On Saturday, March 7, New Zealand heavyweight champion Shane Cameron returned to his home town (Gisborne, on the North Island's east coast) and pleased 3000 locals by stopping American journeyman Robert Davis in 11 rounds thus retaining his IBF Pan Pacific heavyweight title.
Promoter Ken Reinsfield (also Cameron's manager) pulled the right rein when he switched the event from an outdoor affair at the rugby union stadium to an indoor equestrian centre at 48 hours' notice. The move proved to be justified by a thunderstorm that burst over the town midway through the promotion.
Shane looked to have Davis in all sorts of trouble in the second round when he rocked the Yank three times with solid head shots. But the big American hung on and caused Cameron some difficulties with low-slung uppercuts. Cameron sported a cut eye from the second round onwards but his corner kept it under control.
By the sixth round both men were feeling the effects of the tropical weather with Cameron mostly relying on body shots. Davis was getting in the odd counter but was never really worrying the Kiwi boxer. The man from Akron, Ohio, rocked Shane in the 10th round but the New Zealand champion came back hard in the 11th round and after landing a series of unanswered blows referee Ferdie Marsh stopped the contest although in due respects to Davis he never looked like being knocked down.
Sitting calmly at ringside was NZ's other top heavyweight, David Tua, whom Cameron is set to meet in Hamilton in June. Asked to comment by Maori TV (who screened the fight live), David confided: "I am sure Shane thought he could have done better but a win is a win."
Controversy surrounded the decision in the main prelim, when Steve Heremaia was awarded a split points decision over Lee Oti in a light-middleweight six-rounder. IBF official, Ray Wheatley, along with NZPBA's Pat Leonard checked the scorecards only to discover that one of the judges had tallied his card wrong and the correct decision was a split decision to Oti. Needless to say the Heremaia camp were far from happy. Heremaia had scored a spectacular knockdown in the second round when he caught Oti flush with a leaping left hoop and had rocked the Samoan again in the third round when he landed a right to the temple. But from there on he hardly threw a punch.
In the opening contest Daniella Smith repeated a six round point win over Lisa Mauala while in another scheduled six, Moyoyo Mensah was far too good for fellow cruiserweight Atalili Fai and knocked him out in the second round.
In what was shaping as the best fight of the night ended when a right hand from Ray Musson sliced open a cut over Ione Tana Tooala's (who also fights as Iona Puna) eye in the second round and the ringside doctor called a halt to proceedings. Result a 2nd round tko win to Musson. Welterweights.
In the Auckland Boxing Association's first promotion of the year at their Eden Terrace Stadium on February 21 a good sized crowd saw the vast gap between corporate boxing and "real" boxing. One round was all it took for Tongan, Winston Helu, to demolish local Steve White. Helu had won two genuine pro fights while White had won three corporate fights. White went down three times in the first round before referee John Conway stopped the carnage. Set down for four rounds at cruiserweight.
On the undercard, made up of amateurs, an exhibition was ironically the best fight of the night. Dieter Ingles a light-heavyweight from Lance Revill's gym and Papatoetoe's James Parker, got stuck into each other and blood flowed. Heavyweight Parker, who is only 17 and a promising rugby union player, is a real prospect.
