DE GANS TOO GOOD

Southland Times, Issue 22915, 13 June 1936, Page 20

DE GANS TOO GOOD

THE HEAVYWEIGHT POSITION

(By

“Veritas.”)

By his defeat of Ray Nicol on Wednesday night Roy de Gans demonstrated conclusively that he is in a class by himself as far as the heavyweights of New Zealand are concerned Nicol made a valiant attempt to hold the negro, but after the fourth ox - fifth round it was clear that the further the bout went the less Nicol’s chance of winning grew. De Gans fought confidently, and although he had a comfortable victoxy in his first fight with Nicol he showed that he was a vastly improved boxer. His smart footwork and clever ringcraft left him in some wonderful positions to belabour Nicol That’s what it amounted to in the finish. Nicol was out-boxed, out-man-oeuvred and punished. De Gan’s next opponent is Tiny Nicholls, the Australian heavyweight who is to meet Maxie Rosenbloom at Sydney on Monday night. Nicholls defeated de Gans at Sydney before de Gans left for New Zealand, but according to reports there was little between the pair. The fact that Nicholls has been selected as an opponent fox' Rosenbloom makes it clear that he is thought something of, and while few, if any, will expect him to extend Rosenbloom, there is always the possibility that something may happen. The meeting of Nicholls and de Gans in Invercargill will be eagerly awaited. After seeing Ray Nicol take so much punishment on Wednesday night there were many prepared to say that the champion had as good as finished his career. They forgot to take into account the calibre of de Gans as an opponent. The negro could not strike form in Australia, but he certainly has done so here with a vengeance. He xs a better all-round man than Nicol as a boxer-fighter, and in fairness to Nicol it must be said that he did well to go the distance with de Gans. Nicol may not be as fit as he was, but he still has a lot of fight left in him and his prospective match with H. Reeve should be worth seeing. Who will challenge Nicol for his heavyweight title it is hard to say. Luttrell is back in New Zealand and might be keen to put in a challenge when his jaw mends. Apart from him there are only Bolton and Reeve left. Perhaps the. Southland Association will consider matching Nicol with Frank Prendergast. The latter is in training and is anxious to get a bout. The improved lighting arrangements over the ring for the Nicol-de Gans fight were the subject of complimentary comment from the spectators in the gallery and back stalls. Invitation From Rakaia.

The invitation of the Rakaia Association for a team of amateurs to travel to Rakaia some week-end is a worthwhile one. The Otago Association seems to have forgotten all about the proposed Otago-Southland match, so the Rakaia proposal is more than a possibility. If accepted it will certainly give the local amateurs something to strive for. G. Lowe, middleweight champion of New Zealand, and “Tiger” Mitchell are two of the boys Southlanders would have to meet at Rakaia. It was reported that de Gans was offered a fight with Rosenbloom; he received a cable to this effect during the week. But de Gans was not to be tempted in the meantime. He is prepared to stay in Invercargill as long as fights are offering. And as long as he gives displays as he has been giving there should be little doubt about the fights that will be available to him. Luttrell may make a fair opponent for him after the Nicholls bout. Mr Gellatly was chided by the crowd when he stopped the Broad-McKnight amateur bout in the final round. Many apparently thought that the referee had been too hasty. The matter was entirely in his hands and there was no one in a better position than he to decide whether or not McKnight had had enough. Prevention is better than cure. If the referee had let the fight go on much longer the crowd might have had cause to complain of the result. Dick in Training. R. Dick, the well-known Invercargill middleweight, who is at present living at Mokotua, is not neglecting his training. On Saturday night Dick brought several promising boys in the district into J. Kelly’s gymnasium and helped to stage an interesting “no-decision” tournament with several of Kelly’s pupils. The . Mokotua boys showed promise and it is reported that several of them will take part in the Winton tournament on Monday evening. J. Kelly has entered 13 of his pupils at Winton. He considers that although they have been training for only a short time they should do well in the tournaments this winter. To-night Kelly is taking some of the boys to Wyndham

to spar with the boxers there. Roy de Gans has promised to accompany the party. At the latest advices the promotei - Mike Jacobs was expecting the “gate” of about £300,000 for the fight between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, the date for which was changed to June 18. Plans were being made to accommodate at least 100,000 spectators in the Yankee Stadium, a huge open-air arena just outside New York. Johnny Richmond, the Dunedin featherweight, found Percy Hawes ,a bit of a handful at Christchurch on Tuesday night. Richmond won his first professional bout very easily, outpointing D. A. Leydon, who won the New Zealand amateur bantamweight championship last year. He is now being trained by Hector Leckie, former lightweight champion of New Zealand. Richmond is a pretty boxer. He won the New Zealand amateur flyweight championship as far back as 1928, at Auckland. He subsequently performed well in the bantam and featherweight divisions. Luttrell’s Broken Jaw. Trouble came in heaps to the New Zealander, Vai Luttrell when he unwisely accepted a contest with the Tasmanian Pat Appleton at the Majestic Stadium (Sydney) following on the success of his bout with Les Brander at Leichhardt Stadium the previous night, writes Ted Turner from Sydney to Sporting Life. Appleton knocked out Luttrell in the second round. As indicated last week the heavyweight from Hastings was not himself when he fought Appleton. Apart from the reverse, Luttrell is now suffering from a fractured left jaw as a result of the terrific right hand punch which knocked him out. As he will be out of action for six weeks, at least, there is a possibility that he will return home. He will take back with him the best wishes of the hundreds of good friends he has made on this side of the Tasman. Perpetual Motion. The Northern Boxing Association has been pleasing its patrons lately by including teams matches in the programmes. Although the duration of each individual bout is only one minute, the whirlwind tactics, and non-stop, non-scientific slugging adopted by .the contestants, invariably provide the spectators with an abundance of excitement, to say nothing of amusement. Credit for the bright thought of introducing such a novel element into the evening’s entertainment goes to Lieutenant “Pugs” Thew, R.N. (recently returned to England) who suggested the idea to the Northern Boxing Association. Some boxing writers have criticized these teams matches, maintaining that they render the sport farcical, (says The Observer), but one might as well suggest that a reader of Wodehouse automatically loses his appreciation of Galsworthy—in any case, the public likes them.