BLACKBURN WINS.

NZ Truth, Issue 979, 30 August 1924, Page 11

BLACKBURN WINS.

Ridgway Has the Pluck.

The Napier Association did a most wise action when they postponed the Blackburn— Ridgway fight until the night of the Auckland— Hawkey Bay Ranfurly match and as a. result a profit was shown; Seaman ; Ridgway' s showing m a couple of exhibition bouts at Napier and Hastings led all to believe that he would be cat's meat for the Auckland pug. and not one m the house expected the scrap s to go the fifteen rounds. But it did. The first round opened very tame with, Blackburn taking matters very quietly, giving indications that he considered his opponent easy. The^ next five rounds all went m favor of the Auckland lad. About this time Blackburn woke up to the fact that he did not have the easy thing at first surmised. The seaman was as fit as a fiddle and was able to take all ! his opponent's punishment with a smile. From now oh Blackburn directed most to the body, but again Ridgway showed how fit he was by accepting with little diffidence. The ninth round saw Ridgway winning his only round, mainly through making Blackburn miss. Blackburn continued to force the fight, but had no chance of delivering the.k.p. that he was aiming for. He won the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth rounds, tfce remaining two being divided. Although Blackburn won by a fair margin of points, Ridgway put up a plucky fight and richly deser'ed the ovation he received at the conclusion of the fight. To say the least the winner disappointed many, but a little excuse can be made for him as only a few days before he had a very hard fight, receiving painful injuries to the back m being mixed up with the ropes, which evidence could only too plainly be seen. The best exhibition bout ever seen m this district was given by Em Baxter and Artie Hay (North Island welter champion). The display of boxing and light sparring was much appreciated by the public, who gave tho lads a good rally at the finish.