Fright Night For Oakey by Emerson De-Verne-Ghent Jun 14th 2008

Last night saw an enthralling contest between Dean Francis and Tony Oakey for the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, with Francis prevailing by way of ninth round knockout.  Adding extra intrigue was the fact that it was somewhat of a local derby for both fighters with Dean residing in Basingstoke and Tony fighting out of his home town. Dean entered the ring first, looking like a cruiserweight, to the hostility of the crowd, he was incredibly focused and ready for the challenge that lay ahead. Tony then entered the ring appearing relaxed and cool, to a home town heroes reception and accompanied by his football club's FA Cup. Unfortunately, by the end of the night Portsmouth was going to lose one of its champions. Round one saw Dean establishing his jab well, which almost immediately created a welt under Tony's left eye. Tony was positioning himself to Dean's right, presumably to nullify the right hook and it seemed to be working and allowing him to fire off his own jab in retaliation. On several occasions both fighters were landing almost at the same time. I guess the pundits were right, this was going to be a close fight. Then towards the end of the round Dean fired off a good combination to Tony's head and that welt started to look worse. Round two began with much of the same. Dean was using his superior reach to throw straight lefts and rights whilst Tony was trying valiantly to close down the space and get within distance to use his hooks. Tony was beginning to get joy by backing Dean up against the ropes, although Francis was doing well to nullify this by holding or fainting out of danger. Tony's hard work was validated by a cracking overhand right which opened a cut on the bridge of Dean's nose. More hooks and overhand rights then opened up a nasty looking cut on the left eyebrow of Dean. Round three saw Tony as the aggressor, the cuts that he caused seemed to spur him on, like a shark that smelled blood. Dean was looking a bit subdued, possibly by the cuts or the crowd, but still managed to get a great left hook in. Dean's reach advantage, and his jab, were lacking and causing more problems for him than he'd like. Tony was able to continually back Dean up against the ropes and let fly. Only Francis' footwork was able to get him out of any further trouble, but back came Oakey time and time again. The cuts on Dean's eye and nose were looking worse, but fortunately the blood wasn't hampering his vision. Round four yet again saw more of the same. Tony was swarming Dean, throwing evil right hooks that were continually catching Dean on that damaged left eye. The cut man was going to earn his sauce tonight! Stamina was starting to come in to play, because of the frenetic pace that was set by both men, and Dean was breathing heavily, his hands lowering slightly. Just as Dean appeared to be getting his second wind, Tony came back, with a spring in his stride picking off Dean at will. In round five Tony went back to work on Dean's left eye, which began bleeding again from virtually the bell. Dean was still not fighting to his strengths but he dug deep and both fighters were trading at will at virtually the same time. Then Oakey landed two great right hooks, the last of which forced a stumble from Francis, there's no way this fight would go the distance. Surely. Dean was allowed a brief respite by Richie Davies to allow the corner to wipe away some blood from his left eye, which was beginning to resemble a Tyson tattoo. Only red. Round six saw Dean trying to slow the pace by holding, thus preventing Tony from causing any more damage with his hooks. This was proving fruitful, but not enough to keep Tony off him for anymore than a few seconds. Oakey simply refused to back off. Surprisingly, there'd been very little body shots throughout the fight, but Dean managed to let rip with a couple of peaches. Francis then fired off a great three punch combination, which Oakey appeared to shake off, as if to say “You need more than that, fella”. Mid way through the round Dean let fly with a peach of an uppercut, which seemed to spur him on and his straights came back, then two cracking left hooks. Was Dean mounting a comeback? Round seven began in stunning fashion. Dean let fly with a seven punch combination, I had to pinch myself as I thought I had a time machine and was seeing the current British super-middleweight champion. Unfortunately, Tony seemed to just shake them off and ask for more. Dean was breathing very heavily now, but was managing to slow the pace by holding when possible. Midway through the round the pace picked up again, with both fighters trading equally. This really was a great fight! Tony began to look tired, especially in the legs, and his mouth was almost gasping when the fighters were tied up. Towards the end of the round Dean managed to let off two great looking hooks, but we weren't seeing much of that right. Round eight and it was much of the same, the fight had turned back in the last few rounds into Dean's type of fight and it was showing. Francis was letting fly with fast, accurate punches, keeping Oakey at bay. A four punch combination saw Oakey rattled slightly, but the home town fighter was able to hold on and the pace was much slower compared to the early rounds. Both fighters were looking for breaks, wherever possible. A welt began to appear under the right eye of Francis and the Tyson tattoo was back. Oakey's punches weren't finding the target as much as they were in the middle rounds and Francis seemed to be the more accurate fighter at this point. Round nine started with an equipment failure as the Francis corner had forgotten to put the mouthguard in. Dean was, again, catching Tony with fast, accurate hooks. The welt under Dean's right eye erupted into a small cut from Tony's pressure. Not only did he have a swarming, if fatigued, British champion to deal with, he now had three cuts as well. Both fighters, again, were trading when stamina allowed. The fight had obviously taken a lot out of both men. Then, with over two minutes gone in the round Dean left fly with the ‘money shot. A peach of a counter left hook hit Tony right on the button, sending him to the floor. I didn't think he'd get up, but he showed true heart in doing so at the count of eight. The referee, taking a good look at him, allowed Tony to fight on but he was gone. The damage was done. Francis, with blood streaming down both eyes and nose, let fly with two great uppercuts and Richie Davies stepped in at 2:47 of the round. In conclusion, I thought this was a superb fight fought at a pace usually reserved for boxers of lesser weight. Both men showed true heart, but, for me, Dean Francis showed tremendous testicular fortitude to be able to overcome cuts, an aggressive home town ground and a great domestic fighter to become the Commonwealth and British champion by mounting a great comeback in the later rounds. Photos: Chris Royle

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.