JIM Kenny, of Polmont, the reigning Scottish featherweight champion, came up against challenger George Stewart, of Hamilton, at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, in February, 1951. It turned out to be, noted the Evening Times sportswriter Matt Irwine, a hard and courageous bout.
“He was always full of fight,” Irwine said of Stewart, “he was always aggressive, and I liked the way he refused to allow an eye injury [above] in the eighth round to stop his aggression.
“There was no doubt about Stewart’s victory. He won clearly, but the margin was not a great one. Had he not been so wild when he had Kenny in trouble the decision might not have been the referee’s.”
Previewing the fight a few days earlier, Irwine had said that both men were “fit and confident”, with Kenny winding up his training at the forthcoming Scottish National event.
“It is anticipated that Stewart’s strategy will hinge on stamina – the champion has been suspect of late – and by means of his rigorous preparation the Hamilton boxer should be strong and full of fight at the finish.
“Stewart is the unspectacular type who always provides a good hard fight but just fails to hit the high spots.
“But with the incentive of a title Stewart could rise to new heights, and I will not be surprised if he does just that on Wednesday. Unless the champion succeeds in connecting with his heavy punching early on Stewart is sure to find any flaw in the Polmont lad’s stamina, if any.”
In the event, Stewart put Kenny down three times in the opening two rounds, going down for counts of, successively, three, nine and nine. Little was seen of Kenny’s hard right punching until towards the end of the fight, and it was only from the eighth round that he used it.
“Kenny fought a clever defensive fight all through,” wrote Irwine, “but his work lacked the fire of former fights and his hesitancy to adopt an aggressive role enabled Stewart to cut out the work.”
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