PICATO A SURPRISE PACKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 328, 7 October 1911, Page 8

PICATO A SURPRISE PACKET.

Mehegan Wins On Points.

Picato, thc i tal o- Americano pug. put up an amazingly good iign<_ against Mehegan. ia Sydney, and tt_e '"Sportsman," m commenting on the contest says : — Frank Picato has no occasion to growl at the reception he received trom. the mighty muster of rtng-

aiders that rolled up to tha Stadium, and the Sydney sports had no cause to complain at the fight they saw the plucky visitor put up against the plucky, hard-hitting, and powerful Australian lightweight champion, the redoubtable Hughie Mehegan. It would seem aa if all and sundry were of the opinion that the battle was about to be a cakewalk for the Australian crack. Mehegan had to right all he knew all the time, but be consistently sustained his lead. His wonderful smother bamboozled the visitor. With head bent right forward m his characteristic fashion and both jaws protected with his gloves, and with his body m this attitude, quite out of range, Mehegan took a tremendous number of punches on his gloves. The only spot open on these occasions was an inch streak of forehead, and the curve of Mehegaai's skull, up and over which Picato's punches would slide. Then, like 1 lightning, m would come Mebegan's short, vicious jolts to the body or uppercuts to the chin. So swift, short, and sharp were these that numbers of ringsiders failed to see them going home, and many more failed to conceive how effective they were. All the time, too, m the open, as Picato would attack, Mehegan's straight left kept darting into the mouth and nose. Early m the fight Picato's lip was badly split, and had to be doctored by his seconds as he returned %o his corner. Then, again, the blood from his nose getting down his throat prevented him from breathing effectively. With an angry red patch over his solar plexus, and handicapped by the. injury to his lip and nose, Picato fought a most gallant battle. Although he failed to mark Mehegan m the slightest,\ the "Victorian did not come out of the battle unscathed by any means. He was up against a man, strong, determined, game, and aggressive, and during many a mix of heavy blows, Mehegan was first to break away. Mehegan would at times score to the jaw hard enough to have dropped his man, but to his astonishment, would receive a smash m turn which : s^nt him dodging back out of the danger zone. Picato -is reminiscent of • Joe Grimm, as far as an iron jaw is concerned. Mehegan frankly confesses that he gave him one o£ the tightest tussles of his career. Regarding the Australian champion, "Sportsman" is of the opinion that he is fighting better than ever before m his life. He seems to improve with every 'battle, and it seems to be a good even money chance upon him beating anything m the world to-day -at his weight.