Blomfield Beats Numa

Northern Advocate, 1 August 1938, Page 8

Blomfield Beats Numa

Wrestling

[Special to “Northern Advocute .”] AUCKLAND, This Day.

Wrestling fans who crowded the Town Hall on Saturday night to see Lofty Blomfield, 16.8, New Zealand champion fight the American, Leo Numa, 16.0, expecting to see something out of the ordinary, were not disappointed. From the word go the match resolved itself into a furious onslaught, from which 1 Blomfield emerged victorious with a points decision after each had obtained a fall. Notwithstanding his deficiency in weight, Numa fully extended his opponent, and at times appeared superior in many phases of the game. From the moment Blomfield entered the ring it was apparent that the audience was definitely in favour of the local man.

Hostilities began with Numa assuming the offensive and catching Blomfield neatly with an arm throw and head scissors. Blomfield jerked himself free and commenced to bring into play his famous elbow jolt. He soon found, to his consternation, however, that in this gentle art Numa was, if anything, his superior. He rocked Blomfield many times with this method of attack. Strategy and Strength. Following on came wrestling of a type which combined strategy and an unlimited number of holds, and this, together with the speed and dexterity of their application, made Saturday night’s bout both outstanding and crammed with excitement.

Executing a novel method of escaping from a prisoning hold, Numa in the second period when held by an armbar, slid along the mat on the top of his head, dragging Blomfield with him. The referee broke them when they ended up outside the ropes. The rounds found Blomfield hard pressed by the speedy American, who brought into play all manner of holds from a wristlock to a leg stretch to bring about his downfall. Naturally, methods of such a nature did not appeal to “Lofty,” so he skilfully caught Numa in a body scissors, to which he added the novelty of bumping him up and down.

While going up for the fourth time, Numa suddenly turned in mid-air, and falling flat on Blomfield, managed to pin his shoulders to the mat for a fall. Tactics of a very spectacular nature then eventuated. Jolts fell thick and fast, with an occasional flying tackle thrown in for good measure. Blomfield had Numa’s arm tied in the ropes; Numa pulled Blomfield’s hair in order to escape, and felt very sorry for himself, and not a little angry when Blomfield, grasping a handful of his hair, pulled him across the ring, to go shooting out through the ropes at the other side like a thunderbolt. Fast work dominated the fourth and fifth rounds, in which was incorporated a considerable amount of questionable tactics, both men earning their share' of admonition from Mr McLean, the referee.

Blomfield evened the falls with a cleverly-applied octopus clamp in the sixth round, when Numa, believing he had him groggy from a rain of jolts, was a little careless. In a twinkling Blomfield had him in the clamp, and it was all over. The final portion of the match found Blomfield attacking, and just missed clapping on another clamp. Numa was too clever, and managed to counter them, but when the last gong went Blomfield was acclaimed the winner on points.

OTHER MATCHES. Dean Detton had difficulty in beating Andy Moen in the wrestling contest at New Plymouth on Saturday, Moen probably led on points until well into the last round, when Detton gained the only fall of the bout. The wrestling bout between Pat Fraley and Pat Meehan drew a good house at Westport on Saturday evening, and proved very interesting. Fraley gained a fall in the fourth round .after a series of elbow jolts and a flying toe-hold, Meehan equalised in the eighth round with a body press, the bout resulting in a draw.