BOXING AND WRESTLING

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 3

BOXING AND WRESTLING

TITLE BOUT FOR JARVIS MAT GAME IN TARANAKI TOURNEY AT PATEA. (By “The Mixer.”) Approaching Fixtures. August 24.—George Hopkins v. Earl McCready, at New Plymouth. August 24.—Inter-proyincial amateur Wxing tourney, Otago v. Southland, at Dunedin. August 26Mc OreaCl3' y. Blomfield, at Auckland. August 28.-T—R. Nicpl v. L. Brander, at Invercargill. August 30.r—Andresen v. Hopkins, at Wanganui. August 31.—C. Raynor v. J. Jarvis {lightweight title), at Blenheim. September 23. —Jarvis v. 11. Hughes, at Whangarei. September 23.—Taranaki amateur boxing championships, at Hawera. September 24.—C. Raynor v. W. Aitken (featherweight title), at Wellington. October 2, 3 and 4.—New Zealand amateur boxing ehampionships, at Dunedin. Reeve deserves Routs. His win over Ern JacoDs at Wellington on Thursday night draws attention to the prospects of Harold Reeve, who has received far too few opportunities as a professional. When an amateur, Reeve was an outstanding fighter, losing only five of 61 bouts, taking the light heavyweight championship of New Zealand in 1932. He has now been a “pro.” for almost two years, during which he has had only three bouts, all of which he has won. Surely Reeve is worthy of a bout with the New l?ealfind light heavy champion, Ray Nieol, or with the Australian, Les Brander.

Duala Big Attraction. Australia’s biggest attraction in' re.cept months was the match between Tom Lurich and Tiger Duala (pro.nouneed “Boolah”). Usually Lurich takes his weekly encounters at the Leichhardt -Stadium, but apparently Duala had drawn sufficient attention to his own ringcraft to warrant the venue being changed to the big Rusheutter Bay Stadium. The match took place before an attendance of 7000 and resulted in a draw, each man securing a fall. It was announced that this was tfie first fall taken off Duala in six years. The attendance was regarded as satisfactory, but the receipts wore not within £3OO of the money paid when “Whiskers” Blake made his first appearanee in Sydney. A Title Bout.

The New Zealand Boxing Council has decided that the lightweight title, which has been vacant since Joe Franklyn left the Dominion, shall be at stake when Jack Jarvis meets Clarrie Raynor ht Blenheim next week. This will add still greater interest to the meeting of the pair, especially for Taranaki fans, as the prospects of Jarvis bringing the lightweight title to this provipce look extremely bright. When Harry Hughes met Raynor he was well ahead of the South Islander when he lost on a fonl in the eighth round. As Jarvis beat Hughes decisively last month, a cpmparison of the pair must be in favour of the Eltham man. /Np Poor Balance Shown, p J,n the past one of the features of ■wrestling in Taranaki has been the poor balance shown by the majority of our amateurs, and it was rather disappointing at the recent Patea tourney to find that there has been very little improvement of late in this respect. Perfect balance is essential if one wishes ever to become of much account, and awkwardness in stance as well as the habit of keeping one’s legs in close to or underneath the body instead of spreading them out when on the mat, is the first thing to learn. It was noticeable that practically all of the best balanced boys at Patea were members of Jack Couch’s school at Manutahi, one of them in L. Russell giving a very neat showing.

Boxing Quiet. (Matters are rather quiet in Taranaki boxing circles at present, as there are no bouts scheduled until the amateur championshpis next month. Naturally, great interest will be aroused by the Hawera fixture, for it will see some brilliant amateurs in action. For the most part, the issues should be fairly open, but three who should be practically “certainties’? in their classes are Clarrie Gordon, Bob Penniall and Bert Maddern. McCallum is Good. There is no doubt that lan McCallum is a vastly improved amateur wrestler, his display against Goodwin at Patea on Monday night being a really good one. His main attributes are his speed and versatility in the application of holds, which savours more of a semiprofessional style than the usual firstclass amateur who relies ichiefly on good balance, an all-round knowledge of pinning holds and bridging ability, in none of these. qualifications could McCallum be classed as really up to the required standard, but, nevertheless, his own peculiar style gives him a most effective attack, and he should hold his own against the majority of men of his weight in other parts. Walker Meets Singh.

It is understood that George Walker will make his first appearance this season against Harban Singh at Wellington within the next fortnight, the bout being staged under the auspices of the National Sporting Club and in the* Winter Show Stadium. Great interest will be taken in Walker’s showing, for Singh has a great record. The Hindu is said to be one of the best drawcards that has ever been in Australia, where he had an almost unbeaten record.

Taranaki Boxing Championships. At a meeting on Wednesday night the HaWera- Boxing Association definitely decided on Monday, September 23, as the date for the staging of the Taranaki amateur championships. The popular Patea referee, Mr Alan Maxwell, will be the third man in the ring for all bouts. Several applications were received by the association for contests by professionals, but have been set aside until after the cham. pionships tourney.

Champions for Australia. Latest reports from Australia state that in addition to the light heavyweight champion, Bob OHn, Ereddie Miller, the world’s featherweight champion, and Barney Ross, the world’s lightweight champion, will be coming to Australia within the next few months. Each of the trio will figr ure in title bouts, Olin with Palmer, Ross with Carrol and Miller with Blandon. Should these men all come, Australian boxing should see one of its greatest booms in history.

Likely Novice Wrestler, An impressive novice wrestler at Patea on Monday night was the Alton heavyweight, G. Newlove, who scored a surprise win over a much more experienced man in A. Robson, of Stratford. Setting a fairly fast pace throughout, Newlove never really left the decision in doubt, although it was purely and simply his strength that stood to him time and again. When he learns more about the game, this man is likely to be a tough customer to beat, for he has both strength and endurance above the average. i. Australian “Find.” The latest Australian boxing find is a welter by the name of Purcell, who has leapt to fame by securing victories over the American importations, Willard Brown and Harry Devine. Despite the fact that he had beaten Brown previously, it was generally expected that the southpaw Devine would be too good for the Australian. However, such was not the case, for Purcell was always on top. to knock out his opponent in the fifth round. Possessing speed, cleverness and a punch, Purcell is expected to go a long way.

Unfortunate Weather. It was certainly rnosi unfortunate for the Patea Wrestling Association, that it experienced such unfavourable weather for its amateur tourney last Monday night, as the evening’s exhibitions certainly warranted a much larger attendance than was received. However, heavy rain which fell was enough to keep away even the keenest of enthusiasts, so, under the conditions, the smallness of the crowd was only to be expected. It is understood that the association is by no means discouraged and will stage another tourney shortly. If so, all well wishers k of the mat game will hope it enjoys much better luck next time. Bout for Hutchens?

It is -understood that negotiations are in train to secure a professional bout between Mark Candy and Hutchens at Wanganui, says “The Marquis” in the Wanganui “Chronicle,” but so far no definite result can be announced. If a bout could be arranged it might give an added fillip to boxing in Wanganui. Support could be expected from the revived Taihape Club, as well as from Patea, Marton and Hawera.

Wrestling Situation Improves. It seems that wrestling is to be revived in Taranaki at last, and from now on there promises to be a little more activity amongst the associations. Certainly, this start is rather overdue, and it is a pity th&t the Taranaki bodies had not shown a little more <mterprise earlier in the winter. New Plymouth will set the ball rolling with the McCready-Hopkins bout to-night, while if suitable men can be secured the Hawera association will probably stage a bout early next month. The Midhirst and Patea bodies are also likely to stage further tourneys in the near future.

Carroll Recovers. Within the next .month, Jack Carroll will be ready to enter the ring again. The healing of the ligaments torn during Carroll’s bout with Tommy Jones last month is complete, but it was a slow process, for the injury was severe and caused Carroll a lot of pain and inconvenience. Carroll commenced training this week and will have a few pounds of overweight to take off in consequence of his enforced lay-ofE. However, he looks very well, according to an Australian report, and says he is eager to get going again, Not Allowed.

An incident in the course of the Ilutt Valley amateur boxing championships at Upper Hutt last week brought under notice a rule governing boxing in New Zealand of which many of those connected with the sport arc ignorant. It is to the effect that it is inadmissible for a boxer’s second or trainer to throw in the towel as a sign of surrender. Whether the bout should be terminated is wholly at the discretion of The referee, unless, of course, he is over-ruled by the police officials. The secretary of the New Zealand Boxing Council (Mr G. P. Aldridge) acted as referee at the tournament and a second of one of the participants threw in the towel while a bout was in progress. (Mr Aldridge promptly tossed the towel aside and allowed the bout to proceed. When the opportunity came he explained the rule to those in the hall, pointing out that its non-observance left the way open for malpractices. How Louis Started.

Joe Louis, coloured menace to white heavyweight suprenTacy, is musically inclined. The story goes that Joe saved up five dollars to pay for lessons od the violin, but the music master wanted more money. An advertisement, ''Boxing Taught, Five Dollars.’’ caught Joseph’s eye. So he turned from fiddles to fisticuffs, and is now on the road which leads to a million dollars.