Geelong’s light heavyweight Paul Murdoch put the PABA championship hopes of Fijian Birbal Junior into perspective when he stopped him in two rounds at the Ellerslie Racecourse Reception centre on March 26. Birbal pressed forward relentlessly in the first round but it was all over in the second when Murdoch opened up finishing proceedings with a beautiful rip to the body.
Melbourne-based middleweight Pradeep Singh looked all class in outpointing Juan Phillips, originally from Papua-New Guinea but now fighting out of Sydney, over six rounds in the main support.
At light middleweight, Jamie Waru stopped Clinton Simmonds in the fourth round. Waru is on a bit of a roll with two stoppage wins in his last two fights and plans are underway to match him with Steve Heremia for the vacant NZ light-middleweight title.
The good-sized crowd enjoyed their four-round heavyweight contest between Bob Gasio and Terry Tuteru won by Gasio on points. Three amateur bouts made up the supports.
At the ABA’s monthly pro-am shop on March 30, South African-born Dean Evans (75.2kg) impressed in his four-round win over Paz Veijo (74.5kg). Evans used plenty of ring space as he tried to set the former tent-fighter from Mt Isa up for a big right hand but Veijo denied him the chance by taking the fight into close quarters all the time. An interesting without being exciting fight.
When David Rawiri’s Fijian opponent could not get a clearance from immigration, Jamie Waru stepped in at the last minute and staged a hard fought exhibition, which was applauded by the big crowd. Wiremu is set to promote and fight “Pantera” Mosquera for the vacant NZ welterweight title at the end of this month.
Best amateur bout of the evening saw soon to turn professional Vai Akai (Manurewa) outpoint Fijian amateur light heavyweight champion Ben Archibald. Archibald’s corners were incensed when the fight was shortened from four rounds to three a the last minute, claiming the longer distance would have suited their boxer.
The boxing skills exhibited by Laurence Tauasa (102kg) in his fight with Hiwira Te Rangi (115kg) when the ABA opened its doors for boxing again on Saturday April 1st was dubbed the best heavyweight fight ever staged at the Auckland Boxing Association Stadium in its 15-year history, writes Julian Slade. Tauasa, a Samoan-Australian, put on a thrilling show against the taller and much heavier Te Rangi. He stayed in range most of the fight, but bobbed his head expertly to avoid Te Rangi’s long jab and land his own blows.
Tauasa won by unanimous points decision against the rangy Maori kickboxer who has contested six orthodox matches and more than 200 kickboxing fights.
Another highlight of the all-professional show promoted by Heartland Boxing was the exciting bout between Auckland’s Junior Pati (96kg) and mark de Mori (103.3kg) of Australia.
Pati made up for de Mori’s reach and weight advantage with his big heart and unwillingness to waver. He seemed buoyed by strong crowd support and put up a good fight against a strong opponent. However Tua lost by tko in the third round when the fight was waved off.
Tall Australia John Szigeti (112.1kg) won a unanimous points decision over Sio Vitale (112kg) over four rounds. Lightweight Karen Lynch beat Stacy Pakau also over four rounds while Algerian-born Kiwi, Mohammed Azzaoui (84.6kg) convincingly outpointed Melbourne’s Costa Chondroa (88.1kg) in an international super cruiserweight contest over eight rounds.
In a return to the barnstorming days of the depression promoter, Faiyez Khan had to fight on his own promotion when he was badly let down by local trainers and boxers. Faiyez was forced to step in the ring at the Kath dale Hall, Otahuhu on April 18th when he ended up with a packed venue and only two fights. His opponent in a semi-pro “heavyweight” fight was Barney Shelford, father of ex-amateur champion Angus Shelford, and a member of the well-known sporting family. Although work mates in the NZ correction service this fight was no “workalong” and Barney looked intent on a stoppage victory while Faiyez did everything to survive. Faiyez was forced to retire at the end of the second round with a possible fractured arm.
Luckily for the promoter the two pro fights were “rippers”. Paz Veijo scored an upset when he outpointed Kelly Pakau over four rounds at super middleweight while Steve Heremaia wore down and stopped Wahid Khan in the sixth round of a middleweight encounter. Steve dropped the Fijian in the first and sixth rounds and withstood a badly gashed eye from a clash of heads in the third.
