Munyai slips to defeat on heavyweight undercard by Will Hale Jul 20th 2008

Tshifhiwa Munyai, the six foot bantamweight that has defeated the likes of Martin Power and Lee Haskins over here, was floored and convincingly outpointed by little-known Ghanaian Osumanu Akaba. Referee Jeff Hinds scored 79-75 in favour of the man from Accra. The Atomic Spider, boxing minus his breads, neither looked nor boxed like himself in the first. He appeared sluggish and flat footed. The bald and compact Akaba had clearly not come to make up the numbers as he scored with darting southpaw rights and followed up with hurtful straight lefts. Munyai looked almost frail as he was caught with hard shots on the ropes. The South-African was ambushed in the second when he was knocked down heavily getting tangled in the ropes. He inhaled deeply and walked to the corner as Jeff Hinds administered the count. Although he looked fully aware of his surroundings, he seemed sapped of all energy. Murmurs around ringside were that he'd arrived on only the Wednesday from his homeland and that he may not have been fully free from the effects of jet lag. Osumanu, fighting for the second time on these shores following an unsuccessful bid for the vacant Commonwealth strap against Paul Truscott, is a natural featherweight and his strength advantage was evident. Munyai, rated at bantam, just doesn't appear as effective above eight stone six. Akaba scored with the better work in the third to compound his advantage. He was aggressive and menacing, staying in punching range and hurting Munyai with those heavy right handers. By the fourth, Munyai's head was starting to take on the dimensions of a rugby ball. However, the action was starting to even up with the South-African settling down and looking like the class act that he is. At the bell, the Ghanaian was caught with a hard shot, but like the great Azumah Nelson and Ike Quartey did before him, he simply smiled intently and relished the intense battle. Tshifhiwa won the fifth on my card. He was more aggressive and seemed to use his height better to control Akaba, who was starting to lose his way. Throughout the round and that following it, the former Commonwealth king scored with rights and lefts as he continued to narrow the gap on the score cards. However, Munyai was lucky not to have a knockdown counted against him, as he appeared to be caught when slipping to the canvas. The eighth was competitive, with Munyai marching coming forward and making Osumanu pay for his slightly ragged aggression. However, the victory was a deserved one for the West African. It was Tshifhiwa Munyai's first defeat in 18 fights (1 draw). Akaash Bhatia scored an inside schedule win when stopping John Van Emmenis in the third of a scheduled eight rounder at featherweight. The man from Harrow looked sharp and purposeful in the opener. He moved fluidly in and out of range and tagged John with aggressive hard hooks to the head and the body. His opponent, 1-3-1 (0) going in and fighting in his first bout of three minute rounds, looked like he was sinking. Bhatia, the fighter who famously sparked Vinnie Mitchell in the amateurs, took the second with his crisp three-punch combinations, although the boxer from Bideford did score with a handful of useful counters. In the third, the end came when Akaash caught his man with a hard left hook and right hand. Van Emmenis span around and appear disoriented as he was clubbed again. He went down to a knee but was wisely rescued by Jeff Hinds. Bhatia is now 11-0 (3) and continues to move into title contention. Scott Belshaw, who only turned 23 earlier in July, reversed his only previous loss when he outpointed Daniel Peret 60-55 over six rounds at heavyweight. The likable Scott form Lisburn in Northern Ireland, had spoken of his anguish at the way in which Peret had been able to beat him by a single point him Nottingham in March. His best friend had been stabbed to death in the build up to the contest and Scott insisted that his mind wasn't on the fight. The rematch was a fairly slow-paced affair. Scott was by far the more active, but often looked like he was short on ideas. Worryingly, Scott's left would drift way from his chin with distressing regularity. But now with Brian Lawrence, and actively sparring with old heads Julius Francis and Harry Senior, he has plenty of time on his side to get more creative and effective punching going. The thirty-five-year-old Peret , known as “Shrek”, feigned aggression and tried to barrel forward. With back hair to rival Nicolai Valuev and a midriff that would put Butterbean to shame, he certainly isn't competing with David Haye in the heavyweight pin up stakes as his apt moniker suggests. Scott now moves to 9-1 (7) and Peret dips to 13-17 (4). Twenty-four-year-old Tony “Bomber” Bellew appeared on the FTM promoted card. The Liverpudlien outpointed Ghana's strong and determined Ayitey Powers over four rounds at light-heavyweight. Powers stalked the Sports Network prospect over the first two rounds, launching his trademark huge haymakers. Bellew stayed calm and picked his moments to score with educated punches. He was particularly strong with the right uppercut with which he scored well in both the third and fourth founds. At the bell, the third man scored 40-37 in Tony's favour. His apprenticeship continues as he remains unbeaten at 5-0 (3). Commonwealth light-welterweight king Ajose Olusegun tried to hit Mihaita Mutu with fast-paced and furious flurries throughout their six rounder, but was unable to seriously hurt the French-based Romanian and so had to settle for a shut out verdict on Richie Davies' card. Mutu, only stopped once in his second fight by future world champ Mahyar Monshipour at super bantam, was fully in survival mode throughout the fight. After taking a look at his opponent in the first, he did try to swarm over the visitor to get a quick finish. But the 39-fight veteran just didn't appear distressed at any point, although he wasn't in possession to launch any meaningful offense. Ajose is in desperate need of that big step-up fight. So it's up to Colin Lynnes, Junior Witter, Lenny Daws, Barry Morrison, Gavin Rees, Ted Bami and David Barnes as to whether he'll ever get his chance or if he's to remain as British boxing's least wanted. Chas Symonds continued his recent comeback by stopping hard-punching Latvian Alexander Spitko in the third of a scheduled six . Many at ringside voiced their concern that this match was risky for the former Southern Area welter titlist. It was only Symonds' second fight in three years and Spitko is a known dangerman. The pair put on a grand stand opener in which both landed massive right hands. They threw an amazing amount of punches and both appeared vulnerable at times. Chas occasionally retreated with his chin high and more than once was court by a vicious left hook. Although Spitko's walk-forward aggression had yielded a cut over Symonds' right eye, the left hooks and right hands thrown by Symonds' had destruction written all over them. Eventually, it was the volume of clean shots that Alex was soaking up in the third that forced him to be stop while still on his feet. The time was 2:16 of the round and the slowing Spitko simply was taking far too many hard punches. Carmarthen's well-supported Gavin Tait scored a 39-37 four-round points win over an up-for-the job Billy Smith at welterweight. Smith, after trying to swarm over his man in the first, managed to turn the second into a tear-up. As the pair exchanged furious blows, Tait's supporters went ballistic at ringside as their man appeared to gain the upper hand. Gavin was busy in the third but appeared to miss with a large amount of his work. He did connect with a decent left downstairs on a couple of occasions, but Smith connected with a hard right hand to stake his claim. The pair wanted to fight on even after the bell as the contest became heated. In the fourth, Tait lost his focus and played to the crowd. Gary Sykes moved to nine unbeaten, three via the quick route, as he shut out Harry Ramogoadi over six rounds at lightweight. The South-African had to deal with a keen prospect that throw a large volume of punches but didn't have much power. Time and time again, the Chris Aston-managed fighter launched clusters of shots that didn't make a dent in the battle-hardened Ramogoadi. But considering Harry has been in with Tshifhiwa Munyai, Kevin Mitchell and Nicky Cook over recent years and handled himself commendably, this result was nothing to be ashamed of. Finally, Scott Woolford and former British title challenger Sean Hughes shut out Jimmy Beach and Delroy Spencer respectively in routine four-round affairs.

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