Mutley boxes way to win 25 and now targets old belt by Tom Podmore Jul 26th 2008

Former British welterweight champion Young Mutley has always admitted it's difficult to get motivated for non-title fights. The iron-fisted puncher from West Bromwich, who won a shutout 60-54 six-round decision over durable Sergejs Savrinovics, Latvia, at a sweltering Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Thursday night, is always going to be a step above those he faces in the four, six or eight-round bouts. He knows he can comfortably win those fights without putting his foot firmly on the accelerator. The likes of Surinder Sekhon, Geraint Harvey and Peter Dunn, although he'd previously been halted and later said Mutley was the hardest puncher he's even been in with, have all managed to fiddle their way to the finish line – partly because Mutley isn't as ferocious as he would be in a title fight and partly because defence is a high priority for them. But sometimes he meets a fighter, like Ukrainian Vladimir Borovski late last year, who he's seemingly unable to seriously rattle. Savrinovics, now with four wins and a draw in 13 (two stoppages), can now join Borovski on that short list of men who weren't seriously hurt by the sculpted banger. The anvil-chinned Eastern European has only been stopped once, an injury retirement to Dennis Shafikov in February of this year, and has taken the likes of German-based Turk Selcuk Aydin, dubbed ‘Mini Tyson' by the German press, and another sledgehammer-punching former British welterweight boss, Belfast banger Neil Sinclair, the distance. It appears as if the 26-year-old doesn't go looking for easy nights. But Mutley, though never looking likely to add the Latvian to his list of stoppages, was never in any danger of tasting defeat for the fourth time. He is pencilled in to meet Shepherd's Bush southpaw John O'Donnell in a British 10st 7lbs eliminator by the end of the year and this was 18 minutes of workmanlike action that will keep him ticking over until that fight is made. After a quiet opening round, a three minutes that saw the former English light-welterweight boss sizing the shorter man up, Mutley began to show glimpses of the class that saw him take the British title and end Michael Jennings' 28-fight unbeaten run in 2006. A body shot sent a sickened look across his opponent's face, a three-punch flurry topped by an uppercut made him hold and then a long right late on got a brief nod of approval. The third followed in the same vein, Mutley attacking and Sergejs defending, and I don't think it would be unfair to say that the highlight of round four was referee John Keane trying to kick a photographer whose lens had intruded into the ring a bit too far. Mr Keane missed the lens – and the photographer's face – but did succeed in making Mutley stumble with the flying leg. Body shots and spiteful combinations, most notably a left-right-left-right-uppercut combination from the flat-footed local, stung the Tukums – a Latvian city that's home to a former Olympic champion, javelin gold medallist Dainis Kūla – resident in the fifth. He waived the mallet-fisted Midlander in for more, but was forced back onto the ropes by the end of the round. The Errol Johnson-trained former European 10st title challenger continued with the dominance throughout the final 180 seconds, shaking his man with sharp one-twos to the body and fast-handed uppercuts to the head. As ever, Savrinovics shrugged them off and shook his head in defiance after shipping another solid-looking left hook to the dome late on. Both weighed a fraction over the welterweight limit, scaling 10st 8lbs on the night, and 32-year-old Mutley, now 25-3 (13), said: “He was tough, canny and difficult to break down. It was good to get six rounds under my belt and I'm looking forward to the eliminator later this year. I know I'll win it and then I'll get the chance to win back what I feel is rightfully mine [the Lonsdale Belt].” Tipton crowdpleaser Joe Skeldon, returning to competitive action for the first time since a six-round loss to Basingstoke-based Botswanan Clive Johnson in February 1999, must have feared the worse when he was decked less than 30 seconds into his comeback outing against Barnsley's winless Jason Smith, now 0-4, on this well-attended First Team-promoted bill. The 36-year-old Black Country banger was sensationally sent crashing to the canvas by a cracking left hook but got up, shrugged off some more solid shots and eventually stopped the Yorkshireman on a cut with 49 seconds left of the final round in a six-twos. The doctor deemed the slicing wound, over Smith's right eye and bleeding away from the optic, too bad for the bout to continue. Many felt otherwise. I had them level at 48 apiece going into the final two minutes, giving the first round only 10-9 to Smith (12st 10oz). Whatever the result or scorelines at the time of the ending, the shaven-headed scrappers served up 11 minutes and 11 seconds of toe-to-toe, give-and-take action. Bobbing and weaving, stocky Skeldon's compact hooks were a direct contrast to Jason's upright stance and lengthy lead. Smith's early knockdown gave him the first but Joe had started to warm to the task by the second, banging both body and head with left-rights. Blood was sent flying from Trevor Schofield-handled Smith's mouth in the third, a left cross doing the damage, and Skeldon (12st 1 3/4lbs) seemed to be chipping away at the taller man's resolve. The fourth was even, but the fifth saw Errol Johnson-trained Skeldon tire. Throwing little, Smith was outworking him and body shots proved even more uncomfortable for the well-built son of former British title challenger Roy. And things were shaping up nicely in the final round, both trading on equal terms, until a clash of heads saw Rob Chalmers take the away fighter to the doctor, ending Smith's chance of a first win in four at 1-11. Skeldon makes a successful return after almost a decade away and is now 2-2 (1). The most intriguing-looking scrap on the bill was the heavyweight four-rounder between Birmingham's undefeated Neil Perkins (15st 7 1/4lbs) and Preston's always-willing Howard ‘Demolition' Daley (16st 9lbs), Shrewsbury official Nigel Gill giving the Jewellery Quarter-based fighter a deserved 40-36 vote after the 12-minute bout reached its conclusion. Daley, a policeman by day and puncher by night, always seemed to be a step behind the quicker, taller former ABA Novice finalist, 26. He hadn't had any amateur bouts, learning his trade on the unlicenced circuit, and had been thrown in with top amateur stars from the start in the pros: ABA champions David Dolan and Ben Harding, who he drew with, and a World junior champion, Cork-based Cuban Mike Pérez. And against an agile, skilful man like Perkins, now undefeated in three since his paid bow at this venue in February, he was made to look crude and cumbersome. Still, brave Howard did catch the Brummie with the odd right and never looked in any serious danger of being halted before the final bell. At 32 and now 2-6-1, one inside, he's learning with every fight. For Perkins, however, it was a vast improvement on his previous showing, a laboured six-round decision over durable Paul Bonson in April. He was far more patient in this one, turning his man well, blocking a lot of what the shorter puncher threw and hitting the body with gusto, switching it back upstairs with sharp uppercuts over the course of the fight. Both found time to taunt one another during the last but Neil had it wrapped up by then and is likely to be back in action in September. The fight of the night was easily the all-action four-twos flyweight punch-up between debutant James Mulhern (8st 5lbs 6oz), the 2000 ABA light-flyweight champion from Coventry, and Birkenhead's shaven-headed David Keogan (8st 1lb), who was winless in two and had been stopped in the opening session on each occasion (67 seconds last time out). The Errol Johnson-trained first-timer showed flashes of the talent that took him to that national amateur crown and score a victory over future two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist Darren Langley. Despite suffering a cut over his right eye in the second, his sharper punches meant his nose was always in front. They traded hooks in the third and went nose-to-nose in the last, with the 27-year-old holding the edge and getting his hand raised at the bell. Mr Gill scored 40-37. I love seeing fights between two men with few or no wins – and the four-twos show-opener between Brierley Hill's Martin Gordon (a career-heaviest 10st 13lbs 2oz), 0-5-1, and Leeds' Chris Thompson (11st 1lb 10oz), 0-3, was no different. One of them would finally break their duck, surely? Well, not quite. Mr Gill adjudged that neither protagonist did enough to warrant their maiden professional victory, scoring the bout 39 each. For what its worth, I had it the same (the second round for Chris, third for Martin and rounds one and two level) after a scrappy eight minutes that saw a lot of holding. Neither asserted any kind of dominance in any round, but Mick Marsden-trained Thompson, 24, outworked the former top-rated amateur in the second; Gordon landing with the cleaner, more potent shots in the next 120 seconds. Martin, who turned 26 the day before, had the bit between his teeth in the last but couldn't swing it his way and will have to wait another day to get off the mark. The Wordsley-born welterweight, trained by Jay Morris, now has two draws in seven (five defeats). Undefeated Dudley southpaw Jamie Ball (10st 13 1/4lbs), who impressed with a shutout four-round win over busy Paul Royston on his debut last month, was given a stern argument by experienced veteran Peter Dunn (11st 2lbs), Pontefract, eventually earning a 39-37 nod from John Keane, who scored on the outside for trialist official Rob Chalmers, after four-twos. Dunn, without his famous black and red shorts, would have won the second on Mr Keane's scorecard – forcing the quantity surveyor onto the back foot with solid straights and looping right hands. Well-supported Ball, 24 and now 2-0, really put his foot down in the last, however, and forced the shorter 114-fight West Yorkshireman to grab tight as right-left-rights bounced off his dome. Sculpted Stourbridge scrapper Kevin McCauley (10st 13lbs 6oz), who I thought won his debut in Burton in May, got off the mark in his second contest by outpointing Worcester trier Steve Cooper (10st 13lbs 2oz), also looking unlucky not to get a win on that same card in Staffordshire. Mr Keane, scoring on the outside, marked McCauley a 39-37 four-twos victor. After a close opening two rounds, Jay Morris-trained McCauley settled down and nailed the Worcestershire battler, 30 and better than his three wins and three draws in 32 (two quickly), with lefts as he marched in. The 28-year-old brought his punches down to the body in the last, caught Steve with jabs on the way in, drawing blood from his experienced foe's nose, and is now 1-1. Mr Chalmers handled the action inside the ring. Another Stourbridge-based fighter trained by Jay Morris, unbeaten welterweight Scott Evans (10st 9lbs 6oz), upped his record to 5-0 (2) with a four-twos win over Birmingham's Peter Buckley (10st 5lbs 10oz), now 31-251-11 (11) and only seven fights away from 300 professional outings. This was only the second fight of the year for Pete, the other being 13 days previously in Wigan. He was outboxed over the opening three rounds by the taller, muscled Scott but chanced his arm in the final two minutes. The 39-year-old Brummie, with former pro Andy Mayers in his corner, showed more fire than I've seen him for a while, catching the Black Country prospect with some decent left hands. Still, John Keane handed the 20-year-old a 40-36 scoreline. Black Country fight figure Ron Gray, former pro heavyweight, matchmaker, manager and promoter, was inducted onto the Black Country wall of fame for 50 years service to boxing, 25 of that promoting over 150 shows at the Civic Hall. Ron boxed on both Ali-Cooper bills and said his only regret was that he couldn't do it all over again. He joins Noddy Holder, lead singer of Slade, Julie Walters, award-winning actress, and Edward Elgar, composer from Worcester, on the wall.

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