(CRUEL VICIOUS HITTING

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 80, 5 April 1939, Page 8

(CRUEL VICIOUS HITTING

YOUNG IRISHMAN WINS OUTPOINTS APOSTOLI I “A FIGHT THAT HAD EVERYTHING" The battle of the year? You can have the taking of Barcelona. We'll choose the taking of Fred Apostoli in 15 bitter rounds in New York last month by William Coinn, the fight that had everything (writes Drew Middleton in the Vancouver Province). There was cruel and vicious hitting. There was fancy footwork and fancier headwork. There were moments when they ttfttHi let g* wiUx all they had as the crowd came roaring to its feet and there were moments when the snarling curses of the fighters rose above the thud of leather on skin. Finally, there was the supreme jest of the boxing gods. Conn, the winner, lay flat on his rubbing table in his dressing room. His eyes were swollen, almost closed. There was a big cut under his right eye, a smaller one under his left. He looked utterly spent. And down the hall Apostoli was stepping into his shower, unmarked and smiling wryly as his manager, Larry White, bellowed, “It’s an outrage, we won that fight.” Few in the crowd of 18,988 fans at Madison Square Garden thought so, though it had been dose all the way.’ The fans like Conn, and they prob* ably will see a lot of him. Mike Jacobs has large plans for the Pittsburgh Irishman, and probably will take the first step toward settling the scrambled light-heavyweight situation by throwing him in with Melio Bettina, the champion in New York. He weighed in at 167, seven pounds over the limit for the middleweight division which Apostoli rules in New York and in California, and six pounds above Freddy’s weight. Conn had a flickering left hook that jarred Fred off his balance. He had a fast right cross that shook Apostoli and also buckled his knees. He had eight rounds on the card, with six for Apostoli and one even. Got His Irish Up An incident that didn’t last 30 seconds probably won the fight. Midway through the second Conn came out of a clinch with blood' streaming from a cut under his eye. And Billy had his Irish up! After that it was Conn’s fight. He sunk his left into Apostoli’s body just under the heart. He beat him to the punch with the same hand and when the opening was there —there was the right cross. Apostoli, concent .rating on Billy's body, couldn’t stay in close under this withering fire, and, with his plan of battle stalemated, he had only his great courage to rely on. When the tenth round came, Conn, who had tired at the end of the tenrounder he won from Apostoli in December, was still firing with both hands. He was growing stronger and getting smarter. So Apostoli had only his courage and his hope left. But he came on in to take that left as a good game guy must do.