BOXING

Otago Witness, Issue 3853, 17 January 1928, Page 59

BOXING

By

CROSS-COUNTER.

THE FEATHER-WEIGHT DIVISION.

Frank Taylor, the Auckland featherweight, is a popular boy in Hawke’s Bay. Twice he has appeared in the ring there with Tommy Griffiths, and each time the Aucklander has made himself a favourite with the Bay public by his excellent displays. The recent bout with Griffiths is labelled by Napier critics as the finest seen there for many a long day. Over the last two rounds tremendous excitement prevailed, as both boys stood toe to toe, slugging each other -with both hands, the crowd yelling madly all the while. The audience was on its feet for the whole of the last round, as the two chased one another all over the square, and when the referee raised both hands aloft in token of a draw the house cheered both men for quite two minutes. On the same night Johnnie Leckie repeated his performance put up in Auckland some weeks back by defeating Duke Maddox. In the ninth round Maddox, through a crocked ankle, could not continue, and Leckie got the fight. Not many know that the same thing happened in Auckland ■when the pair previously met, but in that case the referee dicl not stop it quick enough, and Leckie knocked Maddox out. HERE AND THERE. Immediately after being so desisively beaten in New York by Knute Hansen, the English champion, Phil Scott, received a cable asking him to return home forthwith. Scott sent an indignant reply as follows: “ I won t come home. I’m staying right here.” American writers give Scott great credit for his gameness one of them saying: “We’ll doff our hat to that Britisher. He may have a frail chin and celluloid ribs, but’ there isn’t a thing the matter with his courage. Phil Scott is a game ’un—a dead game' ’un.” His second match was against Monte whom he defeated, and then he met the aggressive Risko, who scored a win in a terrific battle.

Tunney is quoted by a New York writer as having learned two lessons from the Chicago fight. One is that stage work and that sort of thing is best left alone, -ttie other that you must never go into the ring with your passions aroused. In connection with the latter count Tunney allowed himself to be angered by an attack in some newspaper correspondence and entered the ring under the stress of considerable annoyance. As regards the first count, unquestionably stage work is upsetting, lhe hours of work and the hectic surroundings of stage life are all against a man who has to prepare for a strenuous physical test. I'irpo, who has an automobile business of ?b’ o en T - Alre V fter Seein « the ■n i i I .uuney-Dempsey Chicago fight snorted with disgust, and declared thaf he could lick either or both in the same rinon tho same night, and that he was pre°pared to prove his statement. He g P ve that'he *1 iSSUe ° f announ cement that he would re-enter th e ring. All of which may be just with a view to lettin-r the boxing world know that he i 3 still in the land of the living, or it may be a serious intention. With respect to Firpo’s ST an C °\ djtl ° n ’ “ Pao,ino ” (says an American writer), “ several months back reported that he had out grown , even the heavy -weight class Paolino s entourage said that Firpo had developed as fine a bay window as any river ward alderman, had a double chin m,, was br eakmg ground for a third ” ’ n-rrnn i t f °v n ? onths Tommy Burns a langed for his heavy-weight protege the Belgian. Hum&ck, to appear in _ London, but the plan fell thrmie-h owing Tommy said, to his having JSved a cable from Tex Rickard, offering a X test in New Vn»L- . t> a consailed k x r he pa!r immediately Humbeck m hand, the Belgian who stands 6ft and weights 13£st, was more than a useful fighter having defeated Pierre Charles and got a draw with Paolino intQ 11S a b H l lmb « ck will develop into a world s champion. He calls hi= charge Cyclone ” Humbeck, because of SVsTttiSf Sp,rit ’ and Power wifii-bf 1 V? Barba ; having resigned the flyweight championship, the New York Commission selected Izzy Schwartz to fill the acancy. A cable message in Australian papers reports that Schwartz and “News boy Broivn contested the title at New o»'Uk D “ emUr 23 ' lh<i Jack Dempsey is one of the biggest -hare holders in the Madison Square Garden Co’-po'-aLon th e concern which promotes the biggest boxing events in New York as well as various other sporting events The ex-champion invested lffiOQOdol in the company’s Stock. lne Ted Sandwina, the young American-born German who had a long sequence of wins p P n^ a ? d x- n< ° n th e Continent, left England for New York on November 16 l b f Ck V y a tem P tin ff offer. Three the before leaving he decisively defeated Berry. '' Velght cha mpion, Tom

.It is reported .that th e Gisborne Association is desirous of matching Robinson, the ex-feather-weight champion, and the present champion, Johnny Leckie: If such is tho case (says a northern writer), the New Zealand Council should veto the proposal, for such a match is against the best interests of the sport. Robinson is a veteran and well past his best, while Eeckie is at the outset of his career, and on the present form would have no difficulty in defeating Robinson when at Iris very best.

HEENEY AND SHARKEY DRAW.

SLOW, UNINTERESTING BOUT. NEW YORK, January 13. One of the largest crowds' to ..witness an indoor match filled Madison Square Garden when Jack Sharker and Tom Heeney entered the ring fdjj theirJLS-round bout. Sharkey weighed 1941 b and Heeney 1931 b.

In. the. first round they exchanged short blows with great force, clinching several times. Sharkey then outboxed his opponent and succeeded in driving him to the ropes, but the round was even.

In round two Heeney quickly began to force the fighting, placing for the body with both hands, and causing Sharkey to clinch, but the American, by speeding up his blows and repeatedly hooking to the face and head, succeeded in taking the round by a shade. In the third round both men assumed different tactics; aiming their blows high and landing' short chops to the face. There were no thoughts of defence by either of them. Sharkey was now fighting as he did against Dempsey, leaving his stomach unprotected, and Heeney, landing two hard rights to the body, took the round. In the fourth round Heeney opened a cut beneath Sharkey’s left eye, and had all the better of some furious exchanges which filled the last two minutes of the round, which was Heeney’s. In the fifth round Heeney returned to the attack with both hands, but Sharkey was the stronger, troubling his opponent with a left hand to the face. They clinched continuously, Heeney aiming for the body, and the .American becoming more cautious. Sharkey cut Heeney’s mouth with two lefts to the fact, but Heeney sent Sharkey reeling to the ropes with a straight right to the jaw. Sharkey bounced back, and hung on. The New Zealander followed with a right to the heart. Sharkey began holding Heeney’s left hand, and the crowd booed him. It was Heeney’s round. In the sixth ropnd Sharkey pounded Heeney’s body at close quarters, the New Zealander taking uppercuits and left jabs to the face. Heeney drove a hard left to Sharkey’s heart, and the latter swung hard lefts and rights to his opponent’s body. Heeney was missing badly, but only for a moment, slowing up the American with two lefts and two hard rights to the face. It was Sharkey’s round. In round seven. Sharkey outboxed Heeney, but the American was having trouble seeing out of his right eye. Some thing which was administered between the rounds was troubling him. Heeney slashed and hammered away at him, but the blows seemed to lack force. It was Heeney’s round.

In the eighth round Sharkey assumed clubbing tactics while clinching, and again the crowd booed him. Heeney punished him with short lefts and rights to the body. Sharkey, who had a bad lump under his own left eye, cut Heeney’s eye with a light right, but the" latter avalanched blows upon his opponent, taking the round.

In the ninth round Sharkey used his left hand effectively, uppercutting Heeney and making him miss badly, and compelling him to take considerable punishment. It was Sharkey 3 round by a wide margin.

In the tenth round, during not too spirited exchanges at long distance, Sharkey drove a hard right to Heeney’s jaw, then fell to his knees as he missed another swing. Sharkey rose immediately and tore into the New Zealander with hard body blows. Heeney fought -back, but the American was punishing him. The fight was slow now, and there was too much clinching. It was Sharkey’s round. In the eleventh round the boxers fell into a clinch in the middle of the ring, and wrestled about without blows being struck, but in an exchange of blows that followed Sharkey nearly dropped Heeney with a left to the solar plexus. They put their hands down then and traded body blows. It was Sharkey’s round. In the twelfth round, although both speeded up and more action was injected, with heavy punching freely traded, and Heeney leading, it was obvious that the so-called heavy-weight elimination contest had ended with a double elimination, both probably being considered unfitted to meet Tunney. It was a slow, uninteresting fight to the 17,000 spectators. There was some feeling that Heeney was the better of the two, having carried the fight throughout to the former sailor, and should have got the decision o n points, particularly in view of Sharkey’s indifferent performance. The latter outboxed the New Zealander, but was unable to outfight him. The decision was a draw.

Tom Heeney, the young Gisborne blacksmith, has risen rapidly to fame and future in the fistic arena. When he arrived in New York in January of last year he had practically nothing, but since then he has won about £34,000, and is regarded as a contender for world’s honours. On returning to New Zealand from the war he fought his first fight at Blenheim, and won this amateur contest by a knock-out in the first round. His first professional ' fight was against George Modrich, who stopped him in Auckland. Then he defeated all th e locals about his weight. After one fight in Sydney, when he knocked out Quinlan in five rounds, he fought under the promotion of Con Sullivan, in Mackay, Queensland. Colin Bell, Blackie Miller, and Flett met defeat at his hands. He found there was no money for. heavy-weights in Australia, so he went t-o England. He lost to Phil Scott at the Ring, and did not even win a round. He earned £2O for his second fight, which was a preliminary at the National Sporting Club, by knocking out his opponent in four rounds. He stopped Charlie Smith in another preliminary at the Albert Hall, and defeated Squires and Blackie Miller in South Africa. He lost his first fight to Miller. He lost to Scott and Cook in England, but beat Tom Berry at the Ring; After that he secured a contest against Bartley Madden in Dublin, and he defeated the Irish champion there. He had shown steady improvement, and was boxing well when he defeated Stanley at the National Sporting Club. That was his last fight in England. Heeney was on the shelf-after this contest until he met Charlie - Lucas, who suggested that he go to America, and the New Zealander fell in with the idea; but he was under con-

tract to a Southampton bookmaker named Mortimer,, and Lucas could not arrange with Mortimer to take Heeney awav ‘‘ I'll take him myself,” said Mortimer,"and he uid. It was useless for Heeney’s manager to try and handle his destinies in a keen fight city like New York, and he came to arrangmements with Charlie Harvey who handles most of the Eimlish gnters in the United States. Harvey nows the ropes, and he soon matched Heeney. Wins over Anderson, De Mavs Risko, Bud Gorman, two disputed decil sions with Paolino, and finally a knockput win in a round over Jim Maloney put him right in the limelight. Sharkey was born in 1902, and has engaged in 33 bouts, winning 17 on points and eight by knock-outs. He ha s lost four 0.1 points, and has been knocked out twice He has engaged in two no-decision contests. He was knocked out by Romero Rojas in nine rounds in 1924. and included among his knock-out victims was the ex-light-heavy-weight champion of the world, Mike M’Tigue, who was downed in 13 rounds. A technical knockout wag scored against the negro. Harry Wills in 1926, and among those he defeated on points were the Australian, George CookKing Solomon, Floyd Johnson, and Sully Montgomery. Though Jim Maloney was the favourite, Sharkey outed him in five rounds at New York, and thereby placed himself in line with a contest with Jack Dempsey to see which of the two should n 6et ™„ T ’ Jnne y ln a world’s title fight. Over 50,000 spectators watched the Shar-key-Mal ° ne .v fight, the house being worth’ p V in r mn 2 ’°2?’ °, f which Sharkey took over £lO 000. Sharkey met Dempsey in New York on July 21 of last year, and was knocked out in th e seventh round, taking the count after receiving a terrific right n • the nA S ™ rilach and a le ft to the jaw. Over 90,000 watched the fight, and the takmgs were approximately 1,250,000d01, of which Dempsey took 27£ per cent, and pharkey 224, per cent. It is estimated that bliarkey has won well over £lOO,OOO.

SULLIVAN DEFEATS FRATTINI. . SYDNEY, January 15. At the Stadium Johnny Sullivan defeated Bruno Frattini on points in a 15round contest. Sullivan outboxed and outfought the Italian, who was severely punished. . J

ALBE DEFEATS GILLESPIE. MELBOURNE, January 15 xr* At tb ® Radium Lucia Albe defeated Norm Gillespie on points in 15 rounds alter a fast, clever contest.

BOUT IN CAPETOWN CAPETOWN. January 8. A 15-round contest between Squires (12 4) and Lewis. (11.11) resulted in a draw.

OLYMPIC TESTS IN SYDNEY. At th m .SYDNEY, January 13. At the Olympic boxing tests the winners were: Bantam, R. Sweeney; Light-weight, H CampbeH; feather, A. Mitchell; welter, R. Barling (all New South Wales); light-heavy, F. Gilshannan (Queensland). AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONS. .... titTe h holder°s:- S P *' eSCnt 71b a Vic"white chan ‘ pion ’ "eight, limit, 7st Fly-weight champion, Bst, Teddie Green. . a ,” fcani -we'ght champion, Bst 61b, Billy Al Alister. J B^rber her " Clght charnpion ’ 9st > Tommy Light-weight champion. 9st 91b “ Bluev ” Jones. J Welter-weight champion, IGst 71b Al Bourke. Middle-weight champion, list 61b, Billy Edwards. Mid-heavy-weight champion, 12st 71b George Thompson. ’ Heavy-weight, any weight, “ Tiyer ’•?■ Payne. BILLY M'ALISTER. Tlie negotiations between the VVelJinra. ton Boxing Association and Billy M'Alistcr,the Australian bantam, have apparently lapsed in tho meantime, and it is on the cards that Frank Taylor and Tommy Griffiths will meet in Wellington next month, with Cleverly, Morgan, and O’Sullivan, the Olympic nominees figuring in the pre' liminaries. Griffiths and Taylor have met twice before. On the first occasion Griffiths won by a narrow margin, and on the second the referee made it a draw.