BOXING

Southland Times, Issue 23819, 17 May 1939, Page 12

BOXING

Parris’s Convincing Win at DUNEDIN The crowd which filled His Majesty’s Theatre, Dunedin, on Monday night was treated to a great evening s boxing, says The Otago Daily Times. There were two professional bouts, both of which ended in knock-outs, and at least one of the preliminaries was as fast and exciting as anyone could W The f< main bout between Billy Parris, of Wellington, and the Christchurch lad, Norman Fisher, which was scheduled to go 12 rounds, came to an end in the ninth round, when Parris put his man down for the count with a left hook Parris weighed lOst 4Jlb, Fisher turn--ing the scale at three pounds less, but when the men entered the ring the difference looked even greater, Pai’ns but as far as boxing ability was concerned there was little beteveen the pair. It was Parris’s left hand that did all the damage, but he would probably have ended the fight sooner than he did if he had used his right and in the early stages of the fight he was inclined to leave himself very open when coming out, a fact of which Fisher, with his darting two-handed attack took full advantage. FISHER BOXES WELL The first round opened with a bout of in-fighting, and Parris rushed his man so hard against the ropes that one of the comer posts gave under the strain. Up to the end of the fourth round Fisher was going well, and, while a good many of Parris s blows were going astray, the Christchurch man hardly wasted a punch. He was, moreover, making better use of the ring than Parris, and was using both hands nicely. Half way through the third round one of Parris s punches landed a little low, and Fisher dropped to the canvas with a groan. He came up fighting, however, and slipping a vicious left hook, sent in a right and left to the jaw, which brought Parris up standing, and left him an open mark for another left flush to the chm. Parris ripped a couple of short lefts to the body and then bored in to drive nis man to the ropes. Fisher learned his lesson from this exchange, and elected to keep out from close quarters, preferring rather to stand off and box his opponent. These tactics were successful for a time, and he scored consistently with left and right to the face and body. , , So far, Fisher had had slightly the better of matters, but in the fifth round Parris, commenced to fight a good deal more vigorously. Getting in to close quarters, he drove in a battery of short-arm punches to the body, and then found a mark on Fisher s head with a snappy left hook. Fisher propped off his next rush with a straight left to the chin, following it up with another left to the same mark, and a nicelytimed right cross. Parris took all this in his stride, and continued to carry the fight to his opponent, who was obviously beginning to feel the effects of Parris’s battering body punches.

FISHER TAKES THE COUNT Fisher staged a great rally in the opening stages of the eighth round, but again Parris’s left hand took its toll, and when the gong went for the ninth round, the Christchurch lad was noticeably not as fresh as he might have been. Parris immediately went in with everything he had, and two heavy lefts to the body had Fisher rattled. He shot his left to Parris’s head, missed, and ducked Parris’s return, but Parris brought up a left that connected solidly as he was straightening up, and ripped another punch to the body. This brought Fisher forward sufficiently to meet the full force of a devastating left hook, which took him on the jaw and dropped him to the mat. He rose just as the referee finished counting, but the count beat him by a split second. In any case, it is doubtful whether, even if he had risen in time, he would have survived the round.