BOXING

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 51

BOXING

AUCKLAND AMATEUR CHAMP'IONi SHIPS. j AUCKLAND, July 25. In View of the Dominion championships to be field here next -month, more than ordinary interest was; taken in,the Auckland; amateur boxing, championships, which were finalised last night as under:— Fly-weight—F. E. Pearey beat A. Crook. ■ Bantam—E. Davis beat L. Bailey. Feather—J. Leslie beat AC Craig. Light-Weight—A. Jones, after beating M, Percer in the semi-final, won by default from C. J. Craig, who had defeated C. M'Knight. , Welter-weight—J. G. Forsyth beat F. Fraer. Mjddle-weight—W. Pitcher beat A. Shadbolt. Light-weight—P. M'Carthy beat F. Mullins; Heavy-weight—P. M'Carthy, who had beaten G. Frear in the semi-final, won by default from T. Mullins. ' ■ :CASEY DEFEATS CARROLL. _ WELLINGTON, July 23. Harry Casey, the middleweight champion of New Zealand, beat jack Carroll, the welterweight champion of Australia, on points in a 15-round bout. The decision met with a very hostile demonstration from a large section of the audience. The championship was not at stake. BARBER v. GRIFFITHS. The professional contest between Tommy Barber (Australia, 8.13 i) and Tommy Griffiths (Dimedin, (8.11$) for a purse of £l5O drew a large crowd to the Kensington Drill "Hall on Saturday night, the visitor gaining a clea.’-cut and; thoroughly earned victory. Griffiths entered the ring in splendid condition, and he looked a fitter man than his opponent. The local man, however, left it to Barber to make the fight, and the New South Welshman must have been very tired at the conclusion of the 15 rounds, as Griffiths kept on the retreat and broke ground repeatedly as Barber followed him round. -In fact, in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth rounds the contest became a rather tame affair. Barber was the taller of the two with the longer reach, and with his left outstretched, feeling his way, he kept after Griffiths in these four rounds more particularly, the latter retreating, or breaking ground, and then jumping in now and again to score with his left. Many of these lefts were only a flick, and it may be added that on one occasion Griffiths was checked for hitting with the open glove. The referee (Mr J. Kilmartin) had a simple task to select the winner, and, as a matter of fact, Barber; after winning nearly all of the rounds, had Griffiths at his mercy in the last round. After some infighting Griffiths jumped in and landed with his left to the face and Barber swung back his right, which caught Griffiths on the jaw- He fell to the mat, but then rajsed himself to his feet, leaning with one hand on the mat, while Mr Kilmartin stood between him and Barber and counted nine. Barber could be seen protesting, and a section of the crowd hooted, because they considered that Griffiths was not * down,” under the boxing rules, and that the fight should have gone on. Griffiths, however, was well within his rights, and Mr Kilmartin’s ruling was the correct one. The rule of the New Zealand Boxing Association bearing on this point reads at follows : “ A competitor shall be considered ‘down,’ even when on'his feet, if at the same time any other part of his body is touching the ground. . . .” On the .count of nine Griffiths rushed Barber to the ropes had had both arms clutched around his body. Barber held his arms aloft _in protest, and the referee went across and called, “ Break.” On the break away Griffiths slipped behind the referee, Barber connecting with a right swing as the Dunedin man moved. The referee apparently checked Barber, who then followed Griffiths behind the referee and connected -with another right, and the’ referee left them to it. A solid left hook from Barber'then caught Griffiths under . the jaw’, and he was down for six; and the final gong then sounded. Barber is an open fighter, with a left lead’ and a heavy right swing. Hia style is something similar, indeed, to that of Leekie, but whether he is quite as quick with his punch as the Dunedin man remains to be seen.

In the preliminaries T. W. Webber beat C. Buckley, and Fulcher (9.7) beat H. Drew (9.10).

TARANAKI CHAMPIONSHIPS.

; NEW PLYMOUTH, July 28. The Taranaki boxing championships were decided at Stratford on Saturday night; The champions are as follow:— Fly-weight, V. Spavin (Hawera); bantam, N. Roebuck (New Plymouth); feather, T. Donovan (Waitara) ; light, T. Dohovan; middle, L. Dombroski (Waitara); welter, L. Drombroski; lightheavy, A. Goodwin (Okato); heavy, L. O’Keefe (Midhirst). To represent Taranaki at the New Zealand championships at Auckland Donovan, Roebuck, Dombroski, and Goodwin have beenchosen.