AMATEUR BOXING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21755, 3 July 1945, Page 6

AMATEUR BOXING

FINE LOCAL FIGHTERS

KAY MASTERS HOLLIS MCINTYRE SCORES A ICO. Time was whoa amateur boxers appearing on a mixal' programme were referred to as preliminary fighters. To-day, so far as New Zealand is- concerned, the amateurs carry at least- as much of the interest in boxing as the professionals; and a programme of amateur bouts such as that staged at the Y.M.C.A. last night by the Gisborne Boxing Association would have reduced any available professional contest to the status of an aftermath.

Fourteen bout*,, including an exhibition spar, were staged in the presence of the largest crowd yet drawn to the Y.M.C.A, for boxing, and there was not a poor match in the lot. The contestants covered a wide range of weights and ages, and the lightest were as good as the heaviest in their determination to scrap it out to the end. Of chief interest was the special fourround bout between “Skip* 4 Kay, a hard liitter but primarily a skilful boxer, and Frank Hollis, a hard hitter and primarily a cave-man of the ePte Sarron type. Hollis was beaten in the lightweight championship final in the inter-forces Pacific tournament, and missed the title by a narow margin, Kay hasAih experience outside Gisborne, but he recently showed his . paces in a brief match with a Hastings boy, whom he disposed. of in about half a minute. Fast -light’s ‘ Contest, inevitably suggested the rivalry of the rapier 'and the bludgeon. There was not a minute in the fight 'when Hollis did not seem likely to win by the short ( route. . flis hay-making swings, launched ap, he moved in fast,Were really dangerous; and he seemed to make light; of the hard punching he took from Kay jin coming in. Crouching, weaving, feinting, jhe would try to get Kay off-balance and then make his flailing rush, but Kay stood up coolly and scored with both hands at long range and at short range. He took h. few swings, enough to, test, the mettle of; any fighter, and at the end of the second round he was evidently a little shaken, but he never stopped scoring with clean left-handed shots and with nice right chops. By the middle of the fourth round Hollis had just about ‘‘shot his bolt,” and in the last minute Kay drew away to an unmistakable lead. He got a well-deserved decision on his boxing talent and grit. There are very few amateurs in New Zealand who could take on Hollis at a slight disadvantage in the weights. Hollis weighed in at 9.2, and Kay at 9.0. Well-Matched “Feathers” The best of the other bouts would have been good enough for any tournament. Tom Mclntyre and A. Whittingham, with 21b. in Mclntyre’s favour, put up a great battle in \shich both showed a fair amount of skill, backed up by a hearty appetite for hard fighting. • Mclntyre had his hands very full right up to the last half-minute, when Whittingham swung himself off balance and turned completely round, his opponent lodging a damaging left as he spun. That punch seemed to take the sting out of him, for although he fought back hard, Mclntyre crowded him on the ropes and administered several hard swings to the head. Whittingham went down before the referee could cross the ring, and conceded Mclntyre the only knock-out of the evening. D. Coutts and T. Healey, both 8.10, put on another triple-A scrap, with Coutts mak-1 ing good use of his superior height and reach until his opponent got hi amongst him with vigorous and sustained rallies. At shorter range, Coutts was not so happy, and though he fought well he was shaded clearly in the last two rounds. Results of other contests were: —E. McDonald beat H. Hughes (weights not announced); M. Whittingham, 5.6, beat W. Sullivan, 5.7; D. Pepperil), 6.2, drew with A: Cameron, 6,3; R. Kay, s:o* beat R. Foster, 5.7 : W. Kay, 5.9, beat A. Friar, 5.9; R. Wood, 7.4, beat E. Hogg, 7.0; N. Babbington, 8.0, drew with H. Underwood, 8.2; C. Matches, 9.10, beat F. Tombleson, 9.9; J. McKay, 8.0. beat J. Mclldowie, 8.1; R. Coutts, 7.0, beat D. Ross, 7.3. 1 As an additional attraction, T. Baty gave an exhibition against W. Le Prou and K. Cox in turn. Baty is the Gisborne association’s trump card for its next tournament special, and an effort is being made to match bi-n with a Wellington opponent. His fighting. ability was demonstrated better last flight against Cox than against Le Prou, whose footwork and good defence were more than equal to Baty’s boxing skill. The bouts were refereed by Mr. J. Sloan, with J. Heeney and W. Mercer as judges, and Mr. G. J. Jeune as announcer.

FOOTE OUTPOINTS BROWN

(P-A.) WELLINGTON, July 3. Showim- Komethiiifr of the Torm which made hirn the amateur champion of the Dominion before the present war started, Harold Foote, 9.2 outpointed Billy Brown, 9.8, in a professional liKhtweif-ht contest over 10 rounds staged by the Hutt Valley Boxing Association in Petoae last night. Foote took the aggressive from the opening gong and had all the better of the long-range exchanges of which there were a good few.