Boxing makes its return to the Piccadilly Hotel in Manchester by Terry Dooley Feb 25th 2007

Professional boxing made its return, after a near ten-year absence, to the Piccadilly hotel in Manchester on Saturday courtesy of a four-fight dinner show put together by local promoter Wally Dixon.    The show also featured Steve Collins and Anthony Farnell who freely spoke about their respective careers before sticking around to allow punters the chance of a photo opportunity.   Further entertainment was provided by Ray Lewis of The Drifters who sang, with his backing-singers, in the centre of the ring.  In fact the boxing was due to start at ten PM prompt yet Ray finished his last song five minutes to ten and requested the opportunity to perform another number.    Fifteen minutes later Ray had drifted out of the ring and clearly enjoyed the opportunity to serenade people as they sat at their tables.  Eventually a hooked-stick was found and Ray retired allowing the boxers to take centre stage.   First up was a clash between two debuting fighters as Stuart Jeffrey, 155lb, fighting out of Nottingham beat Paul Royston, also 155lb, from Rotherham on points over six two-minute rounds.   Jeffery had not had any amateur experience to speak of and it told throughout the bout.  Stuart looked understandably nervous in the first couple of rounds as Royston repeatedly backed the man from Nottingham up with two-fisted attacks.   Paul did a lot of work off the back-foot and paused in the second round to fire off a jab, right hand, left hook (head) and right hook (body) to score heavily.   Through rounds one and two Royston seemed to consolidate his grip on the fight as he scored well, however Stuart did bring out a bit of a brawl with his pressure in the third and fourth rounds.  Royston tended to do some good moving only to undo this by swaying away from punches with his chin in the air, this lead to him being clipped a few times to bring the fight closer on the cards.   It was a different story, though, in the fifth and sixth as Royston was forcing Jeffrey to try and duck low under his punches, this ploy gave Royston a chance to score points throughout the final few rounds to secure what had seemed a comfortable win.  BBN had Paul Royston a 58-56 winner, most at ringside felt he had won the fight yet referee Keith Garner gave it 56-58 to Jeffrey.    Right score, wrong fighter, welcome to boxing lads.   A few boos broke out, earlier in the fight MC Mike Goodhall had overseen a charity auction, low bids lead him to accuse some of the punters of needing highway man masks to hide their robberies, a highway mask for the referee would have been fitting.  He could, though, have been wearing a mask during the contest, an eye mask.    Next up came one of three Bob Shannon fighters appearing on the bill and it was a night to forget for local lad Abdul Rashid, now 1-2 (0), who lost, deservedly, 56-59 to Neil McQuade, now 1-4-1 (0).   Rashid, 9st 11lb, came out and immediately made the fight a messy affair for himself by denying either man the space to punch.  McQuade was the first to adjust to this as he began to wing left hooks past the guard of Rashid.    Abdul regrouped to win the first round, he landed some body shots in close as well as two left hooks and a right uppercut but unfortunately the fight turned against him in the second round.   Neil sensed that Abduls messy approach was draining the Manchester fighter and began to put his punches together in an attempt to drive Rashid back to the ropes.  This strategy worked repeatedly over the next few rounds as every exchange ended with Rashid against the ropes, if you end every exchange absorbing pressure on the ropes things are going to be tough for you and it told in this fight.    In the final round Rashid was bullied out of the ring by a shove from McQuade yet Abdul partially architected his own problems by repeatedly retreating to the ropes and sitting on the lower strands to avoid the punches coming at him.    Another sign of Rashid's, seemingly, distracted state came in the fourth round as referee Garner instructed the men to box on after an infringement and Rashid instead stood on the ropes with his guard down, McQuade helped himself to a free body shot as well as a left hook, it was a sign that the night was not going to end well for Abdul.   Despite trying to salvage the fight in the last round Rashid was not in the races and this time the referee got it right as he presented a 59-56 score line.  BBN had it 59-55 for McQuade.   Popular Oldham fighter John ‘Rocco' Hussey, now 8-1 (0), made his return after a hand injury to beat Sheffield's Khurram Hussein, now 4-1-1 (0), over six two-minute rounds.    The previously unbeaten Hussein began with confidence and flair only for Hussey to outwork him to the body with enough venom to snatch the opening session.   This seemed to galvanise Hussein who clipped Hussey behind the head with a right hand, it was entirely Hussey's fault for ducking low and Khurram also fired in some quality left and right uppercuts as he switched stances, and angles, to leave Hussey frustrated.   Hussey came out for the third with a snatched double jab and right hand only for Hussein to throw an orthodox one-two followed by a less than orthodox lead left uppercut.    That particular punch from Khan looked very good yet like many switch hitters if you step off him and throw fairly routine combinations you can catch him and this is what Hussey then began to do.   Hussey took the fifth and sixth rounds with his orthodox combinations whilst Khurram seemed content to land the showier single shots that had worked for him in the early rounds.    By the final round Hussey looked a little battered and bruised from punches that had come from all angles.  Between his work-rate and combinations and Hussein's flashy shots the fight had been the fight of the night so far and both men exchanged in the sixth.   Hussein landed a solid left uppercut before being turned by Hussey, ‘Rocco' then landed a one-two only for Khurram to go blow for blow for the remainder of the round.  Khurram had the last word in the fight – a left hook, right hook and right uppercut – yet he had not done enough throughout the piece.   BBN had it 57-58 to Hussey whilst the referee turned in the same card.   Bob Shannon was breaking even on the night so must have been grateful that his other charge, Mark Nilsen, now 4-0 (0), beat Carl Wild, now 1-1 (0), on points over six entertaining two minute rounds.    Nilsen, 13st 1lb, kept a steady work rate going throughout as he continually backed Wild, 12st 8lb, up and worked his man over on the ropes.   It was a tough, competitive fight, Nilsen may have won handily but not before knowing that he was in a hard business.   Wild spent a lot of time moving around, every so often he would set his feet and feint to move only to end up rooted in the same spot and taking punishment, if it was part of some ephemeral strategy it failed to pay-off instead leaving him wrong-footed at crucial times.   Nilsen, it must be said, showed his team mate Abdul that you need to be the fighter forcing the other guy around to be in with a chance of scoring and Mark constantly kept Wild moving.   In the early stages Mark distinguished himself by throwing a nice left jab cum uppercut through his opponents guard and would follow with a straight right and a left hook.  It was textbook, straightforward and fairly pleasing on the eye.    Some rough stuff was mixed in on the ropes and the crowd soon got into the contest, in fact they had no choice as Mark's fans were raising the roof every time it looked like he was even considering attacking.   In the third Mark landed a right hand followed by a left hook and a right hook, perhaps sensing he needed to reply Wild stepped across Nilsen only to then step back a little before eventually finding himself out of range and was clipped by the onrushing Nilsen.  Feinting with your feet is a nice idea; Audley Harrison mastered it, yet if you do not follow through you are unlikely to score points.   Wild also turned stylist in round four, he dropped his hands then, well he did nothing and took a left hook for his efforts.  Not content with losing due to his opponent he seemed to be conspiring against himself on the card.    In the final rounds Nilsen's fans stomped their feet and saw their man fight his way to victory as Mark locked Wild on the ropes and worked three or four body shots, Wild responded with an uppercut but again the trade-off did not favour him.   Nilsen spun Wild onto the ropes later in the fifth to land left hook, right hand, they were the best shots of the night and I am glad I leaned into the BBBoC official next to me in order to see them.   A fairly torrid final round under the by now red-hot lights saw both men drag shots up from their stamina reserve to send the crowd home happy.   BBN scored the fight 60-54 for Nilsen as the referee compounded his early scoring error by giving an even round to score the fight 60-55 in favour of Nilsen, if you can find the, wrong, in one fight why find a winner of an individual round?  Even if you are wrong it is well worth a bash.   It had been a good night of boxing, the last two fights in particular had really got the crowd going and many will go home looking forward to another night of boxing at this hotel.  Wally Dixon has a deal in place to promote fights here and it means that his fighters can be given much needed ring time over the coming months as well as stopping Ray Lewis from singing to passers-by on the street.   After the fights BBN caught-up with Shannon, Hussey and Nilsen backstage as they celebrated the wins with a sharply attired Ali Nuumbembe and Andy Morris.    Nuumbembe told BBN that he had to dig deep in his fight with Kevin Anderson up in Scotland and that it had been the fighting night of his life, a fight with Matthew Hatton now tops his wish list.

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.