FINAL TOURNAMENT OF SEASON

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 81, Issue 7251, 13 September 1950, Page 7

FINAL TOURNAMENT OF SEASON

PATRONS TREATED TO GOOD BOXING STAGED BY YOUNG MEN’S INSTITUTE MANY WAIKATO GYMNASIUMS REPRESENTED Boxing fans were given thirteen bouts of a high standard of fighting by a good line-up of talent as a return for their money at the third and last tournament to be staged by the Te Awamutu Young Men’s Institute during this season. The tournament was the most successful of the season and was held in the Institute Hall last Monday night with a capacity audience of nearly 300. Many old supporters of the Institute again came forward with generous donations of trophies for the winners of bouts. The fights were all run smoothly and members of the committee, by hard work and attention to detail, ensured there would not be any breakdown of the programme, which was a tribute to their organising ability. A large number of gymnasiums were represented, teams coming from Springdale, Waitoa, Matamata, Mangakino, Putaruru, Arapuni, Taupiri, Rotorua, Matata, and Y.M.I. Rotorua had the strongest team, bringing six lads, who won three bouts, lost one and drew two. The Y.M.I. had the next largest team with five boys, who won three bouts, lost one and drew one.

Theie was only one fight during the evening which gave the impression that the contestants had talked the matter over beforehand, apparently deciding not to hurt each other. One of the surprise bouts of the evening was that of W. Craig’.s, who had not had a fight for about four years and had not gone into any serious training prior to meeting Dunsmuir, of Matata. The Y.M.I. lad came through the first round a little short of breath, but went out to obtain a technical knockout in the second in a whirlwind display of ringcraft. Most of the bouts were well matched, but in all but a few, the referee, Mr. R. O’Brien, of Ohaupo, had little difficulty in separating out the winner.

The first bout of the evening was between G. Craig, of Y.M.1., 4st 91bs, and B. Epps, of Mangakino, 4st 71bs. Craig won with his left in the first two rounds. He followed with his right often and had no difficulty in holding off his shorter opponent. Epps manoeuvred around in the second round attacking, but Craig held him off with clean blows and defended himself with more experience. Epps cairied the fight more in the final round, which he may have won. He landed a number of solid blows to Craig’s head with his left and right, and defended better than he had in the first two rounds. Craig had the advantage in his longer reach, however, and was given the bout. The lightest bout of the evening, between B. Craig, 3.12, of Y.M.1., and K. Day, of Rotorua, 4.2, resulted in a draw which was popular. Day carried the attack well, leading out with lefts, but closing ud on Craig when he countered. Craig chopped with his right and scored on Day’s head a few times. Day measured well and carried a rush attack swinging. In the second round he had Craig retreating and still chopping with his right. Craig retaliated with a quick succession of blows. Both lads were game and carried the fight to each other in the last round, Day shaping well and Craig matching him. Both have the right stuff in them and will be good to watch when they are older and better experienced. A supple defence and steady left jab to the face won D. Brown, of Y.M.1., 7.8, his flyweight bout with B. O’Callaghan, of Waitoa, 7.5. O’Callaghan attacked from the first round, but had too close a defence, holding his left close to his face. Brown was too good on his feet and led out with his left, hitting O’Callaghan on his left glove and injuring his mouth. Brown continued with his good defence and neat hitting. O’Callaghan followed up but could not get any advantage out of the clashes. Brown carried the fight into him in the last round with a cool- open style. He took some punishment from O’Callaghan’s straight left, but meted out a lot more than he received. Both boy.s were tired when they finished, and Craig’s decision was popular. G. Simpson, of Rotorua, 8.9, made good use of fiis longer reach to hold off J. Curtis, of Mangakino, 8.4. There was little fighting in the first round, Curtis following up and Simpson holding his guard well. Simpson continued to keep out of the road of Curtis, who stopped some sound punches trying to break down his opponent’s guard. Curtis, forced to carry the fight to his opponent, was tired at the end of the final round and Simpson carried in the attack, giving punishment with his left and scoring with a right across to the head. Curtis closed and got in under Simpson’s guard, using both hands. Simpson maintained his guard well and although they clinched often, Curtis was unable to take a great deal of advantage when the former overshot his mark. Simp.son won easily.

W. Rapana, of Waitoa, 7.10, who delighted fans at the previous tour nament, came up against too solid an opponent in N. Cunningham, of Rotorua, 8.0, and lost. Cunningham was more experienced and taller and had a longer teach. He carried the fight into Rapana, who could do little but retire, defending and making use of his left. Cunningham scored -with his right to the head and body. Rapana carried the fight at the beginning of the second round, but was rapidly put on defence by Cunningham, who kept a cool defence. Unflurried at Rapana’s two-handed attack, Cunningham exchanged blows and put in some hard right rips to the head and body again. Rapana again attacked with both hands in the final round, but I Cunningham guarded well and .scored often to win. W. Crawford, of Putaruru, 10.5, won the first and last rounds to beat a plucky Maori boy from Springdale, T. Karena, 10.10. Crawford was very aggressive in the first round, opening with a hard left lead followed by a straight right, all to the head, which hurt the lanky Karena. Karena

came back boxing and using his left to hold off his stock opponent, but lost the round. Karena opened the second round with a series of rapid left and right blows to Crawford’s head going over the top of the latter’s guard which was not strong. Crawford swung with both fists, but lacked power. He gave ground to the Maori boy, but distressed him early in the third round. He won the round and the decision which did not meet with popular approval, but he carried most of the attack and scored with his straight Jefts. Karena was tired and could do little more than

lay his glove on Crawford’s head. G. Walker, of Waitoa, 6.8, fought an even matched bout with L. Roach, of Taupiri, but won on the final round. The first two rounds saw an even exchange of blows which were delivered with snirit and both hands. Roach had a better left and made good use of it in the second round. Walker scored inside Roach’s guard often and gained the decision in the final round after giving a good exhibition with' his right. Roach followed him all the way, but could not do any damage against Walker’s better defence. G. Semmens, of Y.M.1., 10.7, who gained a*”whirlwind first round decision in the previous tournament, lost to K. Jones, of Matamata, 10.6. Jones won with his cleaner hitting and met all of Semmens’s rushes with a good left. Semmens tried to get inside of Jones’s guard, rushing his opponent often and leading into clinches. Semmens put Jones on the ropes often in the second round and tried to work on his wind. Every time he rushed Jones scored with his left. Jones stopped a series of rushes again in the final round and smothered the attacks with a good guard. The decision was given to Jones who tried to carry the attack some of the way, but neither boy hurt the other to any extent.

G. Cunningham, of' Rotorua, 5.5, and Scotson, of Mangakino, 5.7, carried very little fight with them in the first round. Cunningham landed a few punches which were quite good. Scotson led several lefts in the second, but for the most part he was content to let Cunningham carry the attack to him. The fight was spurred along in the last round by Cunningham and both boy.s mixed it. Appearing to make his own conditions, Cunningham hit cleanlv and won the bout although Scotson did not let him have it all his own way. The surprise of the evening was W. Craig, of Y.M.1., 11.4. He was matched with Dunsmuir of Matata, 10.9, who had not lost a fight for some time. Craig let Dunsmuir take the attack to him, but being afraid of a strong left hook, with which his opponent was fairly fast, he kept well out of reach, content to pick him off with a jolting left straight and right hook. Craig exhibited the better ringcraft and although winded at the end of the round, was ahead on points. He gained the fight in the second of the four two minute rounds on a technical knockout.

Dunsmuir was put on the canvas twice, once for the count of six after Craig had hit him hard with his right. Craig went out in the second round with the obvious intention of finishing the bout quickly and after leading, went in. with a rapid succession of left hooks to the body and side of the head, putting Dunsmuir on the ropes. With Dunsmuir at his mercy, Craig hit with a hard right to the jaw which put his opponent down. The towel was thrown in by Dunsmuir’s second as the fight went on again and Craig took him into the corner with left and right hooks to the head and body. Apparently thinking that Dunsmuir was not in distress, the referee threw it out. After being smothered with Craig’s attack, Dunsmuir was let out of the corner only to receive two hard rights, the second of which put him through the ropes in a dazed condition. The t.k.o. decision was given to Craig at this stage. M. Hurry, of Mangakino, 7.12, and W. Forbes, of Rotorua, 7.6, drew their bout. Forbes may have taken the first round in which there were very punoj puooos oqi uj ’pof saqound avoj Hurry went well, using a nice straight left. Forbes favoured his right, but kept his left in use. Hurry continued his left lead and got in with some good right rips to the body and occasional hooks -to the head in the last round. Forbes lacked something in his defence, but kept his end up very well. D. Lyle, of Rotorua, 9.6, won from O’Brien of Taupiri, 9.2, after a good bout. Lyle held the centre of the ring and kept O’Brien off with a straight left. When O’Brien went through his guard, he hit very cleanly with both hands. Coming out in the second round, O’Brien delivered a hard left to Lyle’s ribs, which he followed up with a succession of hard left and rights until they clinched. Lyle continued to leave an opening on his body, but held off O’Brien successfully, scoring repeatedly with his left. He went much better in the last round, when he had the decision given to him. The final bout of the evening was a light heavyweight contest between K. Hendrickson, of Waitoa, 12.0, and McGill of Waitoa, 11.10, who gave a tame exhibition of boxing. Hendrickson was obviously the better boxer of the two and many patrons had seen him do much better in an exhibition bout at the previous tournament. He played with McGill who would never have made the approaches he did under normal circumstances. Hendrickson was given the decision. ' At the end of the second to last bout the trophies for the evening were presented to the winners of each bout by the president of the Y.M.1., Mr F. Scott. The cut for the most scientific boxer of the evening was awarded to G. Walker, of Waitoa, and T. Karena was awarded the cup for the best looser of the evening, a gesture which was popularly received. Once again thanks have to be extended to all those officials who are working to build up the fund and pay off the debentures on the Airforce

hall for the Young Men’s Institute. Bost of them say very little and do a lot behind the scenes. Mr N. Delaney was announcer, Mr F. Natzke timekeeper, Mr R. O’Brien referee, Mr E. Sherley secretary. The donationes of trophies to the Y.M.I. are acknowledged from the following staunch supporters: A. Lady Wellwisher and Messrs A. Hobbs, M. Spence, F. Natzke, K. Jones, W. Ramsay, P. Peryer, J. Tolieh, P. Murtagh, D. Wallace, C. A. Reilly, A. Bisset, C. Nicholson of Otahuhu, and Mrs O’Neill. Thanks are also extended to the Waipa Racing Club and the Te Awamutu Rugby Union for the use of seating.