BOXING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 31 January 1927, Page 3

BOXING.

LOfYERIDGE BEATS JAMITO ON

POINTS

EXCIELEENT' AMATEUR BOUTS. Saturday evening saw an interesting and exciting time at the Opera JT.uu.se, New Plymouth, when the local association put oil a. very good P‘°: gita-rnme- of boxing bouts, of which tlie great attraction was the profession a 1 alruggi-o between Rick Eoveiidge, o New Plymouth, and the I' il l pi no boxei, Jam if O' . ~ The contest went the full fifteen rounds, and was full o.i interest and thrills from the outset to the end of a hurricane' last round, when both .311 'Stood off and .slogged one. another till the gong went. The points tally oave victory to the local boy. ” Both fighters showed good form, but Beveridge had a better arid very useful straight left, 'and. midway an the fight got his right going also, with much effect. He was also quicker on hi-s feet than his opponent, and hfs hitting was generally cleaner, and more direct. He Iliad an advantage of: nine pounds in weight, scaling 10.5 to bis opponents 9.10 T . Jamito revelled in the in-fighting, and he took a lot of punishment -without flinching, evidently looking in se\ - eral rounds for a knock-out-. His up-per-cut would have been most effective had it connected, but, luckily for Beveridge, he was too quick, and watched it carefully. The match was throughout, closeand well contested, and there were wot many points between the boxers at the conclusion. 'All arrangements were excellently made by the energetic .secretary. Air. E. J. Harr, and his committees. The rinrr was :in. capital order. Air. Elarl Stewart, the referee, was unfortunately delayed by a train running late, and the- first bout did not start until after 8.30 p.m. The reeree’.s decisions were made promptly, and gave every satisfaction. THE BIG MATCH.

The first round opened with careful, wat chi ill .sparring, Jamito leading mostly. Loveridge s left- was very useful and -stopped the Filipino or ten when trying to- get in to close quarters. The round was even. The second .showed that the pair were evenly matched. There was a good deal of in-fighting, in which Jamlto wias seen to advantage. First blood was drawn by Love-ridge. A good left damaged his opponent’s nose. He was boxing well, and- using bis loft with great effect. The next four .rounds were even, each scoring in turn. Loveridge was keeping Jamito away with his straight left, while the latter was seeking to get in his dangerous upper-cut, and come to close quarters as often as possible. He punished Loveridge about the body on many occasions. This continued to. be the position, and the tactics, until the fight was past the sixth- round. • Jia.mito was 1 lifting very hard, but many of liis hardest .shots were wild.

Jamito- made the- pace willing at the -seventh, looking ksteadily for a knock-hut, and taking many heavy blows- to the Bead. Loveridge. however, was too clever, and stopped -liis opponent frequently with liis -left. The round was plainly his. In the next two sessions both .steadied down, but Jamito. -towards the end. made a vigorous onslaught, and kept Loveridge very busy in defence. The latter .staggered finder a heavy blow to fhe head as the gong went. The tenth .saw Loveridge go. for bis m.a'n, and lie .scored freely with a- fine left, followed by rights to the head -and body. Jamito made the pace hot in the lltli, but Loveridge, -showing fine defence, and ducking cleverly, evaded several nasty right- hooks. He punished his opponent -severely, and was attacking when the round finished.

The twelfth, saw a bout of heavy hitting, Jamito scoring freely in the close work , while Love ridge again showed fine clean hitting. The “devil’s round” saw both going strong. Lover.idge slipped and fell, but recovered quickly, and beat his man on several occasions with good boxing. It was a very even round, but Loveridge got a nasty blow over the eye that jarred him. In the fourteenth, both were out to score. Jamito rushed and sent in an ugly right, but Lover id ge parried, anc] got back with a lovely right swing to tho head, which shook the Filipino. He again rushed, 'and only quick foot work saved Lo ve ridge f rom a nasty upper out. Jamito was scoring well again in the close work. The fifteenth, and concluding round, was one of hurricane hitting. Both went for the knock-out from the outset. They stood at close quarters, and pounded one another with all their might. Both took the punishment in turn, and neither asked for quarter. It was a case of pure hard hitting, without any (attempt sit guarding. Jamito missed with several of his hardest, ugliest swings, and he .appeared' to be more done than his opponent. Loveridge connected with one particularly heavy swing, and Jamito looked queer, but he recovered, and forced tho pace strongly. Both were show- i ing the strain of tho fight, while the house simply rose as. one with excitement, land the strain of irent-up feelings, as they shouted and cheered. The gong went, and the referee’® hand rested on Loveridge, as the winner of one of the most strenuous bouts seen in Mew Plymouth. The Filipino took the. decision very sportingly, and both men got 'an ovation as they bowed to the- spectators. It was a great finale to a very fine fight. AMATEUR BOUTS. The bouts between the amateurs were

all' good and much clever boxing was shown by all the boys engaged. It was clean and clever throughout and roused the spectators to keen enthus- , iasm. Science, was evident in each contest. Special mention must be made of the clever exhibition given bj Donovan and Cottrell, in the feather • weights, by Roebuck in the fly weigh—though his smaller opponent made a game struggle—land by Brosnan in the middle weights. CONTESTS AT BLENHEIM. BLACK DEFEATS VERCOE. (BY TF.r.F.CRAPU PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 80. A professional bout was held last night between Percy Black (Wellington) S);3, and Dick Yercoe (Blenheim), The bout was ten three-minutes rounds for a purse of £i)o. Black’s clean hitting and excellent footwork enabled him to pile up a heavy margin of points in the earlier rounds. Halfway through it was obvious that Vorcoe’s only hope lay in a knock-out, but it did not come off, although in the final round he had his opponent going. The verdict for Black was a popular one. Amongst the amateur bouts Gerald Evatt (11.0), New Zealand light heavy- ( weight champion, met Les. Hewittson .

(of Flat Crook). 10.10. Hewittson did remarkably well, though not of -his opponent’s calibre, and showed much promise. Stone (9.9), a Wellington man with an extraordinary reach, had no difficulty in accounting for Angus Smith (Blenheim), 9.9, who could not get to close quarters. •

Lon Turner (11.3) Flat Creek, met Irwin (Wellington), 10.5. The- former’s advantage in weight and remarkable vigour allowed him to win all the way in a cyclonic fight.