BENEFIT BOXING TOURNEY

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7322, 4 September 1930, Page 8

BENEFIT BOXING TOURNEY

Amateur Bouts at Feilding A good crowd of boxing enthusiasts attended tho Hepburn boxing tourney staged by the Feilding Amateur Boxing Club last evening, the appearance of Pete Barron proving a draw and not the’ least entertaining part of tho evening’s programme. V. Cosford (Pahiatua), 6.7, v. K. O’Rourke (Feilding), 6.7. Bright sparring characterised the opening round of this bout, Pahiatua’s representative showing stylo with strength but receiving more real punishment than his aggressive tactics suggested. His hitting was wilder in the second round and in the final flutter he found Feilding’s representative placing them accurately, even though he fell to the floor twice through ovcr-balanciug in spirited attacks. Gosford received the verdict by a close margin. Ft Williams (Feilding), 7st., v. R. Pratt (Pahiatua), 6st. 71bs. Williams -went to his opponent with a flourish suggestive of big things to follow, but after holding Pratt to the ropes for sonic time ho fell away to accept much facial punishment. Extra ■weight and a longer reach helped the Feilding boy in tho second round, but Pratt was still boxing soundly and lie continued to accept the openings Williams left throughout the Anal round, which was all his. The verdict was Pahiatua’s by a good margin. S. Walsh (Pahiatua), 6.7, v. N. Walfii (Feilding), 7.3. Height, weight and reach were all in favour of Feilding’s representative, who, however, found his opponent excessively aggressive and wasp-like in his attacks. Ho put all the life in tho three lj-minute rounds and brought another victory to Pahiatua. J. Beach (Pahiatua), 0.13, v. R. Pike (Feilding), 10.7. Tho first round of this bout produced some moderate boxing, Pike leading tho fight with his left, while Beach bided his time to get homo some impressive rights, Tho contestants broke even to the end of the second round and then, with new life and certainly improved style, Pike stepped out to snatch victory in the last round. Beach failed to rally and press home the cautious work he indulged in in the two earlier rounds. Sarron v. Oxley. A hearty reception was accorded Sarron who, in his exhibition spar with Oxley, of Pahiatua, gave fans some slight idea of his extraordinary agility and machine-gun like punching powers. Oxley stood up to the American champion and refused nothing, making it an interesting go. Sarron was at homo thoughout and responded to the invitation to mix it a bit in the final round. For a flash a ding-dong go thrilled the crowd and then Sarron brought lau,gh\cv as ho employed clever footwork to confuse his opponent. G. Gregory (Pahiatua), lost., v. N. Toy© (Feilding), 10.8. Both contestants opened cautiously, Toyo standing off to shoot an occasional left, while Gregory was content to shadow spar for the bulk of the first round. Toyc gathered points m the second round, although at one stage ho was inclined to weaken, while in the final round Gregory’s stock rose appreciably, albeit both were done. A draw proved a popular verdict. V. O’Reilly (Feilding), 6.2, v. N. Christensen (Feilding), 5.7. These midgets gave an entertaining exhibition and had a largo following of school mates in attendance to cheer them on. Christensen, of Lytton Street School, got the verdict. E. Innes (Rongotea), 8.3, v. L. G. McLauclilan (P.N.), 8.4. Evenly matched tho pair engaged confidently but marred tho first round by ignoring the real business in favour of over-long embraces. The referee trad the same complaint in tbc second round when honours remained even. Innes showed his previous form by brightening up the fiual round, but Palmerston's representative proved in every way equal to his opponent. While there was practically nothing between them at the final gong, McLauehlan gov tho verdict. J. Hesketh (Feilding), 8.13, v. A. Carson (Feilding), 9.4. Hesketh’s height and reach made up for liis shortage in weight, and iu both tho first and second round both fought with a clear, friendly rivalry. Hesketh made tho fiual round an effective cue, but failed to gather the decision, which was not received with enthusiasm. 13. Coughlan (P.N.), 9.2, v. J. O’Reilly (Ashburton), 8.8. This proved to be the sparkling bout of the evening, tbc contestants mixing it freely from the outset. Coughlan got down to business early, quickly establishing himself as a boxer of merit. Points ahead lie made a joke of the rest of the encounter and what promised well as a fight fell away to mere comedy. A damaged eye received in the first round appeared to settle O’Reilly, and Coughlan got tlio verdict easily. C. Ford (P.N.), 11.2, v. P. Hall (Feilding), list. As the last bout of tho evening the meeting of tho above two provided nothing outstanding beyond open sparring. Hall took the first round, but found tho going a little more difficult in the second round which saw Ford connect with some powerful lefts which began to tell. HalLwent down for 9 in the third round and roso to hear tho gong sound the breather. Ford sent Hall down again for five in tho last round and carried the verdict with eight points to spare.