Brookes makes Magic disappear by Ian McNeilly Mar 6th 2006

Mexborough's Stuart Brookes performed the 'breaking an opponent in half' trick on Birmingham's Magic Kidem in Sheffield yesterday. Brookes topped a Fight Academy bill at the Octagon Centre and his small but raucous following were well pleased with his 92 second demolition of the Nobby Nobbs novice. Brookes teed off from the start and a left hook and crunching body shot put paid to the visitor. Opening a show full of local boxers, Ingle cruiser Amer Khan moved to eleven unbeaten with a 60-55 win over Featherstone trial horse Paul Bonson. I gave Bonson a share of the fourth when Khan seemed to take a breather from either jabbing or wiggling his hips in a rather disturbing fashion. Khan will soon need to take a step up in class. Chesterfield super-middle Danny Grainger looks a decent prospect. He got a shut out 60-54 nod from Howard Foster in his contest against another Nobby lad in Domvill Hendrix. Looking in excellent physical condition, Grainger looks a decent all-rounder - not bad defensively with a reasonable dig on him. He's now 8-1 with a sole, certainly forgiveable loss against danger man Hastings Rasani. Grainger varied his work to head and body well. Tony Booth yet again came out of retirement to educate a young prospect, this time in the shape of John Ibbotson. 'Ibbo' was 12st 9 1/2lb. Booth looked every ounce his announced weight of 15st 5lb. Kevin Durand scored the fight 39-37 which reflected the fact that Ibbotson didn't have everything his own way. I gave Booth a share of the second and the fourth as he opened up in both sessions and got through with some decent shots. But Ibbotson, boxing off the base of a decent, quick jab, was in control for the most part. A contest slated for four-threes, the timekeeper must have got a little confused with all the two-minute rounds he was down to do as the opener was shy by 60 seconds. Booth has seen it all. In the second he was clattered and put his hands on his hips in a comical gesture of annoyance, like a mother remonstrating with an errant child. The fans predictably hurled abuse at the pantomime villain with such classics as "You've never seen a salad" and the uncompromising traditional verse "You fat b*****d!" Bet Tony's never heard that one before. He acknowledged their abuse with a delightful jig, a raised arm and followed them with a rather rude gesture. I gave Booth a share of the last too, and not just for his splendid Ali shuffle. Both men were opening up and landing. Another Ingle fighter, welterweight Adam 'Outlaw' Kelly, sneaked by Dewsbury's Tye Williams 39-37. Fresh faced Kelly had lost his first bout on points and you could sense his fans were nervous about this, his second outing. But he deserved the nod, boxing quite well off the back foot at times. Light-middle Muhsen Nasser repeated his November 2005 points win over game Pontefract journeyman Peter Dunn. I like Nasser. He seems a decent prospect, a tidy boxer with good movement. You can't switch off with Dunn because he's certainly one of the more active tradesmen on the circuit but Nasser had matters in hand. His fans have both a sense of history and humour as in the second round they chanted "Muhsen bomaye!" Sheffield's a lot of things but it ain't Zaire. Nasser won 40-36. I'm probably going to make myself a little unpopular in some parts of Sheffield now. Plenty of people have been touting young Nicky Smedley as a boxer with a big future. I wish the kid all the best and hope he goes as far as his talent and dedication carry him. But after seeing three of his four fights, I'm far from convinced. I suppose you could say that Manchester's Davis Kamara (now 3-2) was a step up from Smedley's previous opposition (Mingaleev, Nesbitt, Verallo) as he has a winning record. To box effectively in the manner known nationwide as the 'Ingle style' (hands down, swaying out the way of traffic, throwing shots from all angles) you have to be very good. Kamara got through with far too many shots for my liking. Foster scored it 60-54 but though I had him winning clearly enough, I had it a bit closer. Smedley is very good on the attack - he hit with accuracy from some clever angles. Let's hope he slips many more in the future - he'll need to if he's going to fulfil his fans' expectations. Photos by Karl Stubbs - http://www.karlstubbs.com

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