BOXING

Southland Times, Issue 19124, 17 December 1923, Page 8

BOXING

FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP. AWARDED TO MASCART. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) PARIS, December 14. The regulation interval allowed Criquil the featherweight champion of France and Europe, to take up Mascart’s challenge expired without the challenge being accepted. Criqui stated that he had renounced the titles. The French Boxing Federation therefore awarded the national title to Mascart, but decided to submit the question of the European title to the International Boxing Federation. MATCHES IN AUSTRALIA. DUPONT AND KEMP KNOCKED OUT. STONEY, December 16. Butcher knocked out Dupont in the third round with a left to the chin. The Belgian was outclassed throughout. Alf Stewart knocked out Les Kemp in the tenth round for the middleweight title. AN INVERCARGILL REQUEST. REFUSED BY WELLINGTON. (Special to the Times). CHRISTCHURCH, December 15. At a meeting of the New Zealand Boxing Council, a letter was read from the Wellington Association, stating that it was unable to agree to the suggestion from the Wellington conference that the 1924 New Zealand championships should be held in Invercargill instead of Wellington, as provided for in the rules. The Council approved of the Wellington Association’s decision, being of opinion that, unless for some very special reason, the rule abould be strictly adhered to. AN UNFORTUNATE ENDING. MURRAY WINS ON A FOUL. VOLAIRE’S CREDITABLE SHOWING. (Wellington Post). Quite a considerable number of years have elapsed since a professional boxing contest in Wellington was won on a foul, and when Les Murray, of Invercargill, lightweight champion of the Dominion, was crowned by. Referee Earl Stewart, after he had been hit below by Eugene Volaire, the popular little Frenchman, the crowd, which filled every corner of the Town Hall at Wellington on Wednesday night, was so taken by surprise that for the moment it forgot to voice its disapproval or even to cheer. A subsequent outburst, however, indicated only too clearly that the greater part of the audience resented the referee’s action. The contest scheduled for fifteen rounds, came to an unfortunate ending in the twelfth round, when Murray, after causing Volaire to miss with his left, jumped to avoid a right swing to the bpdy, and stopped the punch below the waist-line. Doubling up in evident pain, he prepared to continue the fight, but, as previously stated, the referee intervened and raised his hand in token of his victory on a foul. Volaire looked dumbfounded, and dropped his hands to his sides, while Murray indicated his willingness to proceed with the business in hand, but the third man was obdurate, and again signalled Murray as the winner.

To say the least of it, the ending was as unfortunate as it was unexpected, since all preceding rounds had been contested in the best sporting spirit, the tactics of both Doxers being beyond question. AU through the contest Murray had shown a decided tendency to leap up and away from his opponent, and that Volaire should be disqualified for a foul which was contributed to by Murray himself to an almost equal extent is certainly a matter for regret. Whatever happened, the blow', though admittedly below the specified mark, was in no way intended as a foul, and this, of yourse, must have been abundantly clear to tveryone present. Again, however, it is jnost unfortunate that the referee must give his decision, having regard to what actually did occur, and in no way taking into consideration what was intended or what might have happened. Up tiU the time that the bout was stopped, Murray had a fair margin of points in his favour, but with almost four rounds to run, Volaire, who is recognised as being a man who boxes stronger towards the finish than he does in the opening rounds, might have done anything and everything. When interviewed after the fight, the referee had nothing to say except that the blow was a foul, and resulted in the Frenchman’s disqualification. He would not even express an opinion as to whether or not the breach was accidental, though he did concur with the Post reporter that the points swayed towards the New Zealander. Volaire, while feeling sure that it was Murray’s own fault he was hit low, made no complaint about the actual decision of the referee, and in his characteristic fashion admitted that “it was very unfortunate.” The New Zealander was two pounds lighter than Volaire, who tipped the beam at 9st 13 jib. THE STAR ATTRACTION. Shooting cut two successive straight lefts, Murray danced lightly around his opponent when the opening gong sounded, but Volaire back moved and then came in with a heavy left hook. He landed a hard left swing, followed by a heavy right when the pair were in neutral corner, though Murray prettily ducked and walked away from his dangerous position, stopping occasionally in his retreat to send a straight left to Volaire’s face. The champion’s supporters cheered wildly in the early part of round two, when Murray, with a lucky left hock, caught the Frenchman off his balance, and sent him to •he floor. Volaire was not hurt, however, ind bounced up immediately, falling into a clinch. Murray notched points with a series of rights to the solar plexus, and used both hands well in the close work. Volaire scored with a heavy right to the body. Volaire missed by feet with a right up-per-cut in the third round, catching his man. however with a long straight left and a right to the body. Murray commenced to do the attacking, and altered his stance so that his right hand was foremost, though in this position he did very little effective work at this particular stage. The Frenchman evidently feared a trap, and cautiously moved around his man without taking any unnecessary risk.

Working a neat “shift” from his right foot, Murray landed a hard left hook to the head in round four, and followed up quickly with left and right to the body. He drew blood from Volaire’s nose, but the Frenchman defended confidently, and a few seconds later stepped in with a left rip to the body. He swung his right hard to the head, but Murray was cleverly evasive.

Neat headwork by Murray made Volaire miss so badly in round five that he slipped to the canvas, but he was up and fighting without a second’s delay. Murray’s right eye was at this stage beginning to show noticeable signs of wear, and a left hook brought the claret from his nose. He was fighting strongly, however, and jabbed short left and right hand blows to the face with point-scoring precision.

Very little serious work was done in round six. both men seeming to be content to make an attempt at “spelling.” The versatile Murray did a considerable amount of “southpaw” work in the seventh round, and connected with some pointaconng straight rights to the head. Volaire stood off his man, and waiting for the lead, countered heavily to the body. Murray stepped in with a short right to the head, but as he swung away Volaire ripped his right glove to the body.

The Frenchman boxed very well in the eigth round, and shortly after the gong he cornered his -opponent and partly connected with a heavy right swing, some of the force of which was taken on Murray’s glove. Murray slipped a rather slowly-de-

livered straight left, and, pivoting, caught the visitor with a left swing to the body. Murray boxed with his usual confidence and scored well with fast jabs to the head.

A left hook, delivered with surprising rapidity, caught Murray on the mouth in round nine and steadied him up for several seconds. He came back determinedly, however, but stopped a swinging left to the body. Murray again took the aggressive, and sank a straight left to the midriff, causing his opponent to commence to move back along the ropes. Several neatly-delivered left-right punches caused Murray’s supporters to applaud in round ten, but the Frenchman was not damaged to any noticeable extent, and replied with lefts to the body. The New Zealander’s left-right combination was much in evidence ,and annoyed his opponent in no small measure. Well-manoeuvred head work nullified the effects of Volaire’s right swings.

Volaire plied a left hook in the eleventh round, dancing away as Murray attempted to lead, but rhe New Zealander was not to be denied, and bored in, punching with both hands as he advanced. Again he jabbed a series of lefts to the face, and danced away before Volaire could counter. Then the twelfth and final round, as already described.