Mark Thompson captures his first professional title in Wigan by Terry Dooley May 2nd 2008

Heywood boxer Mark Thompson picked up his first professional title in Wigan on Saturday by duly dispatching Maurycy Gojko in a single round. This effort saw Thompson picked-up the vacant International Masters title, last said to be held by He-Man, and Mark hopes that this is the first step on a long title road. The fight itself was over in the blink of an eye; unfortunate really as Thompson had looked good in his last fight, versus Darren Gethin, and must have been hoping to show this overall improvement in front of his fans. Thompson (10st 7lbs) dwarfed his opponent and came out bombing away with his own right hand; Gojko (10st 7lbs) did not get a chance to show if his size belies his talent. Almost immediately after the first bell he was under pressure and was soon on the canvas, a right and left from Thompson doing the damage. Upon rising Gojko signalled that he could continue only to be moved onto a big left hook that caught him clean on the chin, again Gojko went down, only this time he went down heavily and did admirably well to beat the count. Gojko was clearly not at the races and his surname was hinting as to his fate in this fight, the fight was akin to Willy Wonka beating up an Ooompa Loompa, with a crowbar. Thompson landed another right hand to the chest of his opponent and referee Steve Grey jumped in and stopped the fight at 1:31 of the first round. Jamie Moore presented Thompson with the International Masters belt; Moore then joined BBN to discuss the powerful left hook that had produced the second knockdown. Moore also confirmed that he will be on the Ricky Hatton bill and is looking to shed some rust ahead of his long overdue EBU title fight. Thompson was ebullient after the fight, he told BBN that he had wanted to fight on the upcoming Ricky Hatton bill, with the bill filled Thompson is now hoping he can get out as soon as possible and march towards further titles, the British title being his preferred choice at this point. Thompson rises to 15-1 (9). Gojko is now 13-6-1 (5). With the main event ending quicker than British Summertime the undercard stepped into the breech, providing the entertainment the fans had come in search of. A large bulk of the fans had come to support Blackpool's Brian Rose, who was looking to bounce back from the disappointment of suffering a draw in his last fight, versus Manoocher Salari. Rose took on Ernie Smith over four-threes and won handily on points. No big surprise there. However in this fight Rose reminded us of the qualities that had seen him looking so composed prior to that mini-war with the homicidal Iranian Mano. Precise with his jab, constant also, Rose (11st 4lbs) peppered Smith with the shot in the early going. Rose also slowed the pace to that of a boxing match, taking away some of the play from the rugged Smith (11st 9lbs). In the second round Ernie looked as subdued as I had seen him for some time, Rose pecked away with the jab, dropped the odd right hand, and tied Smith up when need be. At one point, during a clinch, Smith had a bit of a word with the Rose corner, perhaps asking them to advise their man to go toe-to-toe. Rose wisely stuck to his jabs, the back to basics approach was leaving Smith bemused, as well as bruised under the left-eye. In the third round Rose allowed Smith a bit more dominance in clinches then punished Smith with lefts after they had broken the clinch. In the fourth and final round Smith came out with a wild swing, by this point, though, Rose was putting more steam into his shots. Smith's swings were so wild Stevie Wonder could have seen them coming (and perhaps could have called to say 全mith is trying to hit you'). As the bout drew to its close a big one-two from Rose forced Smith to smother a little, a tactic that had bought him 40-seconds at a time throughout the fight due to Rose not breaking the clinches himself. A final left hook from Rose was the shot of the fight and looked to have had an impact on Ernie, who can take a shot. Referee Keith Garner turned in a 40-36 scorecard and you could have no complaints with that. Rose had boxed well, showing character, and improvement, to comeback from the Mano setback. Post-fight Rose was still putting out jabs; good-natured verbal jabs directed at this writer, along with a wave of his right fist. I managed to smother his work and put my case across. Rose disagreed with my view of his draw in Blackpool and he made his case well. On subsequent viewings I still have the fight a draw, the result is in the books now and Rose has shown that has what it takes to stick to a gameplan, something best learned early rather than late, he also showed toughness in the Mano fight. The best way to set the record straight would be a rematch with Mano. This time Rose assures us that the result will be firmly in his favour. Saturday's evidence would suggest that also. Rose rises to 8-0-1 (2). Smith is now 13-128-5 (1) (1-NC). Do not let the record fool you. Smith is a tough operator. Alex Matvienko had a bit of strange one by his own admission in stopping Drew Campbell in four rounds. The bout was scheduled for six-twos and in truth looked to be going the distance. Matvienko (11st 4lbs) looked tired in the early going, Campbell (11st ｽ lb), gave a committed performance before literally walking onto a rifle-shot right hand from Matvienko. Scotland's Campbell started the fight with a left hook to the body, forcing Matvienko to reply with a pair of hooks to the body. Matvienko, though, was looking a little ragged by the second round, a round arguably won by Campbell. Campbell again landed an early left to the body, neither man was shy about putting punches out, it looked like it could be a physical night for both, bad luck if Alex was feeling a little jaded himself. Campbell's stoical forward pressure was making Matvienko uncomfortable in the third. Alex then landed a left hook to the body of Campbell. When Campbell attacked Matvienko would do the right thing by covering-up, putting the earmuffs on as they say; the only problem was that he was leaving a corridor of danger through the middle of his guard. Campbell, however, preferred to attempt to hook around the guard and this gave Alex the opportunity to counter his way into the round. By the fourth Matvienko was looking better, a one-two was followed by a left hook to the body. A right hand to the head and a left hook to the body then went in, Campbell was wilting but carried on moving forwards. This forward momentum was to his detriment. Drew came leaning forwards with his hands high only for Matvienko to drop his shoulder and then crack Drew with a cracking right hand that dropped Drew's guard, rather than Drew himself, this left Drew strangely suspended in space, like a Scottish zombie (船ay of the Redhead' perhaps). It was clear that Drew was not one with his senses. Referee Steve Grey gave him a few moments to show something before wisely jumping in, in the process blocking a final left hook thrown by Alex. What was shaping up to be a struggle was all over at 1:54 of the fourth stanza. Drew had fought well only to get caught, that is boxing. Alex told me that he had indeed felt tired in the earlier rounds, he then realised he would have to dig-in; this resolve resulted in the stoppage win. Importantly for Alex it moved him further ahead in his KO-race with local boxer John 然occo' Hussey, although he acknowledged that 然occo', who scored his first stoppage on the Barnes-Bami undercard, is now gaining KO momentum. Jon Kays was said to have looked slightly off-pace in his last bout, versus Steve Gethin in Trafford, he had certainly seemed a little skitty the last time this writer had watched him, in Blackpool. With that said I was looking forward to seeing him up his game against the colourful 然ocking' Robin Deacon. Kays (9st 8 ｽ lbs) showed plenty of movement in the early stages, this left Deacon (9st 9 lbs) with no choice but to press Jon. In doing so Robin took a bit of pasting as the four-threes contest wore-on. Deacon's assistant trainer Graham Earl was introduced prior to the fight, disappointingly he received a few boos from people who surely have not seen his in-ring commitment to the game. Deacon himself showed a lot of the Earl resolve in the bout but on this night Kays was impervious to anything Deacon could do. Uppercuts, right hands to the body, left hooks to the head, jabs to the head and body: all thrown in the very first round by Kay's, this showed a burgeoning variety on his part. By the second and third rounds Deacon was feeling quite blue, Kays did a little shuffle in the second before landing a right hand to the head. Another straight right hand left Robin rocking a little. Kays then started hooking his right hands, a smart move as Robin was dropping his left and leaning in somewhat when shaping to attack. They say imitation is a form of flattery, unless of course you imitate yourself, in the third round Robin was trying to counter with the right hand but the crucial difference is that Kays was not there to be hit. A stiff jab seemed to stiffen Robin's legs a little in this round also. Thus far Robin had been rollicked and rocked by shots, however he stayed on his perch and gamely moved forwards in round four. During a clinch Robin gave Jon a jokey tap on the shoulder in a round that featured more flash than bash from both men. After the fight Kays told me that Robin had been messing about on the inside and he had reciprocated, the pair are friends and could be seen chatting post-fight. Perhaps, if there is one to be found, a criticism for Jon in this fight is that he eased off his foe in the final round. A fair move perhaps, on the other hand if Robin had seen an opportunity I daresay he would have taken it, there are no friends in the ring save your own fists. Jon rises to 5-0 (2). Robin rocks to 1-9 (0). Night of the Debutants: The rest of the card featured the proud debuts of a few fighters. Tamao Dwyer took on Senol Dervis in a strange little fight. Dwyer (9st 10 lbs) boxed out of the southpaw stance and looked lively early in the scheduled six-twos bout. For his part Senol (10st 1 lbs) tripped over his own feet early, after being clipped a little with a shot, and was given a count by referee Steve Grey in a first round dominated by Tamao. Between rounds a bypassing fan tumbled to the floor, for the rest of the fight I was looking out for the appearance of Buster Keaton. In the second round Tamao continued to dominate, a nick above the right-eye of Senol ended the fight at the between the second and third rounds. Prior to this Tamao had been content to allow Senol to tie his left hand up whilst whacking his foe with the right hand. The pick of the debutants was Mike Robinson (8st 12 lbs) who won over six-twos against veteran Delroy Spencer (8st 9 lbs). Spencer landed the cleaner shots in the early going only for Robinson to adopt a tight guard behind which he marched Spencer down as rounds wore-on. In round three Robinson landed a lead left hook cum uppercut, an interesting shot for a guy making his debut. Robinson had a tough round four before carrying the final two rounds to win on referee Keith Garner's scorecard by a 60-54 margin. This writer had it 58-56, Spencer landed some good shots early only for them to become cuffing as the fight wore-on. For his part Robison landed some solid shots, although his guard did go lax as the fight developed. Overall, though, Robinson fared well in his first paid encounter. Spencer falls to 10-65-3 (1). The two other debuts saw Alistair Morrison (12st 2 lbs) defeat Dave Pearson on points over six-twos; Chris O'Brian (10st 6 ｽ lbs) won his debut defeating Russell Pearce (10st 9 lbs) on points over six-twos.

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.