Appleby warms up for British title shot by Craig MacKay Mar 3rd 2008

The undercard of the McIntyre-Anderson British title fight was the first promotion that I have covered for BBN and one that threw up some interesting bouts. Opening up was a four rounder between Newarthill boxer Charlie King (10st 7) and a late step in Abdul Rashid (10st 4) of Manchester. King was 6 for 6 before this fight and was looking to continue his impressive start to his pro career. King started off the busier fighter, connecting with jabs and working well to the body. Rashid looked to be on the back foot for the first couple of rounds but managed to tag King a number of times with big right hands. It was clear the Newarthill boxer was not going to have everything his own way. In the last two rounds King increased his workrate and began to move around the ring creating angles for himself to land with rights of his own, which were finding the target with increasing frequency. King's lateral movement was impressive and he made Rashid miss on numerous occasions. However when King resorted to moving straight back rather than side to side he left himself open to Rashids big right and continued to be caught right up until the bell. This was a one sided points victory for King but Abdul Rashid made sure the bout was a competitive one. Unquestionably this was Kings toughest test to date but one that he passed with flying colours. Bannockburn fighter Jamie Coyle (11st) found himself in somewhat of a mismatch with southpaw Tye Williams (10st 13) of Dewsbury. The somewhat cagey opening round saw the bald headed Coyle establish himself as the boxer controlling the centre of the ring. He was first to the jab and was finding his range with a few quick combinations and looked to be simply feeling out his opponent. Williams tried to get into the fight at the start of the second but as soon as Coyle saw a hint of an opening he jumped on Williams and unleashed a barrage of rights and lefts with no reply. Referee Kenny Pringle was forced to jump in and give the TKO to Jamie Coyle after 1min 26s of the second. 31 year old Coyle now moves to 14-3-1 with 7 coming inside the distance. Steven McGuire (12st 6) stepped into the ring against the Welshman Jamie Ambler (12st 2) who despite his poor record has a reputation as a durable fighter and has only been stopped 3 times in 19 fights. If McGuire, hailing from Glenrothes, could sparkle in the ring as much as his ring attire did then we would all be in for a treat! Almost instantly from the opening bell Ambler found himself backed up against the ropes by the physical McGuire who found himself with plenty of time to load up and unleash a number of thudding blows to the body. Round after round Ambler seemed content to back up onto the ropes and cover up, which was clearly frustrating McGuire who looked keen to stop Ambler inside the distance. As the fight wore on Ambler did come more into the fight and landed with a few decent punches signalling to McGuire that he wasn't going to get the easy KO that he may looked likely after the first round. Ambler proved his durability once again by soaking up punches and standing up to the sheer physicality of McGuire who he was making work for the victory. In the sixth and final round McGuire looked to stop Ambler and threw everything he had behind his punches and managed to rattle Ambler heavily with blows to the face and the body, but the tough Welshman did well to see out the final round. Despite the one sided victory for McGuire he may be disappointed that he never managed to stop or even drop Jamie Ambler despite landing cleanly with some big punches. A big cheer from the crowd greeted the entrance of Motherwell fighter and former British light welterweight champion Barry Morrison (10st 5) who went for the full six rounds against Billy Smith (10st 10) of Southport. Morrison was quicker to the punch and was controlling the centre of the ring but it was clear from the outset that Smith could sense a possible upset. Smith was catching Morrison with counter punches with ease and a low blow from Smith in the second has Morrison reeling. For my money Smith looked the busiest fighter in the first two rounds and was at least sharing the points. Smith continued to prove awkward to hit through rounds three and four and had success with counters but when Morrison connected he did so with more precision and power and probably edged the middle rounds. Round five very nearly was the last for Morrison as he got caught with a hard punch flush on the chin and he did well to stay on his feet. The big punch was exactly what Morrison needed to wake him up and he seemed like a different fighter for the rest of the fight. His effective jab came into play and kept he kept Smith at arms length, looking the far more stylish fighter when he put his punches together. Smith saw out the fight despite getting caught with Morrison's jab and combinations but the increased workrate that Morrison showed after he was caught was decisive in ensuring the points victory. Barry Morrison is somewhat of an enigma of a fighter, he has undoubted talent as he showed in the last two rounds but constantly looks unconvincing against fighters he should be dominating. However if Barry can sustain his workrate for an entire fight then I see no reason why he cannot win back his British title in the future. The fifth bout of the evening saw the promising young Scottish boxer Paul Appleby (9st 6.5) meet Ferenc Szabo (9st 8) of Budapest Hungary in the lightweight divison. Appleby was a fighter I was looking forward to seeing box live and he certainly did not disappoint. Right from the bell it was clear that Appleby had the superior hand speed and looked to be comfortable working going to the body on the inside then moving upstairs. A powerful body blow from Appleby led to Szabo touching down and then taking a standing eight count in the first. By the end of the first it was evident how many punches Appleby was landing with by the crimson mask that Szabo now bore. The second round saw Appleby take punches while backed up against the ropes and even had his gumshield knocked out by a well timed blow but his own body shots were to greater effect. Szabo went down once again in response to a powerful left hand lead to the body which was Applebys most effective weapon throughout. It seemed like anytime Appleby really let his hands go he was catching Szabo but his own defence was almost non existent and he was getting caught with needless punches that a more experienced fighter could have avoided. The third round saw Appleby continue in a similar vein, walking through Szabos blows whilst throwing powerful left hand leads and further opening up the cut around Szabos left eye. Another Appleby shot to the body led to another knock down and standing eight, soon after yet another body blow felled Szabo and referee Paul Graham did the right thing and stopped the fight to protect Szabo from further punishment. Appleby is clearly a talented fighter with a bright future and his exciting style of using attack as his best (and only) form of defence is not dissimilar to Amir Khan and if he continues to progress the way he has been then British, European and dare I say even world title fights await. The final undercard fight featured the three time Scottish amateur super bantamweight champion David Savage (8st 12) of Scotstoun against Peterboroughs Tony McQuade. This was only Savages fourth pro fight yet the tall rangey fighter looks a classy operator and dominated the first three rounds with some exquisite boxing. Savage demonstrated excellent head movement and constantly caught McQuade whilst effectively evading the counter punches thrown. McQuade did try to get in close to Savage but was doing his very own Elvis Pressley impression with some shaky legs after being tagged by Savage time after time. Round number four and the crowd were expecting more of the same – a one sided exhibition of boxing by David Savage – but what they saw was the epitomy of boxing. Out of the blue a left hook from McQuade landed flush and Savage dropped like a stone. He rose to his feet but held on to McQuade who could smell blood and was looking for a repeat of the big left. Savage held on to the bell but must have been glad he was only fighting a four rounder. Savage, despite being dropped, is still undefeated and marches on. He clearly is a fighter with talent and his impressive boxing ability was evident tonight and who knows maybe being hit hard this early in his career is a good thing for a fighter. Only time will tell but I for one will be looking on at future Savage bouts with interest.

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