BOXING

Southland Times, Issue 19184, 1 March 1924, Page 13

BOXING

(By “Punch.”) FIXTURES. March 10.—Harry Stone v Tommy Fairhall. July 4.—Luis Firpo v Harry Wills. AUSTRALIAN BOUTS. March L—Alf Simmonds v Paul Demsky. Southland Boxing Association, with commendable enterprise, has been busy endeavouring to stage a welter-weight bout between Eugene Volaire and Harry May for a purse of £l4O, with £2O expenses to each man. Volaire has wired his acceptance of the proposed match and the worthy secretary (Mr J. H. Gilbertson) is at present engaged in communicating with May. Many of those Invercargill enthusiasts who are following the fortunes of New Zealand’s premier light-weight, Les Murray, in Australia will be disappointed somewhat on seeing the cable recording his first Australian defeat at the hands of Archie

Bradley. The cableman, in an otherwise satisfactory summary of proceedings, neI glected to state the contrast in poundage 'between victor and vanquished in Saturday | night’s battle. Archie Bradley, Australian welter-weight title-holder by virtue of hi/ , recent defeat of Tommy Uren, goes to the scales four or five pounds below the welter limit, whereas the Invercargill lad keeps down to the 9st 91b distinction. In addition to his weight advantage, the Queenslander—a typical “Cornstalk,” tall and “rangy” in build—would outrange the stockily-built Les with length of arm and body. The wisdom of Les Murray’s act was unquestionable; his contract is yet to be completed while he had nothing to gain and much to lose by continuing with a fighur stronger than himself. I venture to prophesy that the Sydney papers will agree and recognise Murray’s wisdom in abandoning his too-difficult task. The recent meeting between Andre Dupre, the newly-arrived Frenchman, and Freddie Smith, of New South Wales, at New Plymouth, resulted in an attractive exhibition of boxing. Referring to the contest, one writer remarks:—“ ... the patrons were treated to a display of fast open, scientific boxing, which was a treat to watch . . . Dupre entered the ring at 9st 31b, Smith being heavier by six pounds. In general appearance, Dupre had the look of an aristocrat of the ring, his ricin, tanned hr topic sniMt covering an of.

rippling muscles, which indicated what he really is—one of the speediest boxers io fight in a New Plymouth ring for some time. Smith is more stockily built, and he did not appear to be very fit. Smith has got rid of the habit of leaving himself wide open in the initial stages of a fight, and last night he kept a close guard- on his body and face. He did most of the scoring during the little in-fighting there was. Most of his blows were directed to the body, and at times he did effective work with his right and left, while on a few occasions he was successful in landing his left on Dupre’s jaw. But for every point he scored Dupre generally had a swift ‘come back.’ Dupre’s principal instrument of scoring was a lightning straight left, which, until Smith became ‘wise’ to it, landed on his opponent’s point with the regularity of a piston rod. As used by Dupre, the blow was a fascinating one to watch, the more so since he never neglected an opportunity of using it. The blows landed with a great deal of sting behind them. In his right hand, too, he carries a worth-while punch, and had the upper cut he tried at least twice reached its intended destination,, it is probable that Smith' would have taken the count. One of the prettiest pieces of work for which Dupre was responsible occurred about half-way through the fight, when he brought off a particularly well-executed feint. Both men were sparring for an opening, when Dupre quickly led with his right to the mark. Smith dropped to take the blow on his gloves, when, in a flash, Dupre swung in a left hook, which landed fair and square on Smith’s jaw. It was one of the best blows of the evening, but he was not given a chance of repeating it. On his feet, Dupre was more active than Smith, whom he frequently enticed over to the ropes. With his back to the ropes and guard open, he appeared to offer a good target, but no sooner did Smith set his head in motion than, with a swift sidestep, Dupre dodged, leaving his right or left to stop Smith from going through the ropes. Once when Smith came at him to the ropes, he stopped the rush with a very nicely-timed straight left. According to the card of the referee the first and second rounds were slightly in favour of Dupre. The third was even, but the fourth was easily Dupre’s. Smith improved in his fifth round, which ended slightly in his favour, the next two rounds being even. Dupre took the eighth and ninth rounds, and the eleventh was even, the last four rounds again going to Dupre. The tally of the points showed a margin of 11 in favour of the Frenchman.”