Fight fans cannot complain about not getting their moneys worth at the Auckland Boxing Association's August 31 pro-am tournament held at their Stadium in Eden Terrace. The program featured 14 amateur contests, an exhibition and three professional contests and didn't finish till 12.20 a.m. the next day!
There is not enough room to give the whole program a detailed report, which featured the Auckland amateur rep team against an invitation team on the undercard to the pro's, but suffice to say there was not one poor fight throughout the evening.
Japanese heavyweight, Ryo Hidaka (96 9kg) who bills himself as "The Osaka Tyson", is raw but has real power although opponent Junior Pati (98kg) helped him demonstrate it. After showboating with his fists down by his sides at the end of the first round, he dropped his hands again and then stuck out his chin early in the second round. Hidaka unleashed a savage left hook and Pati went down hard. The back of his head hit the canvas with a sickening thud that obviously caused double-impact concussion. The referee called the doctor and it was at least 10 minutes before Junior was back on his feet.
The last fighter seen in local rings who dropped his hands and stuck out his chin (and got away with it) was Aussie middleweight Reg Hayes. Ability wise Pati ain't no Reg Hayes. Crowd-pleasing veteran Peter Dransfield (66.3kg) was the perfect foil for hard-charging novice Gareth Jenkins (68.3kg) in the main support over four rounds Dransfield somehow stayed on his feet under a non-stop barrage from the superfit Jenkins and even managed to rock him in the third round when Jenkins charged in, guard down. But the points win to Jenkins was a mere formality. Gareth is the son of Welsh middleweight Phil Edwards, who once challenged Terry Downes for the British middleweight title.
The main bout a six-rounder between Samoan Francis Pratsch and Tongan Sosaia Vaka featured two knockdowns in the first round. Pratsch, a southpaw and under the name Francis Roberts a former Oceania games gold medalist, caught Vaka twice coming in and dropped him with straight lefts. That 10-7 round gave him the edge. After relatively even second and third rounds Vaka got on top but couldn't get the knockdown or knockout he heeded and he lost by one point on referee Lance Revill's card. Incidentally the ABA reverted to the old Stadiums Ltd formula of having the referee as the sole arbitrator.
Pick of the amateurs was Auckland amateur bantamweight rep Frank Tanuvasu (Aiga Gym) landing crushing blows to the lightweight rep Aung Sanda’s (Shamrock) head and body to win a points decision and young Isaac Brimblecombe's (Kaipara) gutsy performance in losing a close points decision to multiple NZ title-holder Kahu Bentson (Eastside Gym) Record compiler's take note: Walter Papua win points 10 rounds Moroni Schwalger, (weights unknown) Tonga, on July 15th; Oscar Talemira win points 6 rounds Den Uiteme, (heavyweights) on 26/9/06 at Mungavin Hall, Porirua.
