Fleck and Drake raise the roof in Leicester war by Tom Podmore Oct 7th 2007

Exciting local scrapper Simon Fleck and Plymouth's Carl Drake waged an unforgettable eight-round battle of wills on Leicester Sporting Club's maiden show at a noisy Aylestone Leisure Centre last night (October 6). The Leicester venue was packed to the rafters to see two ambitious middleweight's battle to an exciting, hard-fought and brutal eight-twos draw that saw both bloodied, bruised and hurt. Drake, by the way, picked up a nasty-looking cut for his troubles. Dudley official Sean Messer (the man in the middle for all three bouts) marked the raw battle all-square at 77-77 – a decision that at the time baffled me. Incidentally, I scored it 79-74 to the Plymouth boxer. However, the draw, on reflection, perfectly reflects the intensity and see-saw nature of the conflict – most of the toe-to-toe rounds were close. But Drake, rather prophetically, told the Plymouth Herald in the run-up to this fight: "I think the fight will be a test and I think it will be a good fight – as long as it doesn't go to points." Fleck, having only his second professional contest in his homecity of Leicester, had great trouble dealing with the aggressiveness, workrate, strength and persistence of the terrier-like puncher from South Devon – often finding himself being forced onto the back foot. But there was no pretence to the powerfully-built Drake, in professional outing three. He was there to throw bombs. He neglected any use of the jab to walk the local ticket-seller down and toss looping, albeit powerful, hooks from either hand. Mike Shinfield-trained Fleck was one of the most popular and exciting amateurs on the East Midlands circuit until he turned over in 2005. He had a reputation of never backing down from a challenge and his toe-to-toe slugfest with Rasham Singh-Man will never be forgotten by anyone that ever saw it. The former Old Robin Hood amateur compiled a 16-10 slate that saw him register a victory on his debut, then lose his next eight fights. He managed to reach the Midland finals of the ABA Novice's, however. He also sent Burton's former ABA quarter-finalist Jonjo Finnegan, a recent Midland Area and British Masters title challenger in the pro's, back home with a loss on his card. The twenty-seven-year-old met someone in the paid ranks who was equally keen to engage in a tear-up, was physically the stronger and had more power in his gloves than he did. Carl's solid punching had bloodied Fleck's nose by the second. The Shinfield's have tried to mould tall, wiry warmonger Simon (11st 4lbs) into a boxer – and that showed in the opening minute when he worked his long-armed jab on the move. But in the second minute Drake had found his range, storming back with solid punches to the body. The nose-to-nose action began in the second, with the Plymouth-based puncher, to the surprise of the Leicester faithful, initiating it – finding the target often with looping rights over Fleck's low left as they traded wildly. By the third Fleck was doing his best to meet fire-with-fire, standing his ground and firing back with long rights. The 32-year-old former martial arts champion, however, had Simon in trouble with a short left to the body followed by a looping right that made the local blink, step-back and hold. Fleck tried to get behind his jaw in the fourth, but flat-footed Drake simply marched through it, crouched and then exploded with hard, winging hooks – one such punch spun the local ticket-sellers head around. A clash of heads brought a nasty-looking cut on Carl's left eye in the early stages of the fifth, which survived an inspection. On the resumption, Drake teared into Fleck, who stood his ground and got through with a corking right uppercut. Again, wild trading was the order of the sixth – with Drake (11st 3lbs) being forced to eat as many shots as he threw. Simon, urged on by hundreds of vociferous supporters, fought back stoutly with long rights and uppercuts as the action got closer. Bruised under both eyes, Fleck reeled alarmingly after shipping a solid left-right in the penultimate session and hit the deck, called a slip. Both were deathly tired and the Leicester-based fighter was hurt again with a perfectly-timed right uppercut in the last 30 seconds. However, sensing that this might make-or-break the fight, Simon, now 5-1-1 (1), fought his heart out in the final two minutes, getting his punches off first, never taking a backward step and rocking his opponent with a stream of left hooks. The draw was well-received with the crowd, if not Drake, now 1-1-1 (1), and his corner who thought they'd done more than enough for the win. Undefeated local prospect Kevin Concepcion topped the three-fight bill and did a family double over durable Sutton-In-Ashfield veteran David Kirk in a middleweight six-threes. Southpaw Kirk, 33, was decked twice and lost every round against Kevin's younger brother Martin – who was taken out in brutal fashion by Bradley Pryce for the Commonwealth title in nearby Nottingham last night – in Scotland back in 2004. He managed to stay on his feet against the bigger, older brother but felt the pace and intensity of the popular Leicester ticket-sellers attacks in the last three rounds and did well to see out the course. Concepcion, 27, the more measured, composed and relaxed of the brothers, was under attack in the opening three minutes, with iron-chinned Kirk looking to hook the body when he marched in. Punch picker Kevin (11st 8lbs) continued to watch Kirk, with Jimmy Gill in his corner, throughout the second. However, he stepped up the ferocity in the last half – rattling the shorter Nottinghamshire-based scrapper with short, powerful right uppercuts. Using his feet to find angles for bodyshots, the Neil Tomlinson-trained prospect switched attacks between body and head in the third three minutes. A flush straight right made David, a former two-time Midland Area title challenger, grab tightly late on. Rounds four and five saw tattooed Kirk (11st), now with a small mouse under his right eye, battle bravely against the taller, long-armed middleweight, who drove his opponent back before teeing-off with short rights and uppercuts. Concepcion controlled the last round and made the brave and tenacious Mansfield-born veteran's legs wobble with a huge right uppercut in the latter stages. But 78-fight Kirk deservedly heard the final bell. Mr Messer's 60-55 scoreline for Kevin, now 7-0 (1), was a mere formality. Bedworth's Neil Tidman warmed up for the first defence of his Midland Area super-middleweight title next month with a 58-57 nod – a verdict that looked spot-on – over Nottingham's former Midland Area light-heavyweight boss Michael Monaghan in the six-threes curtain raiser. Thirty-one-year-old Michael had been in with the likes of Carl Froch, Wayne Elcock and Gary Lockett and thought he had done enough to get his hand raised after the 18 minutes. But it was a scrappy, sometimes messy encounter that saw ticket-selling Tidman's cleaner and harder punching overcome Monaghan's slaps, use of the ring and posing. Neither man was in total control of the cruiserweight contest, but Neil, warned throughout for use of shoulders on the inside, did more than enough to take the scalp of the worldly-wise Lincoln-based stylist. Pat Cowdell-trained Tidman (13st 1lb) took the first two sessions by means of greater workrate. Monaghan had his moments but threw only single shots; Neil jabbed, worked the body and followed up with one-twos. The next two rounds were close. A lot of the action was messy and even. I couldn't separate them. But Matt Scriven-trained Monaghan (12st 9lbs) took the fifth when he got through with a few uppercuts as the bull-strong Coventry fighter marched forward. Tidman, now 8-4 (2), had the better of the exchanges in the last, however, and a straight left followed by a right uppercut had Monaghan, now 17-21 (2), looking a tad shakey – retreating to the ropes. The Midland Area twelve-stone champion, 29, takes on tricky Ingle-trained Paul David in his first defence on the undercard of Carl Froch-Robin Reid at the Nottingham Arena on November 9. Leicester's Former NABC National amateur champion Lester Walsh, due to make his debut on the bill, had to make do with a lively four-twos exhibition with Lee ‘Brown Sugar' Edwards, 5-1 (1), after two opponents pulled out on the day of the fight. Melton Mowbray's Paul Butlin, who was down to box Matthew Ellis in an intriguing six-rounder on the card and had shifted 70 tickets, was also left without a fight when Blackpool's Ellis pulled out at five o'clock on Friday afternoon. Promoter Les Allen tried unsuccessfully to match him all Friday night.

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