and reach, but McCarthy stood up to it well, and was still fighting at the gong. MOSQUITO WEIGHT. Semi-finals: L. Dargan (J.) defeated K. Lalor (Pl.) E. Cawley (C.) defeated P. Costello (C.) Final: Dargan defeated Cawley. WELTER-WEIGHT. Semi-finals: K. Fisher (Pl.) defeated M. Clancy (C.) M. Horan (Pl.) defeated T. O’Farrell (C.) Final: Fisher defeated Horan, after a good bout. Challenge bout: K. Ijtae (C) defeated F. Heveldt (J.) DREADNOUGHTS.

Semi-finals: R. Cranna (Pt.) defeated J. Kennedy (Pl.) K. Kyle (J.) defeated C. Knapp (J.) on a technical knock-out in the first round. Final: Cranna defeated Kyle. The latter started well,, but met a tough customer, and had enough in the first, round. PAPER-WEIGHT. ’ Semi-finals: I. Thompson (Pt.) defeated J. Knapp (J.), T. Mcßride (Pl.) defeated Fauth (Pl.) Final: Thompson defeated Mcßride. The latter was a game little fighter, but Thompson had the advantage in reach.

LIGHTWEIGHT. Final: W. Harris (Pt.) defeated K. • Coll (J.) ! SPARROW-WEIGHT. Semi-finals: K. Power (J.) defeated V. Meates (C.) W. Hamilton (P.) defeated H. McDonnell (J.) Final: Hamilton defeated Power, after a willing go. FEATHERWEIGHT. Challenge bout: V. Pfeifer (Pl.) defeated J. Heffernan (Pl.) after a good fight. Final: C. Mcßride (Pl.) and R. Kiely (Pl.) drew, in one of the best two-handed punching bouts of the evening. Kiely was down momentarily in a torrid second round, hut was up before the count started. Referee Bell ordered an extra round, and in this Kiely made up his leeway, to earn a draw. BANTAMWEIGHT. Final: J. Nash (Pt.) hnd H. Zampese (Pl) drew in a good willing setto, one of the best seen. Referee Bell could not decide between the boys, and ordered an extra - round,-hut still had £o jlivide the honours. HEAVYWEIGHT. Final: G. McGirr (Pl.) defeated J. Phillips (Pt.),. A barrage of solid rights to the jaw shook Phillips in the first round; but he put up a great rally in the second. McGirr was too good, however.