FIGHT FLUCTUATED EVENLY

Wanganui Chronicle, 28 January 1948, Page 5

FIGHT FLUCTUATED EVENLY

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter—Copyright. 1 London, Jan. 26. in a points decision, the New Zealand boxer, Bos Murphy, today defeated Vince Hawkins and won the Empire middleweight title. The bout, staged at the Albert Hall, London, was fought at a fast clip and was marked by Murphy’s brilliant use of his attacking left hand. Both ers weighed in at lOst. 101 b. started aggressively. He ignored Murphy’s left in the first round and drove repeated punches to the body. Murphy slipped flown in the first and second rounds and Hawkins kept crowding him. Murphy, in the third round, hurt Hawkins with a left hook and was dictating the trend of the fight.

Hawkins in the fifth round, put Murphy down for the count of two ’ Murphy, in the sixth round had to defend himself against the ropes ■’gain’it a two-handed attack. The fight fluctuated evenly .n the seventh and eighth rounds, but Murphy scored steadily with his left and continued to do so to the eleventh , round. Hawkins then forced the figh: anl won the twelfth and thirteenth i rounds. i Both boxers were tired toward the end. There was a great deal of holding and inaccurate punching. Hawkins, in the last round, strove *o;.’ a knockout, but Murphy, “out on his feet,” held the champion off.