BOXING

Grey River Argus, 13 June 1931, Page 3

BOXING

| Where, once he was cheered to the J echo Johnnie Leckie, the one time idol of the Dunedin “fans” was subjected i to a particularly hostile attack when he ) was forced to give up at the end of tlm tenth round of his bout wi.th Joey Thomas at Dunedin on Monday. Like many another boxer before him, Leckie received a painful demonstration of the fickleness of a boxing crowd, and iu his ease the demonstration calls for particular condemnation as it carried I an implication of lack of courage on the part of the ex-champion. Subsei quent events showed that the Napier boy must have been far from well duri iug the contest, and that he had every I reason for giving up when he did. Those | who were ready to hoot and jeer at the time may now possibly be regretting their unthinking and uncalled for im-petuou-ness.

The Wellington light-weight. Jack Crowley, has completely recovered from the injuries he received in the recent Panama Hotel fire, and ho intends ge,t--I’ing into training again next week with an eye to future engagements. The Te Awamutu Association is contemplating matching Crowley with Tommy Donovan. and it has also been suggested that the Patea body would consider the same match. Jack Jones, whom theh Wellington boy beat, recent Iv gave the Taranaki boxer a . hard battle over fifteen rounds, so that ,ihe matching of’ Crowley and Donovan would not be such a ope-sided affair, as might at first appear.

Sim e hi - return to America after his New Zealand trip, Pete Sarron has been boxing with great success, and he received high praise when he brilliantly outpointed Mickey Genaro a,t Hie end of last April. Genaro is a well-per-formed boy who has to his credit a decision over Battling Batt.alino, featherweight champion of the world, so that “Petey,” as the American papers call him, is well on the way to “big

.time” lighting. “Petey used <*very punch in his wallop vocabulary, left hooks, right crosses and hut, it was only the sh(‘er ruggedness of Genaro that saved the fight from liav’ng a knock-out,’’ says an American paper in the course of a picturesque description of theh bout.

“If tonsil operations leave a person in a rundown condition. Petey Sarron is an exception. Less than a month ago Sarron underwent an operation for the lei.iov tl of his tonsils and he had a bad time of it. But nobody could tell it by the way he fought against Genaro. Sarron opened up fast and he finished fa-ter, fighting like a wirlwind in almost every round. Petey started after the Hartford Italian in the first round, evidently thinking he could score a

quick knock-out. He roughed it oui with Genaro in the first stanza, hurt ing Mickey somewhat with several sev ere blows and two or three good sling

ings on the canvas. But. after the first round Pe,tey realised he had a fight on his hands.

“Sarron looked every inch a champion, in spite of the fact he d’d not end h’s n|.in. He was u-ing a right cross to perfection and heretofore this blow had been his one weakness. Now Sarron seems ready to step out and do himself proud dealing with the higherups. Petey is ready for the best, and it will not take many more figh.ts like the one against Genaro to earn h m a shot at Battling Battalino, the present feat herweight champ.on, or whoever is holding he title when Petey gets the shot. Petey spotted his opponent three pounds in weight and 3in in reach, but wore him down as if there was no difference between the pair. Genaro’s superior experience against first-class opponents meant nothing. Sarron tore into him as if he was a beginer, of which, of course, he learned better later on. He took chances, hut was seldom hit, and when he was hit he did not slow up. but speeded up. “For his weight. Sarron is without doub,t the best crowd pleaser ever to appear here. Tn his many fights, against low raters and top notchers, Petey has yet to make a had showing. He makes a tight of it. He is serious from the time the fight starts until it ends, and nobody wants a fight to end any sooner than Petey. He is at a high pitch until ho is sure he has the battle won and after a v’etory nobody is happier than Petey Sarron.

There was a big surprise at an amateur tournament staged in Invercargill when the. New Zealand amateur middleweight champion, G. Bagrie. was outpointed by another Southlander, F. Prendergast. Prendergast won comfortably, and Tom Griffiths, the ex-profes-sional feather-weight, who took a small team down from Dunedin, spoke well of the capabilities of Prendergast, and Griffiths is not a bad judge. He says that Prendergast had the champion bad ly shaken in the last round, tin* winner showing himself to be a solid, aggressive fighter who has quite an amount of boxing skill. Tip possesses a good left hook and a solid right-hand punch ;to the jaw, and on the night was definitely superior ;to Bagrie. Bagrie. however, did not appear to be in the best of condition.

Twist Jaggers, the Christchurch middleweight who is now residing in Wellington, is in bad odour in Blenheim on account of his failure to honour his engagement to appear a,t the qecent amateur tournament conducted by the Marlborough Association. On receiving a telegram which the association believed to be lan acceptance of a fight at Vs tourney, an order was sent to Jaggers for his boat fare over and back, and it was only through some outside person that the association learnt that the Wellington boy would not be appearing AparJ from the telegram, no word was received from Jaggers at any time before or since the tournament, nor has the order been returned, reports the association to the secretary of the New Zealand Council, and it is likely that Jaggers will be called upon to explain his actions. Under rule 55 sub-section 11, a competitor failing to compete after entering for an event or after being matched (whether articles have been formalily signed or not), “shall be liable fo a fine not exceeding £2, or to both fine and suspension.” so that amateurs would do well to realise that they stand a chance of having their registrations cancelled if thev ignore associations..