Ireland v. Bartlett.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXIV, Issue 6044, 27 May 1913, Page 4

Ireland v. Bartlett.

The men entered the ring after the interval, and both looked well. Bart- ; lett was much bigger than Ireland, i though the latter looked better to the eye. Baptlett’s weight was given as 1 12st 21b and Ireland list 21b. The men fought with a clean break. At the gong Ireland was the first to lead, and in a clinch Ireland scored with a right jab and a right hook. Then Ireland let Bartlett take up the aggressive, the Waipawa man seeming by his appearance to take no interest in the game. At the opening of the second Bartlett clipped his opponent with an uppper cut, but a minute later I reland scored with a very heavy right swing, and Bartlett sent in a couple of stabs in a clinch. Before the end of this round Bartlett was tapped by a nice left. A light left went to Ireland’s credit in the third round, which was very tame. Ireland appeared to wake up in the fourth, and led off with a stinging right. Soon after a hot exchange of infighting occurred, Bartlett being the aggressor. The fifth round opened quietly, but more in-fighting occurred, honours appar. ently resting easy. Ireland received a couple of good ’uns from Bartlett, and retaliated with another. Ireland then slipped and fell, and Bartlett chivalrously helped him to his feet. Bartlett again enlivened things by scoring in the sixth, but matters were quiet. In the seventh round, both got to work at close quarters and in the exchanges which resulted Ireland appeared to have the bigger say. This was the only remarkable occurrence in this round. Close fighting was again evident in the eight, which was another practically harmless round. Bartlett was sent down lightly in the ninth, but after a spell for nine he came up smiling. Bartlett did the forcing for the remainder of the round. In the tenth Ireland surprised the onlookers by becoming aggressive, and put in a couple of sharp ones. He then scored with a pair of good heavy rights on the jaw, and connected with one more before the gong sounded. The Christchurch man scored with the left and right in the eleventh, and landed another on Ireland’s nose. Ireland was the first to score with a left to the mouth in the twelfth, but Bartlett more than equalised matters in the succeeding in-fighting. Then Ireland rushed Bartlett and landed left, right and left again, heavily. Bartlett returned this with a right swing, but Ireland came a ,n and had all the best of an exciting round—the best so far, In the thir-

teenth Bartlett connected with a left and right, but Ireland aimed at the heart and landed consistently. Bartlett got home with left, but Ireland scored again before the end of the round. In the next round Ireland scored with about eight to a couple from Bartlett, in the first two minutes but in the last minuto there was a lot of give and take. The last round was full of incident. Ireland led off with a right, which connected, and Bartlett responded. Then Ireland drove in another right, and followed this up with a beautiful left to the jaw. Bartlett retaliated with a nice right, but Ireland was not to be outdone, and he landed a right on to his opponent’s neck, which he endorsed ten seconds later. The referee’s decision, Ireland the winner, met with a very mixed reception. Whilst not agreeing with the dissent of the majority of the audience, there was very little at the end separating the combatants. But to those at the ringside who had followed the fight closely, it appeared that the referee’s decision was the correct one. The following table will show to what extent there was a difference between the men - Rounds 1,3, 5,7, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, were Ireland’s; rounds, 8, 14, 15, were Bartlett’s, and rounds 2,4, 6, were even. Bartlett was very dissatisfied with the decision, and expreßßed himself as follows: —“ If I didn’t win that fight I’ll never win a fight.”