Alan and Jane Wilton’s show at the Holiday Inn on Friday 20th
November was well received by a healthy crowd and contained
an eclectic mix of talent from local areas and further
afield. A link-up with Cork manager/promoter Gary Hyde
provided a Latino feel to the main event as 24-year-old hot
prospect Alexei Acosta headlined this card.
After two prospective title fights fell through, the
aforementioned Cuban bantamweight Acosta was left with
Pontefract’s Sean Hughes over eight rounds and, on
paper, a stern test of his growing credentials. The
stoppage, which came at 1.33 of the second round, was
possibly on the early side given Hughes’ championship
experience - not that Acosta (8st 9llb), or manager Gary
Hyde, were complaining too much. “He’s going to relax now
until after Christmas,” said Hyde, whilst simultaneously
translating Acosta’s Spanish, “and yes I thought it was a
fair stoppage, no problems there.” Acosta had been sparring
Bernard Dunne in the lead-up to Dunne’s world title defence
and is now based full-time in Belfast’s Kronk gym under Tony
Dunlop.
The Cuban, who improves to 9-0 (9 KO’s), had looked smooth
in the early running, backing Hughes up and punching in
combinations of 8-10 punches at a time. Not all landed of
course but you could see the raw talent was evident, even if
Alexei was, at times, wilder than I had expected. This was
not discounting Hughes’ contribution, as the slick southpaw
had some success of his own, turning Acosta with his
corkscrew jab and slipping off the ropes at times to avoid
the artillery. By the second round Acosta was starting to
unload and Hughes (8st 10llb) dangerously lay covered up to
withstand the barrage, which was a worrying sign as referee
David Irving (who took charge of all six contests’) does
have a habit of jumping in when he sees a fighter pinned to
the ropes.
Not all of the Havana man’s blows were registering but some
did sneak through and Sean’s head snapped back, prompting
Irving to dive-in after a final flurry. Hughes’ trainer
Michael Marsden entered the ring, towel in hand,
remonstrating with the official, who remained unaffected.
“The kid [Hughes] was fine,” said Marsden on the way out of
the ring, “he was taking them on the gloves no bother; he
has loads of experience of this sort of thing.” A dejected
Hughes has hinted he may now hang up the gloves after this
setback and also added that Jason Booth would beat Acosta if
the two were ever to meet.
Hyde meanwhile was beaming from ear to ear: “I’m taking all
three Cubans’ to America for fights on the East and West
Coast next February,” he added. “Remember they’re still Cork
boys’ though and we’ll fight there too very soon.”
Prior to the main event there was a ringing of the ten-bells
in memory of popular Belfast referee Barney Wilson who had
passed away the previous morning, aged 67, after a battle
with illness. The silence was impeccably recognised for the
no-nonsense official who oversaw the likes of Barry McGuigan
and Dave ‘Boy’ McAuley during a lengthy ring career that
also saw him box successfully as an amateur, and later
professionally.
In chief support, popular local Luke Wilton recorded
a first round stoppage over Muharem Osmanov but was
feeling a little short-changed by his opponent’s lack of
resilience. “I was a little annoyed by the ending because I
wanted more action for the fans,” said a pensive Luke
post-fight. Indeed, Osmanov didn’t appear to be a fighter of
great substance when he entered the ring and so it proved,
going down meekly from body shots just 40 seconds into the
opener. Dressed in long white trunks and navy blue socks,
pulled up to the knees, Osmanov (7st 11llb) resembled a
youngster who had forgotten his P.E. kit and had been forced
to rummage through the lost property box.
Wilton (8st 1llb) made it his business to hammer the torso
with his left hook and the visitor, now 1-3, found himself
down on the floor and counted out. After a win in the
Odyssey Arena recently, Luke is still on track for a British
title shot and if he keeps winning, stiffer tests than
Latvia’s Osmanov are certainly waiting around the corner.
Back In June, debutants’ Michael Devine and
Michael Harvey had put it all on the line before Harvey
was stopped in the third round of a brawl, in Luton’s Liquid
Envy nightclub. They met in a 4x3’s super-featherweight
rematch here and winless Harvey was once again left crushed
after Devine stopped him at 0.58 of the second stanza. It’s
hard not to feel for the likeable 24-year-old who drew great
support and was inconsolable at the final bell, receiving
oxygen after some heavy falls. In the first round Harvey had
used a solid jab and taken advantage of his height and reach
advantages. Devine rushed in and gave plenty back,
interestingly finding a home for the right hand through
Harvey’s upright stance.
That was the punch that did all the damage in the second,
but not before Devine had taken a deserved rest following a
low blow. The straight hand landed flush shortly after and
Harvey fell heavily, eyes in orbit, struggling on to jelly
legs before taking the count on one knee in accordance with
corner man Alan Wilton’s advice. Shaken and with a bloody
nose, Harvey tried to fight fire with fire and was soon
deposited to the canvas for a second time from a carbon copy
right hand. Referee Irving stopped it immediately as Harvey,
close to tears, walked back to his stool.
“I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t win for all these
fans, I really wanted to do it,” he explained bravely, later
in the evening. He agreed that he had maybe let his left
hand drop too low and paid tribute to the now 2-0 Michael
Devine. Both (pictured below) weighed in at 9st 8llb.
Looking impressive on his first professional bow, JJ
McDonagh pounded Latvia’s Jevgenis Kiselevs to
the canvas twice in the opening round before the away man
was stopped at 1.56. Southpaw McDonagh (12st 6llb) used a
spiteful left hook and spearing jab to measure his foe,
before putting together his punches with intent. Kiselevs
(12st) was way out his depth and sunk to the canvas,
dejected and wanting no more. He rose and briefly gave it a
go before returning to his haunches and declining David
Irving’s invitation to continue. On this night, JJ looked
the better of the two McDonagh’s and could be one to watch.
Local hope Niall Diamond (from Ballymena) and Luton’s
Gavin Putney were both making their debuts and from
as early as the second round it was a case of two tired men
swinging wildly for an explosive finish. Putney (10st 12llb)
had Diamond (10st 11llb) in trouble in the first round with
Niall’s habit of dropping the hands and lying on the ropes
proving to be his undoing. Fatigued, cut over the left eye
and with a bleeding nostril, Diamond landed a good left hook
that suddenly had Putney sagging in the neutral corner, only
for Gavin to come roaring back to such an extent that ref
David Irving appeared to be hovering.
Putney received a harsh slap across the face from trainer
Graham Earl between rounds, with the former lightweight
urging his man to “give yourself room, suck it up and work”.
This was a pure slugfest with no sweet science involved yet
it kept the crowd entertained, offering the alluring
question of who would implode first. It turned out to be
Diamond (below), who, with hands held low, crumpled
to the canvas from a mix of Putney’s hooks and pure
exhaustion. Mr. Irving rightly called a halt at 2.30 of the
fourth round.
Debutant Paddy McDonagh opened proceedings with a
39-37 points win over rugged Bulgarian Grigor Sarohanian.
Cuts man Mick Williamson worked all home corners on the
night but was rarely called into action, although Sarohanian
(12st 8llb) was quite liberal with the head at times, while
giving a good account of himself in the opening round.
Southpaw McDonagh (12st 11llb), from Mullingar in the
Republic of Ireland, was strong and game, forcing his 1-0
opponent back with a steady jab.
Grigor was again warned for use of the head in the third and
as McDonagh began to work him over, the podgy visitor looked
for respite in the corner. Pushing hard for a stoppage in
the final session, Paddy landed some meaty straight lefts’
as Sarohanian covered his reddened torso. A double right
hook followed by some rabbit punching threatened to end the
night for the plucky Sofia native, but he held on with
dignity intact. McDonagh (below) lacked technical
refinement, which was understandable given his novice
status, and could possibly slim down a little in weight.
Fury ready for Belshaw test
http://www.itv.com/Sport/boxing/news/Articles/Fury-ready-for-Belshaw-test-722085770.html
Published: Monday, 18
May 2009, 11:45AM
Tyson Fury is out to make a statement of intent
at the Watford Colosseum this Saturday when he
takes to the ring for his first scheduled
eight-round contest.
The
undefeated heavyweight sensation has stopped all
five of his professional opponents to date and
he's hoping that Scott Belshaw will become
victim number six.
Fury
appears on the undercard of the Darren
Barker/Darren McDermott Commonwealth
middleweight title clash, live on ITV4.
Northern Ireland's Belshaw had been due to fight
in Belfast at the weekend but his contest fell
through at the last minute - leaving him free to
face Fury.
"My
promoter's offered Belshaw the fight and all his
demands have been met so lets hope he doesn't
chicken out now," said Fury.
"His
team have said that he's up for it and he's got
everything he asked for so the only thing I need
to know now is that he's going to turn up on
Saturday night."
Belshaw, a five-time Irish amateur champion, has
just one defeat (later avenged) on his 11-fight
pro record with seven of his 10 wins coming
inside the distance. The 6 foot 7 inch,
23-year-old has been hailed as the second coming
of George Foreman by promoter Frank Maloney, but
Fury isn't taking that prediction too seriously.
"I
don't expect to be buying a Scott Belshaw grill
any time soon but I can promise him a roasting
on Saturday night. Some people seem to think
he's a top prospect but we'll find out who the
real deal is at the weekend.
"I'm
up for fighting any of these other so-called
prospects because there's no point in me going
around saying I'm the best young heavyweight out
there unless I'm willing to back it up.
"I'll be ready to make a move on the British or
Commonwealth titles this year and what I saw in
Belfast on Saturday night with Sam Sexton taking
the Commonwealth title from Martin Rogan backs
that up. I offered to take on Sexton in his back
yard in just my third pro fight but he didn't
want to know so he's already running scared."
Fury
is just back from a trip to Germany where he got
in some quality sparring ahead of this weekend's
contest.
"I've been finding it hard to get sparring in
the UK let alone opponents so it was good to
travel over to Germany where most of the top
guys are based these days.
"It
was great to get some quality sparring under my
belt over there and I thoroughly enjoyed the
experience and hopefully it will show in my
performance on Saturday."
Lewis Crocker won his group, Boy 1
at 46Kg defeating Jordan McAllister of Immaculata 16-4
to win his first competitive fight of this year. Lewis
has been tipped to go far in the world of boxing and
seems to have a great natural ability.
Ben Lyttle fought a hard final in
the Boy 4 42 Kg category only to be out pointed 21-9 by
Scullion of All Saints. Ben is a fairly new start to
the world of amateur boxing and is showing superb
potential to move swiftly up through the ranks.
Eastside
Boxing Club. 
