Moore dominates Lujan by Terry Dooley Apr 14th 2007

Jamie Moore continued his greening process last night here in Manchester as he dominated Argentina's eccentric export Sebastian Andres Lujan over twelve uneventful rounds. I say uneventful yet the truth is that Jamie produced a controlled and accomplished display that served two purposes. Firstly it gave him a chance to dip his toe into international waters and secondly in the manner of victory he showed he not only belongs there but that he can produce controlled career-prolonging boxing at a level higher than British. Moore, who came in at 11st 2lb, used his boxing brain to pitch a shutout on most cards. For his part Lujan, 10st 13lb, did not produce on the night. There are probably two reasons for this. Firstly Jamie boxed behind his skills, he put out his southpaw jab when at range and in-close he covered-up and whipped in subtle hooks and uppercuts. Secondly one was given the impression that Lujan was content to try and frustrate Jamie in the hope that Moore would cut-loose and let his guard down. When speaking to BBN last week Jamie had discussed what he expects from this level of fighter and one of those expectations was met last night. Lujan did not spoil in the traditional sense of holding; instead he opted to fight at a randomly staccato pace in order to frustrate Jamie. At this level guys like Lujan, when fighting away from home, will try to frustrate the house-fighter before opportunistically trying to pick the home man off in later rounds. Lujan started rather nonchalantly, Jamie was also a little subdued in the opener and a one-two from Jamie's southpaw stance – with a clipping left hook from Lujan between the shots – was the pick of the action. As the rounds progressed Jamie tucked-up when Lujan sent the odd shot across his bows then would tag Lujan with left and right hands to the body and head. Jamie is rounding fight by fight into a consummate southpaw technician who can also turn soldier when the occasion arises. In this fight the soldiering was not required and in many ways that is a bonus for Moore. Jamie underscored his dominance of talent in round three, as he turned orthodox then rammed home a jab. Lujan's corner man had the look of Jesus about him with his wild hair, angular features and beard; Andres himself took the likeness a step further by often displaying a passionless Christ-like passiveness. At times Lujan would block, cover then try it on with a few shots. In the third he opened-up as Jamie found himself on the ropes only for Moore to glide away from the danger and return to his tactic of building the fight one shot at a time. BBN got the impression that for this one fight Jamie was caught between the devil and the deep-blue sea. Moore is desperate to impress in this class yet wants to get his feet under the table first. The ‘W' was all-important, if Moore had gone at it with reckless abandonment he could have been dragged into a debilitating war. In the ninth Jamie produced one of the most controlled rounds of his recent career. Lujan seemed troubled by a body shot momentarily. A right hook inside from Moore – turned in with real leverage and skill – was the shot of the fight. As the final straight came around Lujan was still a frustrating bundle of tics and jerks, in a sense the fact he was so hard to read made it tricky for Jamie. Lujan did open-up more often in the last two rounds yet his was a futile effort. A right hand at the end of the fight caught Jamie cleanly and sent a signal of what might have been. After the fight Jamie told BBN that he had expected Lujan to try and frustrate him then to try in on late but that he had decided to box within himself. Jamie felt that he deserved a night of crisp boxing instead of the anticipated war. As Jamie joked: “The Macklin fight was a blur, I thought my way through this one.” The chief undercard support bout showcased an entertaining draw between Dale Robinson, 7st 12lb, and the man who had beaten him last time out Chris Edwards, also 7st 12lb, for the, still, vacant British and Commonwealth flyweight titles. Despite losing the last bout, or perhaps because of this fact, Robinson came out fast for this one, he looked for one-twos and the perfect shot to make an impact on Chris. For his part Chris backed-up throughout the round and used the expanses of canvas well. In the second Chris continued to back away as Dale pressed, Robinson clipped Edwards with a few right hands only for Edwards to counter one lazy right hand with his own jab. A clash of heads late in the round caused a cut over the right eye of Robinson. Perhaps bothered by this change of events Robinson jabbed a bit more and turned his right hand to the body of Edwards in order to slow his movement. Over rounds three and four the advantage built up by Robinson in stanzas one and two was negated by Edwards. Dale was noticeably perturbed by his cut. Edwards made the most of this by mixing his mobility with punches. Dale was now loading up a little when out of range. After four rounds the script had been flipped, Chris had taken three and four to even up the cards. Chris seemed to wilt a little in the fifth – perhaps the right hands to the body had stiffened his legs a little – and Dale pressed this by cutting off the ring and putting forth positive pressure punching. BBN felt the tide turned a little over the fifth and sixth rounds as Dale clipped in a right hand to the body and head then worked off some left hand counters. Over the seventh and eighth Robinson continued to look strong and grew in stature. Chris was still landing nice one-twos yet his shots seemed a minor aggravation. Edwards himself had accrued facial damage and in the eighth the doctor was called to examine Chris. Unfortunately Dale did not really target the cuts with straight shots and perhaps he missed an opportunity to worsen the damage to his opponents' eyes. In round nine the fight turned in Edwards' favour. The doctor examined Robinson, cut now over both eyes, whilst referee Terry O'Connor gave the impression that he was watching Dale closely and Edwards used this to his advantage. Once again in this fight the tide turned, Edwards targeted the cut of Dale by using a clipping left hook. Dale lost cohesion in his work a little and began to give ground to Edwards consistently for the first time. In the tenth this backing-up process continued – it needed to as Edwards, on the BBN card, had lost rounds 5-8 – Dale landed a left hook only for Edwards to reply with a right hook to the body and a left to the head. At a crucial time in the fight Edwards had taken two rounds on the spin to set-up an intriguing finish, Dale's right eye was bleeding steadily in the eleventh and he was backing off to protect it. Now it was Dale getting caught to the body, Edwards had seen blood and was nailing Dale with the right hand, also, at times. By the twelfth Dale was in dire need of locating his missing accuracy yet tried a sweeping, fancy, right uppercut instead of pushing through the straight shots that he should have used to bust Edwards up earlier in the fight. Edwards, to his credit, had weathered some rough mid-rounds action to turn the fight; a left uppercut and right hand backed Robinson off. Chris, smartly, unloaded as the time dribbled away to leave a lasting impression of his late-rounds resurgence. Dale had fought a brave fight against a man who had beaten him yet by the end his technique, like his eye, had become torn and frayed, his work had seen much better days yet there was still the chance that his earlier work would see him through. BBN's card was perfectly symmetrical. Rounds 1-2 going to Robinson, 3-4 to Edwards, 5-8 to Robinson and 9-12 to Edwards for a score of 114-114. One could almost sniff the draw and when scores of 113-115 (Phil Edwards), 115-113 (Mickey Vann) and 114-114 (Dave Parris) came in there was no great surprise. On the undercard Gary Sykes, 9st 7lb, got his career back on the road by defeating Kristian Laight, 10st 4lb, over four rounds. When Sykes warmed-up he showed some nice sidestepping to find angles for his shots. A 40-36 points win was a fair result. More fights are required for Sykes and VIP Promotions are keen to keep Gary busy. BBN had spoken to Alex Matvienko in the dressing room prior to his fight with Ryan Ashworth and Alex had promised a considered boxing match. Instead we got a good scrap as Alex warred to a draw with his opponent over four rounds. Alex looked a little leaden legged in the first yet his body attack was something to behold. Rarely do fighters invest so heavily in an early body attack. Ashworth worked the head of Alex and by the second both men were engaging in some give and take. Ashworth landed some subtle counters yet the ferocity of Alex's bodywork was impressive. A cut on the right cheek of Matvienko paid testament to the head hunting of Ashworth. Ashworth was countering with a nice left hook yet Alex was out-scoring him with body shots, left and right hooks to the ribs followed by the odd right uppercut. In the final two rounds Matvienko let Ashworth into the fight, in the third in particular Ashworth landed a solid right hand and briefly backed Alex up only for Alex to switch his attack with a right uppercut and left hook to the head. It was all to fight for in round four, Ashworth again contributed to the round and boxed with control yet it was too little too late, or so it seemed. Referee Keith Garner raised the hands of both men and had scored the bout 39-39. BBN had it 39-37 for Matvienko who sought us out post-fight to explain that he had been suffering from a virus in the week before the fight yet had wanted desperately to appear on the bill. Another local fighter, Gary O'Connor, was not quite so fortunate. Gary, 10st, lost fairly and squarely to Scott Haywood, 9st 13lb. BBN had watched Haywood once before and despite his rangy style he is a gritty and proud fighter. O'Connor fought a poor fight in truth due to the range and punching style of Haywood who deserved his 60-55 victory, BBN had it 60-54 as Scott punished Gary with left hooks and right hands. Gary tried to bum rush Haywood in the first only to find himself backed-up and he never recovered. After a few rounds Gary was ducking away from shots and trying to fire his hooks over the top of Haywood's guard only for Scott to pop shots underneath Gary and score frequently. In truth Gary's defence did not gel, he kept ducking low and when he did pop-up he would get popped with a counter shot. One fighter, O'Connor, lacked cohesion and the other fight, Haywood, kept it tight even when tired. BBN commends him on his first ever win before a pro-O'Connor crowd. Next up was a rematch between Danny Harding and Chris Pacey. In the first fight Danny had used a right hand and left hook combination to befuddle the southpaw Pacey and this fight, aside from being messier, followed that same pattern. Pacey, 9st 9lb, glared at Danny, 9st 10lb, pre-fight yet this does not win you points. When the action began Pacey loaded-up on his shots only to be forced back by the same left hook that had bemused him in fight one. Chris was quickly cut over his left eye and bruised-up throughout the bout. Chris seemed so over-eager to avenge the first loss he not only made the same mistakes he also magnified them as the fight wore-on. When Chris threw his left, as a lead, he had some success yet was not consistent, in truth Danny out-foxed him in a more robust manner than in the first bout. When Danny got his left hook and right hand one-two off in the third it became a bane to Pacey once again. Pacey may have benefited from taking a step backwards to get some shots off yet he did not do this and paid the price as he was out-scored in the final round as Danny underlined the fact he is the better fighter with a four-punch salvo of lefts and rights. Pacey is a prospect no longer. Danny was better than him over two fights and beat Chris with a more robust interpretation of the first meeting's pattern. Other Results: Mark Thompson got back on the KO trail in a fight that had ‘first round stoppage' written through it like a stick of rock. Mark was packing sticks of dynamite, not rock, in both his fists as he stopped Manoocher Salari within the first minute. An early slip gave Salari – who BBN has watched spar and fight and he is definitely hit and hit again – a taste of the canvas before Thompson landed a right hand to the body and left hook to the chin that gave Salari a second helping. Up quickly from the knockdown Salari did what he does, he blazed back or tried to before being sent staggering back with a left hook and right hand that prompted the fight to be stopped at the 55-second mark. Manoocher is too reckless and the ‘KO Kid' (a name given to Mark by Jamie Moore) is back on the KO trail. Backstage Mark gave BBN a blow by blow of his win, after those two seconds had passed he was asking promoter Steve Woods if he could fight on the Michael Gomez bill in May. Brett Flournoy, 10st 12lb, recorded a win by beating brave debutant Alexander Spitjo, 10st 13lb, on points over four rounds. A standing count was administered unfairly to Alexander in the first round only for him to come back and give Brett a good workout. Southpaw Brett worked off his one-two, a nosebleed for Brett late on spurred him to put out a one-two that floored Alexander. The final score of 40-35 was fair. Finally former British title challenger (to Andy Morris' former Featherweight title) Rendall Munroe made his VIP debut by beating Gavin Deacon over six rounds. Munroe began aggressively with some solid bodywork and headshots. Deacon upped his work-rate in the second to nick the round and then took the third before Munroe showed his quality by using his southpaw skills to pull away in the final rounds. A 59-56 score from the referee was fair enough. BBN had it a little closer at 58-56 and Munroe will pick up momentum the more often he fights. Photos: Allan Stevenson

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.