Two Former Southland Amateur Champions Will Meet Next Week

Southland Times, Issue 23825, 24 May 1939, Page 11

Two Former Southland Amateur Champions Will Meet Next Week

By

VERITAS

Two of the most popular boxers ever to have stepped into an Invercargill ring, Les Adams, of Ashburton, and Dick Baker, of Invercargill, have been matched by the Southland Boxing Association to fight a 10-rounds bout next Wednesday night. Both are former Southland amateur champions. Adams has had a long career, both as an amateur and as a professional. He represented Southland in the New Zealand amateur championships at Auckland about 10 years ago and although he has not won a New Zealand title, either professional or amateur, he has beaten some of the best men of his class in New Zealand. His bouts with George McEwan, New Zealand professional middleweight champion soon after he entered the professional ranks will be remembered by many as providing the most exciting contests in that class in Invercargill. In the first bout, which was a title fight, Adams appeared to win, but the verdict of the judges went against him. The second bout was not a title match. Adams got the verdict on that occasion after being out on his feet in the last round.

Since his departure from Invercargill Adams has held his own with the best welterweights in New Zealand and last year his percentage of wins, including successes against the titleholder, Neville Mudgway, was better than that of any other welterweight who fought. Whether the passage of years has dulled Adams’s activity remains to be seen. Reports credit him with showing good form in his training this season and as he will be out to make good in his home city it can be taken for granted that he will make a good showing against the youthful Baker. He will be assured of a good reception when he enters the ring. Baker has thrown off the effects of influenza and is ready to put up the fight of his career. His form against Norman Jenkin was so impressive that his supporters are anxious to see him in action again. He has bright prospects and under the guidance of Mr A. E. Tall there is no reason why he should not reach the front rank of welterweights this season. The match promises to draw a huge crowd to the Civic Theatre. R. WITHELL’S FORM R. Withell, the Ashburton amateur heavyweight, who has been matched against Don Anderson, Southland champion, as a preliminary to the Adams-Baker bout, beat T. Lister, former New Zealand champion at Ashburton last week. From the opening rallies Lister showed a more finished style, using a right hook sparingly but effectively, says a report of the bout. His footwork was superior, and Withell resorted to holding, but scored in the in-fighting. Lister led in most attacks, but as the fight progressed Withell broke the defence by heavy rushes. He was not fast enough away to avoid stern punishment. At the close of the bout, Lister drove his opponent against the ropes. The decision was not popular.

The amateur preliminary bout between M. Parr, the New Zealand University champion, and W. Brown, Southland featherweight champion, at Dunedin last week did not produce the boxing it was expected to produce. Commenting on the bout The Evening Star, Dunedin, stated:—“There was not much clean or decisive work to the contest between Parr and Brown. Parr was inclined to overdo the footwork, with the result that exchanges were

few and far between. Parr was ahead in the straight work, though Brown landed some hard rights to the head and body. There was very little between the men and Parr gained a close decis-

BOOM IN DUNEDIN With contests of the calibre of that between Billy Parris, of Wellington, and Norman Fisher, of Christchurch, at Dunedin last week, no fears need be held concerning the outlook for boxing here, says The Evening Star, Dunedin. A capacity audience went away well satisfied that it had seen one of the best boxing displays and livelist encounters seen in Dunedin since the days of Johnny Leckie and to that happy state of affairs both men contributed.

It was generally anticipated that the meeting of these two fast and clever welterweights would provide one of the best matches of the season, for both built up brilliant records for themselves as amateurs and both had represented New Zealand—Parris in 1934 and Fisher in 1936. The contests they have had in professional, ranks have further enhanced their reputations, and while Fisher may have been a slight favourite, Parris’s aggressiveness and boxing ability were sufficiently well known locally to leave the issue very open. Paris won on a knock-out in the ninth round. FOSTER’S LEFT A WINNER By a most reversal of form, Johnny Foster put Jack Davis out in the eleventh round at Wellington last week. Before the fight it was odds on that Davis, tough and rugged, would account for an opponent whose fitness was a doubtful quantity, says The Sports Post. Seldom were calculations more astray. Foster's liveliness in the early rounds was generally expected to fade any minute. Instead there were still springs in his toes when his job was completed with a technical knock-out in the eleventh. From the sixth round onwards Davis found the going increasingly heavy and his way was not made easiei - by the fact that the sound of the gong would bring Foster scampering across the ring to be on him almost before he had risen from his chair. Much of what Foster promised in his Caltaux effort was produced. The rest may be seen when he has another bout or two. He may have only one punch but it is as damaging a left hand as has been seen here in years. Finding it hard to apply it to the solar plexus he aimed at the jaw instead and achieved the same result. Davis, who admitted afterwards that Foster’s left was too much for him, also favoured the left but he mixed it with a useful right. His trouble all the time was getting within range of the Canadian. Such a game boxer deserved a better fate. FIXTURES May 31.—Dick Baker v. Les Adams, at Invercargill. V. Caltaux v. J. Foster, at Hastings. June I.—M. Morton v. B. Leonard, at Petone. June 5.—F. Finnigan v. R. Gearney (for the vacant featherweight title), at Ashburton. June 6.—C. Hanham v. G. Allen, at Auckland. September 12, 13 and 14—New Zealand amateur championships, at Invercargill.