Wild TKO Spices Opening Round Of Intramural Boxing Tournament

Henry Lamar, intramural boxing director, looked worried yesterday afternoon as he paced in front of the boxing room on the third floor of the IAB. It was already 4:30 p.m., 30 minutes after the scheduled starting time for the trial matches of this year's tournament.

"Peter Barkin of Quincy, Jim Crump of Winthrop, John . . .," Lamar boomed in a semi-southern drawl. There was no answer. Three upper-class matches were scheduled and one freshman bout.

At 4:45 p.m., Ken Pannetone of Eliot, Geonge Heywood of Leverett, and Walter Morris of Leverett were all advanced by default to semi-final matches today at 4 p.m. The hungry crowd of 50, who had packed the sweaty room, roared as each fighter's second raised his athlete's hand in victory.

Frosh Fight

This set the stage for the freshman 155-pound trial bout between Peter Huntsmen and Jeff McKinnon. It was the only bout of the day, but what a bout it was. Artsy it wasn't, finesse and skill it lacked, but for shear brutality and action it could not be topped.

Timekeeper Gary Farneti hit the bell, which sounded like a gong, and the boxers charged each other with arms flying. A strange breeze swept into the crowd as haymaker after roundhouser missed their marks with uncanny accuracy.

The flailing barrage continued and finally a below-the-belt left-right combination to the jock sent Huntsmen to the canvas for a count of eight.

Leather kept hitting flesh and each punch sent the receiver reeling backwards, sprinting, even more glassy-eyed away from his foe, who followed in hot pursuit. The round ended with both men in a desperate clinch.

In the Corner

The handlers worked over the boxers. as each stared in disbelief at his opponent across the ring. Farneti hit the bell off center and it responded with a tinny thud. The boxers' reaction was similar. They staggered to their feet and moved slowly to the center of the ring. The ol' pep was gone.

In robot-like movements, the fighters took turns pasting each other with pot shots. A left to the body by McKinnon finally floored Huntsmen for good. Dick Flaherty, referee from the Mass. Boxing Commission, immediately stopped the bout and awarded McKinnon a TKO.

After the fight, Hunstmen admitted it was the first time he had ever had any gloves on and that the whole thing was a spur-of-the-moment idea. "When I got knocked down, everything went out," he said.

However, McKinnon was probably in worse shape than his rival due to the fact that he had devoured a half pound of chocolate an hour before the match. "You can ask me more questions if you want," he said. "But right now I have to throw-up."