Woodhouse scores hat trick down at the lane by Jim Wright May 18th 2008

Driffield's Curtis Woodhouse made it three stoppage wins in a row at his old stomping ground of Bramall lane, home of Sheffield United where the former player who once sold for a million pounds was also the youngest ever captain of the South Yorkshire championship outfit. But while Curtis' former teammates are scattered around the exclusive holiday resorts of the world sunning themselves after a long hard season, Woodhouse was basking in the glory of his finest performance since he swapped his boots for gloves, stopping Manchester's Dave Murray at 1-13 of the second of the scheduled six twos. The Driffield destroyer showed a new dimension to his armoury by employing plan B when Murray started to make a nuisance of himself by pushing Woodhouse onto the backfoot and forcing him to concede ground and box his way out of danger. Things started brightly for Curtis who gave away a big height and reach advantage. He went for the visitor's body and then the head with a commanding fast start to the first round. Murray replied by finishing the round strongly, trapping Woodhouse on the ropes and unleashing a combination that had the former blade trapped on the ropes and glad of the bell. Sensing a swing of fortune, Murray picked up where he left off in the second, taking the initiative and testing the skill and desire of Woodhouse. Curtis used the ring to weather the storm and change tactic to account for his opponent's new found confidence. Mid way through the round, Woodhouse took a half step off the ropes and unleashed a tornado of his own in the form of a sweet three shot flurry that detached the Manchester man from control of his legs and left him on his back wondering what had just hit him. Bravely Murray beat the count but referee Mike Alexander rightly decided that Murray wasn't able to continue and stopped the action at 1-13 to make it a hat trick of stoppages for the undefeated welterweight prospect. Afterwards a delighted Woodhouse reflected, “That was my best performance to date, he was a big lad and I used my boxing brain to change tactic, I didn't think I was going to be able to stop him but I let the shots go that I had been working on and got him out of there”. Without doubt that was Curtis' best night in the ring because of his ability to recognise the need for a change in approach and execute the alternative plan as well as the way he forced the end with a devastating doubled up left hook that any fighter in the country would have been proud off. The battling blade moves onto 6(3)-0, learning his new trade while entertaining his following of fans that have watched the switch from soccer to the sweet science. Talking of tornados, super-bantamweight Central Area champion Josh Wale blew away the normally durable Ghanaian Ayittey Mettle after 2-51 of the first round of the scheduled six threes. Wale jumped straight onto his man, sat on his chest and let the swinging hooks go into the midriff of the cross armed African. He must have landed over a hundred shots on the visitor, who tried in vain to deter Wale with the occasional left hook reply. Having prised open Mettle with body shots the Brampton super-bantam found the room and fired through the middle. Referee Alexander had seen enough and wisely waved off the action. Josh moves onto 7(3)-0, job done and looking like a strong proposition at super-bantamweight. Sheffield light-middleweight southpaw prospect Muhsen Nasser spent Saturday afternoon chilling out and contemplating between a night of television viewing or revising for his upcoming exams for his IT and Business degree at university when his trainer Dominic Ingle called at six pm to offer him a fight against Rotherham's hard working Paul Royston. Gladly Nasser accepted the challenge and put in a solid performance to register a four round shut-out victory at light-middleweight. Royston took the fight to Muhsen in the early exchanges but the Ingle trained student danced out of danger and soon took control with the heavier single shots that but Paul on the retreat and left him with no option but to concentrate on his defensive skills. Nasser menacingly stalked his man and peppered him with the eye-catching single bombs. Although dominant and impressive throughout, especially considering the late call up for the fight, Nasser could have capitalised more with the openings he created by following up the solitary salvos and pressing home his advantage. Royston managed to keep his defence tight and occasionally caught Nasser on the way in with a counter right. It was a tough night's work for the Rotherham grafter whose fifteen months in the professional game has netted him twenty two outings. Nasser moves onto 17(2)-0-1, balancing his time between books and boxing which is always good to see. Another top performer on the night was referee Mike Alexander. The former fighter who went the distance with the like of Junior Witter, Ryan Rhodes and Takaloo continues to impress with his authoritative control of the action in the ring and his ability to assess when a fighter needs saving from himself and for another day. Coldwell and the Blades delivered a good night's action to the fight fans of Sheffield. Woodhouse and Wale continue their exciting journey on their steep learning curve as they impressively develop and entertain along the way.

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