DONOVAN BEATS SHACK

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1930, Page 4

DONOVAN BEATS SHACK

DISPLAY NOT INSPIRING SUBSTANTIAL POINTS MARGIN. TOURNAMENT AT STRATFORD. Tommy Donovan (9.0) beat Sammy I Shack (9.1) at Stratford last night. The j fight on the whole waa not an exciting ' one - The American has- the reputation of being one of the cleverest boxers to visit New°Zealand shores. In hie way Shack is a marvel —at times uncannily clever. But his cleverness was worked along the wrong linee—-defence rather than attack. A master of technique, his knowledge of the finer points of boxing sometimes had Donovan in trouble, but the fireman is tough. When he stood up and fought his man the American showed to great advantage, but through tfie major part of the-contest he was content to draw Donovan’s left lead, slip his head inside or tap the' extended glove to one side, to make an opportunity to counter. But, ; unfortunately for. him, he seldom countered, allowing Donovan to recover and again assume the role of aggressor. In close work particularly Shack shone. But his tactics when in that position must have surprised Donovan, for the' American was one who might liave inspired Rex Beach to write “The Spoiler.” In short, Shack is a defensive fighter, hut h« made the grave mistake of relying too much on defence and too little on attack. Fine preliminaries put the crowd (the house was "well filled) in capital heart for the main bout. The principal preliminary, a. six-round bout between those two North Taranaki rivals, R. Furze and L. Dombroski, looked like providing a great clash, but midway through the third round Furze connected hard and true with a right to the jaw and Dombrcski took the count. Furze has improved greatly and is improving all the time. He should' be heard'of in the forthcoming championships. He was adjudged the most scientific amateur boxer of the evening, and therefore secured two cups; The Stratford Association had made complete arrangements for the conduct of the tourney, and with the exception of the slight delay after the first preliminary owing to the too vigorous onslaughts of one of the competitors proving too much for a stay of one of the corner posts, to withstand,. everything passed smoothly. The officials responsible for the conJnct of the gathering were: Referee, Mr. E. Stewart; 'announcer, Mr. A. Nelson; time-keepers, ' Messrs. J. Petrie, W. Mills and T. Kirkwood; official seconds, Messrs. W. J. Aitkin, E. H. Fazackerley, D. O’Keefe, S. Cleaver; weight steward, Mr. J. W. B. Jones; glove stewards, Messrs. F.! Reader and G. Jones- call steward, Mr. H. Shields; doctor’s steward, Mr. W. A. Brown. The committee, and particularly the president (Mr. P. Skoglund), and the secretary (Mr. C. C. Johnson) are to be congratulated on the results. AMERICAN’S COOLNESS... Shack was immediately forced to the ropes, but leaned back, claiming both Donovan’s gloves. 'The American was cool and stung Donovan wuth tw’o hard right hooks to the head. Donovan continued to force the fight and played his straight left to advantage, his forcing tactics earning him the round. Pandemonium reigned early in the second when Donovan stung the American with a straight left to the head, Shack going back on his heels. Springing, the American ripped a left to The body and chopped his, right to Donovan’s head. Superbly , cool, Shack delighted the crowd when he touched and deflected Donovan’s straight left. The glove appeared to be within an inch of Simek’s chin when he turned it off, sending Donovan to , the canvas. A hard left hook to the solar plexus eent Shack back over the ropes in the third, Donovan being somewhat perplexed when the American danced out of danger. Frustrated in his attempts to connect to Shack’s head, .Donovan concentrated on the body, swinging over an occasional left: hook to the head. He was distinctly puzzled by the Anieri-, can's continually pushing his left leads aside... Shack showed in the fourth that he was a master in .the close work, the Waitara boxer’s arms’ being Lied. S»ung by a hard right hook to Hie head Donovan jumped at the American and sent him to the ropes with a hard right hook to the face, blood showing from Shack’s nose. Nonchalance was shown by the American when ho was in the tightest of corners, and he several times looked appealingly at the referee when Donovan was working his hardest. In close lie sent snappy right jabs to Donovan’s left ear and the same weapon swung to the ribs scored points for Shack. The American was clearly 'a spoiler, Donovan finding it almost impossible to penetrate his Defence when in close, but. at long range w’Oi'k Donovan outshone him. CROWD SHOWS ANNOYANCE. . In the seventh Donovan’s right, swing was seen coming before he left his corner and it missed, , but following up he cornered the American and connected with a hard right , hook to the. head. Shack’s lackadaisical, methods annoyed the crowd in the eighth and he was told to fight. But he coolly continued along; his own line; spoiling and countering, while Donovan increased, his- tally of points by sheer aggressiveness. The referee’s “break, break, break,” became 1 monotonous, but Shack unconcernedly went his own way, drawing Donovan in, slipping his lead, and playing a tattoo on the fireman’s ear.

Wrestlino- and clinching also marred the ninth, Shack being roused to stage a fierce retaliation when Donovan forced him to the ropes and slammed a left to the jaw. The American ripped up a left body blow and swung his right to Donovan’s head, the fireman going backwards and pulling a wry face when another left caught him near the solar plexus. Early in the tenth Shack jumped in, shooting a left and a right ,to Donovan’s head, the latter sending Donovan to his heels Crouching low, Donovan walked back to receive left and right rips to the body. He was relieved .when the referee signalled Shack to keep the blows higher. Similar tactics were adopted by both men in the eleventh, towards the close of which the contest brightened. Early in the twelfth Donovan forced Shack to the ropes, a left rip to the body landing hard and maEiug the. American grimace. Before the round concluded the contestants again lost their “devil” and the referee had occasion to admonish-

both. : ’• ; In the thirteenth Shack was forced

I io the ropes but fought, his way cleafl I with a series of vicious right hooks tS I the head, but it was only a spasm and !he again relapsed into holding and sjioiling. Brighter things were expected over the latter stages, but the last two I sessions were eimilar to the preceding o,ncr». , THE PRELIMINARY BOUTS. SPECIAL WELTERWEIGHT. R. Furze (Tikorangi), 10.8. defeated L. Dombroski (Waitara), 11.2. by a knock-out in the third of a scheduled six-round bout. The contest opened rather sensationally. From the gong Furze went in and, leading with his left, caught Dombroski off his balance, sending him to the.canvas. The second round opened with the pair toe-to-toe, Dombroski having the advantage of the opening exchange and scoring heavily with both hands. .He held the upper hand for the first minute but then Furze steadied him with a iolid left to the face. For thb remainder of th» round honours were, even, there being some clean exchanges. Dombroski shot in his left to. open the third round and another rally •of solid straight hitting ensued, Dombroski, if anything, having the advantage until’’ suddenly Furze, seizing - aii : opening, 'shot his right with terrific force to the jaw, sending his opponent to the,canvas for the'Count. Welterweight, • -P. Roguski (Toko); 10.8, defeated VV. Brosnan (Stratford), 10.5, on < points over three twp-minute rounds, the bout Comprising mostly a series of. desperate rushes ‘on the part of Roguski, who forced 'his opponent through the ropes so often that after the bout repairs to one of the corner posts’ were necessary. However, that was all that was damaged in the contest. Roguski, adopting rushing tactics, forced Brosnan over and through the ropes no less, than five times in the first ; rouhd, and at the close had him on the mat for one, the referee just missing a solid -left also. In close Brosnan had slightly, the better of the mix-up. The second round was also of the wild .and woolly variety, there being ,little..science but a lot of wrestling, the. referee shouting “break” ' till he' was ‘hbarse. Again Roguski rushed BroSndn off his feet,’ Hie 'crowd being greatly-amused wheii his impetuosity sent him., .to the , boards, on top of his opponent. The third round was sirgjlar, Roguski rushing his opponent all round the ring despite Brosnan’s efforts to eend -home his left. The referee’s abjuration, “Don’t push him against the ropes, it’s dangerous,” was ignored. G. Allqnden (Stratford), 11.4, drew with. A. Furze (Tikorangi), 11.7, over three two minute rounds. Allenden, a' useful two-handed fighter, wont at his man from the start, just missing with a right, swing that would havb ended the bout’ very early had it eopnected. Furze then showed cleverness in evasion and in clean hitting near the close of the round Allenden- appeared to '‘connect more heavily than the Tikorangi man. The. second round opened: with ■ a brisk interchange,. Furze scoring in close and making Allenden miss. The latter showed neat footwork but towards"the close of the round was unable to. avoid his opponent’s straight left, which connected heavily several times. Furze was aggressive at the opening of- the final session, but, Allenden,- though -.inclined to swing a little, fought him . off t for a while, a splendid rally ensuing which roused the crowd. Then . Furze for a while assumed : tlie upper hand, scoring well with his left and occasionally leading also with the right. In the--closing stages Allenden went in . and mixed it, too, and at the close the referee was unable to separate the pair, though many thought that Furze’s left had done the trick. Featherweight. H. Hill (Tikorangi), 9.0, defeated K. Hunt (Stratford), 8.9, on points, over three two-minute rounds. Hill had the advantage of height and reach over his more nuggety opponent, and at once went in, scoring with both hands. .Hunt, after the momentary..surprise had passed,. went in and mixed it,, showing himself the possessor of a solid right. The /.round was yn even one. Both 'showed clever footwork’ opening the .second round. Hunt was looking for an opening but Hill kept him off with his straight left, which. appeared to lack sting though it,connected several times. Finally Hunt’got in close and scored to the face wjth short- rights. The final round saw Hill the aggressor and he landed neatly with his left, smartly evading Hunt's), epunter. , , For. yhe remainder of the round Hill held the upper hand, his left Idiiding to the face while he also used his right with effect. Hunt stood up gamely and several times ducked cleverly out of danger. He.-made a game rally in the final stages. • Hill, however, deserved the verdict. A. Turner (Waitara), 8.11; defeated G. Thomas (Eltham), 8.12, on ; points over three two-minute rounds. This provided a splendid contest. After spairing for an opening Turner went .in to bo°met halfway by. his opponent' and some solid close work followed, Turner swinging a heavy right to. the body. Another even bout of close work followed. In the open Thomas ■ cleverly back-stepped when Turner essayed to shoot home a prizewinner. The second round saw Turner keep the fight in close, where Thomas mixed it with him and scored to the body. Turner landed in the closing stages, but Thomas used his left to better advantage in the final round, but was not able to keep Jiis vigorous opponent out and some solid close work ensued, Turner having the better and forcing his opponent to the ropes. Thomas showed clever footwork but Turner kept on the aggressive and this gave him the verdict.- - . : -.. ; ■ VISITOR'S ■ENTERTAINEiI.;.; ■ 'Subsequently the contestants and Uie , visitors were the guests of the Stratford Association at supper in the Windsor, when Mr. P. Skoglund, president, extended a hearty welcome to the American, Sammy Shack, and Scotty McDougall, as well as to Tommy Donivan, who, he remarked, had given boxling a fresh lease or life in Taranakii; He congratulated the boxers on the 'clean fight and paid a tribute to the beieiee, Mr. Earl Stewart. A welcome wUS-also Extended to the representatives’ .off • th© Taranaki, Hawera .and' Patea Associations, Messrs W< N. Stephenson (president of the Taranaki Association), (I S. R. Veitch (secretary of the Hawera Association), T. Donovan, S. Shack and Earl Stewart briefly replied. : i;