BRIGHT BOXING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 14

BRIGHT BOXING

PLUTO BEATS HUGHES DECISION GIVEN ON POINTS WINNER'S WEIGHT ADVANTAGE A professional catch-weight contest staged at the Town Hall last evening between Cyril Pluto, of Australia, and Archie Hughes, of Auckland, was won by Pluto on points at the end of 15 threc-ininute rounds. Considering that ho was giving away so much weight, scaling 'Jst. 51b., against Pluto's lOst. 311b., Hughes gave a very creditable showing, and ho was accorded a big ovation.

The match drew a very largo attendance and Hughes was a great favourite, largely due, no doubt, to his being much the smaller man, apart from weight. The pair set a very fast pace over the first seven rounds, and it was only natural that there should be an easing off from this stago onwards. Hughes showed to best advantage in the earlier stages of the bout, as later on he claimed a good deal and was fortunate in being permitted to do so. The contest was always fairly spectacular, with Pluto doing most of the attacking, and tho crowd appeared to ho well satisfied. Tho amateur preliminaries wore all of high standard and placed the spectators in good frame for tho more important part of the programme. Tho officials were as follows: —Announcer, Mr. \V. JO. Dervan; referees, Messrs. N. C. McLean (amateur), H. Meale (professional); judges, Messrs A. 13. Joplin, H. W. Bricn (amateur), G. Bush, S. E. Burke (professional), timekeepers, Messrs. J. K. Douglas, C. Cowan. Hughes Scores Early After a cautious opening Pluto had a little the better of the first round. Then Hughes took four rounds in a row. He had Pluto worried with a solid body attack at close quarters, hard right rips under the heart rattling the Australian, who was fighting rather wildly. Hughes had tho crowd thoroughly roused during these rounds and he was loudly cheered each time he walked to his corner. Up to this stage ho had frequently caught Pluto with stinging upper-cuts as the latter rushed in.

From the fifth round onwards, however, Pluto steadied down and he had the better of the exchanges, which were mostly confined to body punching. Ho broke through the Aucklander's head and bodyguard several times, and he took seven rounds in succession, the slower pace suiting him better.

Tho 12th was Pluto's round by a substantial margin, the Aucklander's right eye appearing to give him trouble. Nevertheless, Hughes stage a surprising and unexpected recovery in the 13th in which lie mixed it willingly to win the round. Superior and quicker body punching gave Pluto an advantage in the 14th, while there was not a great deal between the pair in the final round. Pluto was a comfortable winner on points. Amateur Preliminaries

Bantam-weight.—H. Stock (Auckland), Bst. 101b., beat W. Phelan (JDargaville), Bst. GJlb., on points. Plielau had an advantage in height, but Stock varied his attack with body* blows and heavily punished the Dargaville lad in the third round. Phelan fought back well in the final round, but was well behind on points. Feather-weight.—K. Moran (Dargaville), Sst. 121b., amateur bantamweight champion of Auckland, beat A. McGregor (Auckland), 9st. Moran was the harder puncher and Svas a little toi> strong for a willing opponent. A special trophy was presented to the loser by a supporter of the Auckland Boxing Association.

Feather-weight.—P. Kelly, Auckland feather-weight champion, 9st. 51b., heat E. Bongard (Hamilton), 9st., by a knock-out in the second round. Bongard had a strong attack in this round, hitting the Aucklander with a hard right upper-cut, followed by a right swing. However, Kelly connected with a right which sent Bongard backwards, his head striking the canvas hard. He was slow in rising to his feet and was not upright at the count of 10. Light-heavy-weight. —A. McDonald (Auckland), list. 61b., beat G. Coe (Whakatane), 12st. 1 Jib., on points. McDonald set a fast pace from tho outlet and the pair traded heavy blows in the first two rounds. The winner measured his punches better in the last two rounds and scored freely to tho head and body to win by a good margin. Welter-weight.—F. , Parsons (Auck-land),-lOst. Gib., beat P. Steers (Auckland), lOst. 121b., in a special emergency bout. This was a very willing encounter all through. Steers maintained a persistent two-handed attack. Employing a left hook Parsons occasionally knocked his opponent off balance. Steers was rather unfortun.ito in not getting the decision..