Moore takes up fight for local club
Cadet lands blow to end contest as 27 amateurs compete
Cadet boxer Zane Moore was able to fly the flag for the River City Boxing Club as the sole local winner at their November fight night at the Kaierau Country Club on Saturday.
Twenty-seven amateur bouts of three rounds each were held at the club’s gym, featuring fighters from around 20 clubs, making it the largest gathering since River City began running fight cards in 2016.
The club’s two top boxers — North Island Golden Gloves champion Egelani Taito and promising teenager Jesse Malcolm — did not take part. Malcolm had to withdraw with a broken knuckle suffered on Friday, while trainer Eddie Tofa said Taito was being rested for the New Zealand vs Samoa promotion at the Hastings Sports Centre on November 24.
“It will be a good experience over there,” said Tofa.
“He’s still training, but not there mentally yet after the nationals.”
Taito suffered a knockout loss to double Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Nyika in October.
And so it was Moore who provided the club’s bright spot, although a couple of his clubmates were unlucky not to get the nod from the judges in split-decision points defeats.
Moore took on Manukau’s Jacob Nuia and was leading the fight in the third round when a straight punch caught Nuia in the larynx and caused him difficulty, which saw the referee wave the bout off.
Nuia started the fight with jabs as they circled, before coming into a quickfire exchange where Nuia went for the hooks and Moore ducked to deliver body shots.
Moore came back with a solid left hand which caught Nuia, who then couldn’t get the range with his jabs as the round ended.
Moore went straight on the offensive to start the second round, getting a quick 1-2 combination and avoiding the counterpunches, as Nuia’s nose began to bleed.
The Aucklander ducked a hook and was looking to press Moore, but did not see an opening to throw as he was trailing in points.
Moore was still up on the balls of his feet for the final round, landing a hook and avoiding jabs, and as he worked Nuia back into his own corner. A straight punch had the young Aucklander coughing and looking distressed and the fight ended early.
One of the most entertaining fights of the night was the brawl between River City’s Trinity Albert and Manukau’s Elizabeth Tuifua.
Albert claimed the first round, after a cautious start by both girls, when she laid in three hard left hands in a row right on the button, resulting in a standing eight count.
That brought out the fire and Tuifua and Albert went non-stop at each other to start the second round, which led to Albert’s head gear coming off. When the Whanganui boxer resumed her barrage, Tuifua replied with accurate counterpunches.
Albert had a little blood from her nose to start the third round, as Tuifua managed to find her range as they circled, jabbed, and then locked together in a frenzy of punches.
Tuifua likely still claimed the third round, so it came down to how the three judges saw the absolute slugfest of the second, and Tofa was not impressed that Albert was “robbed” by the split-decision loss.
Clubmate Maddie Buckridge also didn’t get the nod in her cadet fight with Kapiti’s Tamara Esson, but this was a unanimous points loss.
Esson had a strong first round, getting early jabs, and eventually moving Buckridge back to the ropes, able to land 1-2 combinations.
It continued in the second round, although Buckridge got off a couple of counter punches, and towards the end of the round was trying to do damage in the corner.
She tried to increase urgency in the third round, but Esson was also coming on, getting more 1-2 shots, and landing counterpunches during Buckridge’s late flurry.
Like Albert, River City’s Shaniqka Wall found herself in a real donnybrook with Kapiti’s Maya Fier, and the punishment was enough that Tofa threw in the towel on their youth fight.
Both girls traded roundhouses from the opening bell, Fier working Wall back to the ropes, where she came back with body shots.
Wall was knocked down when offbalance during another exchange and had to take the standing eight count, although she was returning fire with hooks at the bell.
Another big exchange of punches started the second round but it was obvious the pounding was taking its toll as Wall turned away from her opponent, leading to the referee registering a standing eight count, before Fier resumed her attack.
By the third round, it was clear enough was enough as Wall turned away and stopped defending again as Tofa threw the towel in.
In a boys’ cadet fight, Whanganui’s Whiti Hina lost a unanimous decision to Davon Smith, trained by Naenae’s boxing legend Billy Graham.
Smaller in height, Hina needed to find a way inside Smith’s long and accurate jabs, with the Naenae boxer able to duck and ease his head out of range.
Hina walked through a hook to start the second round and unload on his opponent, but Smith showed all the temperament one would expect from a Graham-trained fighter, as he absorbed the pressure and cut loose with 1-2 combinations to put Hina back in the corner.
It was a cautious start to the third round, with Smith still working the jab, then making Hina eat counterpunches when he tried to move in.
Another pounding on the ropes, with a worn down Hini nearly slipping over, making the judge’s decision fairly clear.
Majer Cook was the last Whanganui fighter on the card, and also lost a unanimous points decision to Trentham’s Ethan Haehae.
Both junior boxers went into the clinch early, with both protecting their heads and deflecting jabs.
Two big punches by Cook moved Haehae to the ropes, from where he returned fire.
Cook moved swiftly across the ring to reset for the exchanges, with the fight still delicately poised after the first round.
Cook slipped over in the early exchanges of the second round, but Haehae just stepped up a notch and began firing in the jabs non-stop, while Cook could get in a powerful counterpunch which definitively hurt, but there was no follow up.
The theme continued into the third round as the energised Haehae unloaded blow after blow, only to be momentarily checked by a strong Cook hook or jab, but then nothing coming in behind it.
The volume of the Trentham fighter’s offence earned him the win.
In the first local fight of the night, debutant Cyprees Atkin was also unlucky to lose a split decision in his cadet bout with Manawatu’s Oscar Hodgson.