Barrett takes Masters title at York Hall by Kevin Taylor Feb 20th 2007

Ryan Barrett took a step closer to a possible British featherweight title on Sunday when he outworked and outpointed the former British champion Jamie McKeever over ten rounds at the legendary York Hall to gain the British Masters title.   McKeever, in his first fight since being blown away in one round by the very talented Jackson Asiku, looked the classier of the two fighters in the first round, but the Thamesmead man Barrett used his height and reach advantage to better effect from the second round onwards to totally dominate the fight as he bullied the Liverpudlian back against the ropes time and time again, but was content to just throw single punches.   McKeever seemed hurt on a couple of occasions by the left hook of Barrett but Barrett seemed content to cruise to a points win rather than looking for the stoppage, weirdly halfway through the fight Barrett decided to end each round with a stare out of McKeever, which seemed very strange as he was winning the fight easily enough and there didn't seem to be an animosity between the pair.   For Barrett it was his third points win on the trot since he also was blasted out in a round, by Amir Khan at lightweight, as he moves to 15-3-1. McKeever must now be contemplating his future after another defeat took his record to 18-7-1.   Shanee Martin was unlucky to get another loss on her record after dominating proceedings against the Ukranian Okasana Romanova over eight rounds.   Martin was badly cut over the left eye, the cut required nine stitches, towards the end of the sixth round from what appeared to be a headbutt, and although first time cornerman Richard Clark stemmed the flow of blood Romanovo went to work on the cut with her jab in the seventh and as soon as it opened again there was only one option for referee Marcus McDonnell to take as he waved off the contest in Romanova's favour.   The red-headed Ukranian, who had Johnny Eames in her corner alongside and interpreter who didn't move from his seat in the middle of ringside until the sixth round, was a class below Martin who fought the whole contest in second gear to build up a big points lead.   Martin with her new team of Jason Rowland and the aforementioned Clark, who has given up his timekeepers licence in order to be Rowland's right hand man, was well supported as normal and it's just a shame that the BBBoC's archaic rules mean that she has another loss rather than a win on a technical decision.   After Clark although obviously frustrated that Shanee had been stopped due to a cut was full of praise for the Colchester girl.   “We felt Shanee was boxing well within herself and still built up a considerable lead, I managed to stop the bleeding, but it was a bad cut. She needed nine stitches in the cut and the doctor said it would take around a month to heal.”   Alby Hunt returned to the ring after a four and a half year lay off to outpoint the winless Tottenham based Pole, Pawell Jas, over four rounds. The Northolt based Hunt worked with quick hands and was cheered on by former IBO and British champion Michael Ayers from ringside.   Hunt had too much for the Pole, despite his obvious ring rust and lack of knockout punch and although he looked tired in the fourth round he still took the win 40-36 on referee Ken Curtis' card to make it three wins out of three, while Jas, trained by Chris Hall, fell to 0-5.   The well supported show kicked off with a four rounder between Kilburn's Jamal Morrison and Manchester's Imad Khamis. Khamis boxed well from range in the first round but then was put down in the second, from what seemed like more of a push than a punch, but on rising he was caught a couple more times and was stopped by referee Ken Curtis.   The rest of the card will follow shortly from fellow BBN reporter Will Hale, including the debut of Dwayne Lewis, nephew of the former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox.

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