Motherwell’s supporting bouts by Tom Walker Jun 9th 2007

The show opened with an International heavyweight contest between Albert Sosnowski 16st 6lb 6oz the WBF champion and the French champion Steve Herelius 15st 1lb 8oz over 10 x 3mins and Victor Loughlin the man in charge of the action. For heavyweights, both men were remarkably agile and indeed were boxing as opposed to mauling. Their work was tidy and a sweet right hook from the Pole drew applause from some of the Polish supporters in the 2nd, as well as a spray of water from the head of the heavily tattooed Frenchman. Neither of them seemed particularly heavy handed which is surprising when viewed against the stoppage records that they had between them. Herelius seemed content to let the taller Sosnowski take the lead in the proceedings which will undoubtedly cost him should it go the distance. The Pole caught Herelius twice with a left and right hook which again drew applause from his countrymen in the 6th round. Herelius has a “laissez faire” approach and despite feigning injury, he's fooling no-one, least of all the WBF champion. The bout is slipping out of his reach and he only has himself to blame, Sosnowski stuck to his task and using a series of combinations in the penultimate round for which there was no response from the French champion, Victor Loughlin called it off at the 2min 18sec mark of the ninth round. Mark Hastie 10st 7lb continued his professional career over a 4 x 3min bout with Alex Stoda 10st 10.5lb of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire with Kenny Pringle as referee. This turned out to be a hard, battle of attrition. Stoda should have been penalised for a blatant head-butt which cut Hastie, and since there was no obvious love lost between them, it could have been fought in the street. Stoda was standing off of Hastie too much instead of taking the bout to the local man. This was not a pretty bout and Hastie will be glad to see the back of the tough brawler from Wisbech, who'd do well to listen to his corner more and box rather than fight! Gary McArthur 9st 12lb faced a Hungarian Egon Szabo 9st 12lb 8oz over 6 x 3mins rounds with Paul Graham as referee in the 3rd bout of the 9 bout card. McArthur circled the ring darting out his southpaw jab, possibly showing the Hungarian too much respect in the openers. He has height and reach advantage over the diminutive Magyar, but is not using it, he is picking up the rounds but with single shots rather than flurries, and if he kept the Hungarian a bit busier in defence, he (McArthur) would have an easier time. Szabo is motivated by the cut which has opened up over McArthur's right eye, and he has the Clydebank man rocking a bit in the 4th. McArthur has another cut to contend with, this time over his left eye as the Hungarian is using his head literally. The wilder shots of the Magyar is a potential banana skin for the undefeated McArthur, but he avoids it with movement to pick up a deserved 59 – 55 points win in time to enjoy his summer break Jamie Coyle 10st 12 ¾ lb met up with Liverpool's Graham Delehedy 10st 13lb over a scheduled 6 x 3min contest. Delehedy is cutting the ring off with aplomb to box Coyle into the corners, and Coyle's pale skin is showing rope burns early on as he's being forced to slide along them to avoid the heavier shots of the Liverpudlian. Coyle does regain some momentum in the opening of the 2nd, but is failing to capitalise on his height and reach advantage over the muscular but shorter Scouser. Delehedy's corner are pleading for him to go to work and is responding with vigour in the 3rd. The bout and the end result are thrown out of the window with Kenny Pringle stepping in to stop the bout at the 2min 45 second mark of the fourth of the scheduled six. This round could have gone either way, and Delehedy's team will have been duly disappointed, but for Coyle this was an important victory against an opponent who will test many lesser men. Delehedy had stopped 7 out of his 9 opponents in his win column with only a single loss previously recorded. Brian Magee 13st 7lb of Belfast had as his opponent Danny Thornton 12st 13lb of Leeds in a scheduled 6 x 3min bout with Paul Graham as referee. Thornton opened with pace and attitude, but Magee has fought at the highest level and takes his time to settle into his undoubted rhythm. The question was, whether Thornton could maintain this pace for the bout? The answer was rendered superfluous as he was retired on his stool at the end of the 2nd round with an awful cut on his skull which was bleeding profusely, so much so that it required stitches from one of the doctors in attendance. His corner acted properly in doing so (retiring him) as it would have been needlessly callous to have had him continue with such a gash. Pedro Verdu 9st 10lb of Caracas in Venezuela was matched with Damian Owen 9st 12lb from Swansea in the Principality. Owen opened up the bout on the offensive with fast hands, but Verdu looks as though if he doesn't stop his opponents then they stop him, as his record (announced) demonstrates this trait of stop or be stopped. This was a totally absorbing match which had potential to close early. Paul Graham did point out to the South American that his shot was low in the 2nd, but then Venezuela is not only “south of the border” in American terms but in geographical perspective too. The bout exploded in the 3rd round as an exocet from Verdu hit the target with the accuracy of the missile; it took out the control centre of Owen's body, his brain. He did get to his feet at the eight mark and indeed put his hands up to show he was okay (in his mind), and as a referee I thought Paul may have stopped it then, as Owen was wobbling like someone who's just stepped off the “Waltzer” in the fairground. Verdu needed no second bidding and set about the Welshman with venom, this did prompt Paul to call it off in quick order at the 1 minute 3 seconds mark of the 3rd. Paul “Charlie” King 9st 12 ½ lb of Newarthill was matched with Gavin Deacon 9st 10 ½ lb from Northampton over 4 x 3min with Kenny Pringle in charge. Both boys were wont to “head hunt” in “tippy tappy” fashion in the opener, although King looked the more relaxed of the two. Deacon isn't giving King much room or time from which to build a platform from. I suspect “Charlie” will want to put this win behind him as Deacon is following his trainer's instruction to “close him down” to a tee, and is becoming a nuisance to Kings plans as he (Deacon) is in Kings face the whole time! King did though catch Deacon with a couple of well timed right crosses which didn't carry much weight but were eye catching. In the end the score of 59 – 55 was justified and King moves on undefeated. Nathan Brough 10st 13lb of Liverpool made his debut in the paid ranks against the redoubtable Billy Smith 10st 5lb of Stourport in a 4 x 3min bout. I remember Brough from the Commonwealth Boxing Championships held in Glasgow in 2005 as a very stylish amateur, in a team which featured some very notable English boxers, where an unfortunate injury meant we didn't get to see him as much as we'd have wanted to. Now he's joined the ranks of the professionals and he still has the style which we'd noted in the Kelvin Hall. Billy Smith though has a new found belief in himself and is now nobody's “mug”, and he is making Brough work for his first pay packet as a boxer. In the end though, the stylish Brough does get his first bout and a 40 – 36 points win under his belt to please his knot of fans that've travelled from Liverpool to see him. A terrific night's entertainment all round then, if tinged with disappointment for Barry Morrison who got a super opponent in Colin Lynes in his first defence of the title which he richly deserved in the first instance, when perhaps he might have got an easier defence to start off with. Still that is boxing and it is a hard sport and can be unforgiving should you be so unlucky in the opponent you're given. “Dandy” Lynes is a worthy holder of this prestigious belt.

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.