Wrestling Bout Ends Sn Uproar; No Decision

Northern Advocate, 21 August 1948, Page 6

Wrestling Bout Ends Sn Uproar; No Decision

WITH the ring full of policemen, the crowd yelling and stamping, and the wrestlers slugging out a bout of fisticuffs along the footlights, a professional wrestling match between Jack Claybourne and Bill Kuisisto ended in an uproar at the Whangarei Town Hall last night. . Early in the bout Claybourne showed pugilistic tendencies which raised the ire of Kuisisto. The climax came in the seventh round.

Kuisisto had hurled the spectaculai Claybourne through the ropes and when the negro attempted to return to the ring the enraged Kuisisto promptly kicked him out again. A stalemate was reached and referee Reg Hollows was in a quandary. kuisisto would not retreat to a neutral corner and Claybourne was hesitant about re-entering the ring. When he eventually did climb through the ropes, Claybourne pushed Kuisisto outside, leaped after him and continued the struggle outside the boundary.

Then followed the incident which led to police intervention, following which the referee declared the bout a no-decision one. WHITE DIAPERS Before the bout opened Claybourne arrived in the ring with a two-point landing after flying over the top rope. The coloured man was arrayed in white diapers with white sox and boots to match. His silk drape, with a black kangaroo emblazoned on the back, trailed in the breeze as he landed. Kuisisto looked drab in the other corner. Features of the opening round were Claybourne’s escape from a head scissors by standing on his head and spinning like a top, and his yell of “Har-rh-rh-rh-rh!” as he was thrown over the top rope. During round two, Kuisisto played “little piggies’’ with Claybourne’s fingers. For this he was openly slapped on the face of the negro, who leaped round the ring grinning broadly. Round three was strangely quiet. LIKE AN AUTOGIRO

Only a minute of round four had passed when Claybourne drop-kicked his opponent in the mid-section to follow and take a fall with a press. Claybourne began to show pugilistic tendencies in the next round. When Kuisisto essayed a flyingtackle, Claybourne rose to great heights. He rose in the air like an autogiro and Kuisisto zoomed through the ropes into the laps o/ the police. Claybourne then pushed Kuisisto three times in the face, retreated, and perched like a blackbird on the corner post, where he chuckled gleefully. Kicks and punches to Claybourne’s kidneys, followed by a slam, gave Kuisisto the equalising fall in the sixth stanza

Then came the sensational seventh and last round. AMATEUR BOUTS

In preliminaries to the'main bout, three Whangarei amateurs clashed with Awanui representatives for the Beehre Shield. These three bouts were fought under Olympic rules, and Awanui took the shield by two wins to one. An exhibition bout between T. Beehre and C. Beehre was a great crowd-pleaser in which a variety of holds were applied smartly and some clever countering was also seen. BEEHRE SHIELD L. Cossen, 9st 71b (Awanui), beat J. Nankivell, 3st 121 b (Whangarei), by two straight falls. Cossen was too strong for the Whangarei boy. I. Kemp, lOst (Awanui), beat R. Reed, 9st 101 b (Whangarei), after a punishing contest. Hard wrestling was featured in the first and second rounds with the Awanui man on the offensive. Kemp dumped Reed three times before taking the decision with a body-press near the end of the last rqund. A. Rowlands, lOst ll)lb (Whangarei), beat F. Goldsworthy, list (Awanui). The deceptively strong Rowlands was the aggressor from the start and took the decision when he obtained a fall with a press in round one. Goldsworthy improved over the rest of the journey but could make little impression on his tough opponent.