Glitz and glamour in Linwood by Tom Walker Sep 16th 2007

Braveheart's first open show was held in the Linwood Sports Centre last night and had all the trimmings with which their Wine & Dine evenings are associated with. There was glamour in the form of the ring girls, flag carrying entrances, raucous, but appropriate entrance music for the boxers and an almost full house. The venue itself is a pretty good one for such shows with everyone guaranteed to see the action without hindrance. It is unusual for a debut to top the bill, but such was the interest in Kris Karslaw's debut in his home patch that this was the case last night. The show opened with another debutant, Steve Weir (11st 2lb) from Paisley matched up with Paul Royston (11st 2lb) of Rotherham. The much tattooed Weir went at his debut with a speed you'd expect from a debutant, and possibly could do with taking his time in his future bouts. The frenetic pace was maintained over the 6 x 2min rounds with Weir always in control if only for his nervous energy and his not allowing Royston to settle into any sort of rhythm. Royston was on the back-foot for almost the entire bout, but this allowed him to cover up and hold when he felt that a 28 day suspension for a stoppage would have denied him further earnings. Comfortable enough in the end for the new professional from Paisley with a 60-55 score from Kenny Pringle. Gary Young (10st 13lb) continued his rehabilitation from injury with an unconvincing points win over David Kirk (11st) of Ashfield on Sutton. At the outset I thought Young was going to overpower the ever game Kirk, but as the bout progressed, and the plan wasn't working, Kirk came more into the bout with a sense of belief which had been conspicuously absent in the early part of the bout. Still a win is a win, yet if Young's career is to resume its trajectory then he'll have to be putting journeymen away quicker than this tepid showing. Young got it 58 – 56 on the ref's (Paul Graham) score card. Marco Cittadini 10st 2.5lb from Glasgow was matched with Leonard Lothian 10st 2.5lb with an Ingle connection (Dominic was in his corner). Cittadini just didn't seem able to deal with the switch hitting and very fluid style of Lothian, chasing him round the ring for the duration. Getting tagged for his trouble with monotonous regularity, he did land some of his own but too few for me! Lothian can feel duly aggrieved with the result of a 58 – 58 draw, as I'd have given him the lot, if only on the basis of the shots on target, in which he had by far, the majority! Ricky Burns (9st 11lbs) of Coatbridge gave away over a stone to Ernie Smith at 10st 13lb. Burns was a late replacement on the bill, but a fine one for the show. Smith is obviously a character in boxing, as he added his stentorian voice to that of the crowd shouting “Come on Ricky” even before the bout started, this brought a smile to even the most devoted of Burns fans that were in attendance. Despite this generosity on the part of Smith, he did make Burns work for his nights pay and the likeable Burns will have been glad of the work-out. He was never in any real danger as he is too fast for Smith and has hand speed that matches his movement, even managing to double up on the body and head of Smith while he was in the limpet like grasp of Smith. The shut out of 60-54 was entirely appropriate from Paul Graham. Stephen (SR) Russell met up with Robert Bunford of Wales in the penultimate bout and ran out a comfortable winner by the same margin as Burns 60-54. Both men weighed 9st.  Bunford had an uncomfortable night as southpaw Russell picked him off with his combinations, and at the end of the bout the blood from Bunford's nose had splattered the fancy shorts of Russell, the shirt of referee Kenny Pringle and my notepad. Kris Karslaw (10st 13lb) topped off the bill with Surinder Sekhon (10st 12lb) of Barnsley in a 4 x 3min bout and had his adoring fans (especially the female ones), overjoyed with his performance against the Yorkshireman. He (Karslaw), had a very ratio of accuracy with his punches, hardly missing the target. His heavy handed combinations allied to in and out scoring single shots had Sekhon covering up for most of the time and he only looked in the hunt towards the end when Karslaw was apparently breathing a bit hard from the energy expended from the first bell. In the last round Sekhon's corner were shouting for him to open up as quote “he's knackered” unquote; Nothing could be further from the truth, as Karslaw gets a second wind to finish the bout in style with a 40-37 points win for his debut. I've seldom seen so many glamorous young women in attendance at an open boxing show, but since the debutant and show headliner Karslaw and Stephen Russell are like two boy band members with the looks, then it is hardly surprising that there was an almost teeny bopper atmosphere on occasion with screaming girls, fortunately for the two boxers, the men present were much more interested in the “Noble Art”. With almost 850 miles clocked up in the past three days in the interests of boxing I just wish there were more bouts nearer to Aberdeen, or maybe I should relocate to the central belt (Not).

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stephen russell Sep 23rd 2007, 19:25:18 by madmick nice article think stephen russell stole the show he boxed great cris carslaw was also good on his first pro show