LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP.

NZ Truth, Issue 877, 16 September 1922, Page 10

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP.

Brian McCleary Wins. The return clash between Cyril Whitaker and Brian McCleary was staged on Saturday night by the Christchurch Sports Club, and drew a whopping gate, at King Edward Barracks. The two had previously met m the same ring last Easter, when McCleary got the verdict on points after 15 rounds. On that occasion the heavyweight championship was involved. Last Saturday the contest was for the light-heavy, or cruiser, weight championship, and a purse of £200. Both "boxers received a good reception and favouritism was fairly evenly divided. The weights were declared at: Whitaker 12,5, and McCleary 11.9). Both were m good fettle, bu; McCleary looked the more solid and powerful of the two. He entered the ring , with his left knee bandaged. Whitaker had a considerable advantage m, height, reach, and weight, but did not appear to make use of them, while McCleary worked fast and his footwork was clever. Neither, however, seemed to ■ have learned much since his last encounter, and the bout was very much a repetition of their previous scrap. In the' opening rounds Whitaker showed signs of having learned to shoot out a straight left which,- had he continued to deliver it, might have improved his chances considerably, but later this member was regularly claimed by McGleary. Whitnker lacked variety of style, and showed no indication of having a knock-out hit m his kit, and, for that mat:3r, neither did his opponent, McCleary has improved very little m the way of varying his tactics, and relies mostly on his footwork and speed. His body-tapping was energetic, but he hasn't the remotest idea of hooking. In this respect he should learn something . from Cyril, who was fairly clever when in-fight-ing with his short, sharp uppercuts. For the full fifteen rounds there was not half-a-dozen solid straight cracks delivered on either side, and with the exception of a trickle of blood coming from Whitaker's cauliflowerear towards the end, both left the ring unmarked. The scrap was a dean boxing contest, rather of the pussy- paw variety, and fought m excellent spirit. The verdict m favour of McCleary received a rather mixed reception, but it was correct. The Christchurch boxer won eight — possibly nine of the fifteen rounds, but Whitaker certainly scored best m the concluding rounds, and that doubtless weighed m his favour with the crowd. In the seventh round Whitaker surprised ' esvryone — probably himself as well— by the vigorous way he attacked and got past McCleary's defence. He scored heavily; indeed Brian was mighty glad to. hear the gong. However, Cyril could not keep the pace going, and McCleary revived. A couple more rounds fought on the same lines would doubtless have landed the Northerner a winner. He received tremendous applause for his spirited flash of boxing, but he couldn't keep it going. Referee Robson officiated from outside the ring and the judges were right on the ring m neutral corners* Whitaker won the first round and was better m all departments. McCleary ruffled him with a good body punch m the next and the referee had to tell Whitaker not to hold. There was a lot of wild swinging and missing In the third, but McCleary landed a good right to Whitaker's bread basket which made him 1 Bick. The New Plymouth man's long suit was a long left, but he only flipped with his right while McCleary occasionally jumped m with a good left, but ■ his right invariably went round Whitaker's neck. In round four Whitaker was on. the retreat after a good straight left from McCleary. This was the best blow of the fight. McCleary demonstrated m the fifth that ho would be the winner as he rushed and tore at whitaker, who was on the retreat all the time. It was the same m the next and Whitaker went to his corner very tired; Round seven ended as above, McCleary won the eighth, 'but both were very tired at the close. Whitaker held flagrantly m 9 and 10 and the referee again warned him Whitaker won the eleventh, m which there was some wrestling, but McCleary broke away and came back with a good left and later Whitaker got m a good left hook. The i-eferee had a word with Whitaker during the interval. The twelfth was £ame, but McCleary landed a good left to the nose m the thirteenth and Whitaker was sent reeling across the ring He was tired at the' end v and so was McCleary. The fourteenth was tame and when they came up for the final it was only a question of McCleary stopping on his feet. It was a poor contest and neither seemed able to punch hard enough to break an egg. AMATEUR PRELIMINARIES. In the preliminaries N. Moulin (9st) had it all over W. O'Connor (9st 31bs) from the start, and floored his man m under a minute. O'Connor got up, but his heart was sad, and after a couple more spells on the mat took the count. Moulin is a much improved boxer and the best featherweight down this way. W. Bryden (lOst), Wellington, put up a very poor show against P. Burns (9st 91bs), Christchurch. They started In at a whirlwind pace and smashed at one another with lots of ginger behind the hitting," but the end came soon Within 30 seconds the Wellingtonian went down, and although he was floored three times Bryden eventually took the count before the gong was sounded for the ending of the first round. . . A lively contest was fought m the welterweight bout between A. Thompson (lOst) and A. McArthur (lOst 81bs), Wellington. Thompson opened with a lightening attack against a weak defence and scored well m the first two rounds toy the effective use of a straight left. McArthur steadied matters, and by clever footwork kept clear of Thompson, whose' almost total lack of defence allowed the northerner to get m and pile up the points. Thompson returned to his corner, groggy after the. fourth round, but rallied a bit next time out and got m a few stinging blows, but McArthur adopted wise tactics by standing off and dodging well. The last round was a ding-dong scrap

and both had enough when they returned to their corners to await the decision There was no doubt— MoArthur won.