Poor Support Accorded Boxing Championships

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26545, 21 August 1947, Page 2

Poor Support Accorded Boxing Championships

The Otago Amateur boxing championships on Monday night almost developed into a fiasco, a state of affairs for which the Otago Boxing Association was in no way to blame. After the excellent displays given by many of the amateur boxers at earlier tournaments, high hopes were held for the championships tournament, and at first it was intended to spread the bouts over two nights. For some unaccountable reason, however, the support accorded by the boxers fell far below expectations, and of the eight championship classes only four were contested, and none of these, drgw a very large entry. It must have been disheartening to the officials who have worked so hard to encourage the amateur side of the sport, but there will be some encouragement from the fact that from the titleholders it should be possible, to get a fairly representative team for the New Zealand championships at Christchurch next month.

The only outside boxer among the new champions is R. Hoffman, of Gore, who was not opposed in the light-hgavy-weight class. Similarly, Kevin Skinner, the Otago representative Rugby forward, again had no opposition in the heavy-weight class. It was a coincidence that M. J. McHugh, who outpointed Skinner in the New Zealand championships at Auckland last year, was among the spectators, being present with the Auckland Rugby team. Skinner showed recently in a bout against the New Zealand champion, J. Boyd, in Taranaki, that he will be a strong candidate for the Dominion title. In the,meantime, he will be on tour with the Otago Rugby team, but will have a couple of weeks in Dunedin on his return before the boxing championships are held. R. Keen (feather-weight) and j Drew (bantam-weight), who won their titles unopposed, are both good boxers and R. Chooquee (middle-weight), I Dickison (welter-weight), C. Kerr (light-weight), and H. Berland (ban-tam-weight), who at least had some competition for their titles, are useful performers. Dickison showed considerable improvement, and in the middle-weight final against Chooquee he was very unlucky to lose the decision. Dickison hit hard with either hand,, and his defence was sounder than it had been previously. He went very close to winning two titles, and was measuring his man off nicely.

Actually, he found the youthful j. Beale a more difficult man to keep under fire in the welter-weight class, for Beale fought an evasive fight, and made skilful use of the ring. Beale has great possibilities, and did well against a man of Dickison’s experience. Chooquee. is a strong, rugged fighter. In both bouts, however, he indulged in far too much holding, but a grandstand finish in the final fight caught the judges’ eye and he got the decision over Dickison. Chooque packs a heavy right, but he should * learn to drive his left with greater force. C. Kerr was not troubled in the light-weight class, and scored a oneround knock-out, but he was fighting with confidence. Kerr is one of the most proficient boxers in Otago. There was nothing to choose between R. Blackie and H. Berland in the flyweight class, but the latter got the decision after an extra round had been ordered. * Both are good straight punches, but at the end of three rounds the writer thought Blackie had a slight edge. The judges disagreed, and unable to separate the boxers, the referee ordered an extra round. This is permitted under New Zealand rules, although it is against the international amateur practice. Berland seized the opportunity and finished very strongly to win a close decision. Both boxers gave an excellent display, showing considerable promise. Berland is a nice, rangy type who does not waste his punches.