BOXING.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 16, 2 January 1912, Page 2

BOXING.

NEAV YEAR'S DAY ( ATESES. The Hawke's Bay Amidenr Betipg, Association held a ccuph* ot i.iterii-. . ing contests in the Princess 1 bent th . . Hastings, on Monday m-n-nmg. Ihe . meetings weie arranged ;<■ place in the forenoon so that toesporting fraternity mig.il 'iLmbm; up” the races with a little ring pjea-| sure. Those who attended wore by : no means disappointed. Tim light in rin both events was lively and earn-j est. The theatre was j.i .xi i 'cally ■ filled to the doors am! th? mdie,. ■ appeared to thoroughly appreciate j the performances. i Mr. A. L. D. Fraser, on behalf it s the association extended -1 heaiiv. welcome and also took advantage of < tlie opportunity to wish ell prrsc’i , the. compliments of the season. The I. bill-of-fare, he said, was not exti-’M-j sive, but he hoped the dishes prow M-j ed would please all—in r.m emse they would be spicy and !■ lie asked that (air for they would all fight a fair'game wh-W thei contestant or referee. : THE ( URTAIN RAISER.

The opening contest was between L. Stewart and Bert Treweek... The former hailed from Petone and the latter from Palmerston North. Stewart weighed in at 9.0 and Tt ?- week at s. 10.

Round one —Opened with considerable in-lighting and the referee had to 'break’ the men several times. It appeared that. Stewart had a little the best of the round ; he landed a good right swing and several rightand left hooks weic exchanged. Treweek put in some good work on Ins opponent’s light jaw and managed to draw first bleed. Both, men were busy during the round but inclined to clinch. In round two there was much in-

fighting and facc-itghiing. I! was a busy round and excim.m>? of claret was made. In round three :■ fig! !’ng was very even. Stewart was pushing the 'fight, but Treweek played up to thcgame and there was some smart inchange and footwork. Stewart gave the impression that Im was looking for a knock-out opportunity but it never came along. After round four had opened Stewart tried freely to get in his right swing and Treweek’s left cheek showed signs of wear. The round terminated with smart i taliation. Stewart being knocked off his feet. As an opening salute Treweek got one on to his opponent’s face and Stewart proceeded to rush the fight and got in his right to the side of the face several times. Treweek got in several jabs to the face and in return Stewart handed over some smart right hooks to the jaw. The final round was very busy. The boys were both distributing claret on the carpet and belli cain r for an opportunity. They fouMit freely and exchanged some good solid hits, but in the end the ieferee had to give the contest a draw and it was evident that the verdict was popular with the audience.

GAULT v. COOK. The ‘star’ item on the progr-amme was the contest between Alf Gault (Auckland) and Peter Cook (Sydney), a fnriit for a purse cl’ £6O. Gault stripped to 9.12 and Cook to 9,8. so the weights were fair-Iy even. The first thing which struck the spectator was the peculiar ’shape’ of the Sydney man. It. was about as inelegant as it possibly’ could be, but the Australian proved that although he had a way o i’his own in putting up his ‘dookes’ he knew how to handle them. Gaunt’s style was more free and graceful but the Sydneysider was as quick as a weasel and just about as cussed. The fight was for 15 rounds, but, it did not. last out the time. Round one. -In the opening round the men evidently tried to ''feel" each other. Cook, however, got in ■me or two smart jabs to the face. Gault took what was given to him amicably and was evidently looking for an opportunity for a light swing, it .did not come along just then and l.’ook stirred tilings up with several -matt jabs to the face. Neither man ■bowed his strength in this round. Round two. Early in this round Cook, was i’meed to the ropes nad made his escape to safely through some smart face blows and on getting- clear some pretty footwork followed. In-lighting ensued and < cult put in some capital face blows v hieh were exchanged with rather inure than current interest. The •Svdney man got in some face blows

; in quick succession. ■ The opening of round three saw (-ault defending his corner, but the I'■ ‘attic soon became more open and li. ook got into his corner. The coni ! i st was willing and just before the •mug clanged Gault got in a tine ■ft to the face. I Early in round four Gault get in ■ a splendid face blow and in the 'clinch followed it up with capital I quick left hand jabs on his opponI ent’s face. There was then an exI change of swings and Gault was ' twice forced to the ropes. Cook snowed blood on the nose and ap ;•.■ 'red to have had a little the worst of -lie round. In round five Gault got very busy :id did a lot of fighting. He punched hard and often but Cook had a remarkably good defence and most o:' Gault's blows failed to find any open tei riiory . Both men acted 'the good spent” in this round. In an exchange of clever dodges Gault fell and Cook helped lorn up and later on when another manoeuvre brought Gault into the ropes Gault returned the compliment. The audience loudly applauded both acts. The round was altogether a busy one and Cook got in his left jabs to the face with considerable success.

Cook opened the sixth round with a, left jab to the. jaw and some pretty quick footwork followed. Cook began to show his renrirkablv clover protection and although Gault punched hard, often and quickly ho failed to toudi the Sydney* man’s vunerable spot. In the meantime Cook was scoring boxing points. Gault pushed the fighting. The half time round found the men reach - and willing for business. hand jab to the face and repeated the process v.ith uncomfortable freqttemy. Itt the clinches Gault showed up well and got in some capital right hand work. A lot of Cock’s blows were spectacular and landed on Gault's shoulder and nock. There was a fine exchange of right and left hooks ami Cook had forced Gault to the ropes when the gong- sounded. The r-mnd vns bright and busy and ilm men fit.

Gn the opening of round eight < ook got in a heavy blow to the r-w but Gault was not long in retaliating with two hard left hooks. Cook got in another hard face bloiv mid an exhibition of smart footwork follow cd. Cook then got in a couple to r he left ear and face, but di 1 m. o-.rige. Gault ])ut in good left 'm u work ami honouis appeared even.

Cook opened round nine with a deft to the ear and forced Gault to the "ropes, and, iiy. ;ycliange. Cook was forged io rhe boundary on hi.s s’tK, but the Sydney man appeared to get the 1 best of the exc logo <>f courtesies. In this roumt e<>.-k'-

glove came loose and th ’ ‘ ■ uteri ' 1 had to tie it up. In the few seconds of the round pm in rome rapid hooks to tl i fmm. I'p to tii - : point honour- mi J u p peared to I'■ tiurly even. Cook possibly w ; - (l.c smarter boxer,- but. (LvC mid made the fighting. Both faced i.im gong f«:H c-f business and th<’ end vm- by im m ans expected. Cook v. a- knock, d ‘Jmm and helped up. H< imm f<-n-, il Gault to the ropes an-1 •.•aim’ at his opponent, de--11 rmiiic<l tv o<> Imsiui ss. but a clever dodging match ri-siilleel in Cook being sent, through Iho ropes. Cook on rei ■" <-i ( »g pi m-ecded to force the fight aeq Gault stepped right along to meet anything m imshape of hustle propos'd i-ms. -''<”k 'wJ’ftk to bis knees m i.o than onefr. Then tfre etui came suddenh. S<i) smldcnly that Few people yiw it.. Cook’s splendid defence b!.><•!•:ed for a moment and Gault put in a short downward blow behind the right jaw and Cook subsided. The audience hardly realised what had happened until the referee stepped across and commenced to count. Cook took his ton seconds with agitation and the verdict went to Gault amidst applause.

TlNr style of these two men is entirely different. Cook is a clever boxer with a peculiar style of his own : it is ugly, is a sturdy bulwaik of defence. He is quick on his feet and has a way of leading off with his left and reaching for his ent’s face with both hands, anjf it was done in sin h a wav to tq"leave a counter difficult. M e Upiieve he won all along on points. Gault’s style is more of tliegiptn fighting sort. He h:is q -pet right hand swing which claims most <>f his attention, luit his left is also handy in close work, lie punched the Sydney man whore- he ct.ukl at him, but it v. .as not often that a ‘ 'hnrtable’' spot war available, (,'eok defended and Gault attacked. Cock boxed and Gault fought. Cook boxed & little bit better than Gault, but it proves

that in confess such as these that, the man who hits as hard as he ran and as frequently as lie can and where and whenever lie can stands a big chance of "touching the spot” before the contest closes. Mr. A. E. Gregory was a splendid referee. To our mind he has no superior in Hawke's Bay. He makes no uttiiftessary interference with the game, but knows when to step in and stop trouble. The arrangements of the tournament were first class and we must commend the rough though decidedly effective arrangement s made for the Prius.