Unsworth remains unbeaten despite torrid last round by Kev Parker Sep 21st 2008

Amir Unsworth remains unbeaten but had a torrid last round with Ali Wyatt after getting staggered by a big right hook and being badly hurt, although he never went down to claim a points win in a cracking evenly matched contest at The Grove Leisure Centre, Newark. Unsworth takes his record to 7-0 and will have gained valuable experience in knowing how to survive a crisis in the 6 round light welterweight contest. Both fighters had similar styles as they looked to land the left hook to the head and body, Unsworth (10st 3lb) worked the body well with right and left hooks and brought the left hook up to the head aswell. Wyatt landed a couple of left hooks to the head on the counter. In the second Amir started to dip more as he was advancing before firing off the hooks again. In the third and fourth rounds the Sleaford man continued to get the better of the exchanges overall but Ali showed how dangerous he was and still very much in the fight as he got through with his own heavy left hooks to the head and body although Amir had started to fire out more combinations. The fifth round saw Wyatt (10st 3lb) land a right hook to the head of Amir that rocked him. Unsworth grabbed to find those few seconds to clear his head. He still looked on heavy legs but was dipping well defensively to avoid the heavy leather coming his way and managed to start firing back himself towards the end of the round, albiet looking tired going back to the corner. The last round saw Unsworth boxing more to try to keep his lead, but again a big right hook by Ali in the last 30 seconds or so forced him back to the ropes. Looking almost out on his feet Amir banged his gloves together and fired a shot off before holding, denying the dangerous Wyatt the room to land. Still rocking and on heavy legs in the last few seconds he dug down deep and showed heart as he traded with Wyatt refusing to be overwhelmed or go over. Despite the last round scare Nigel Gill, who refereed and scored all of the fights, raised Unsworths hand derservedly so, declaring him a close 59-58 points winner. Unsworth admitted to me afterwards that "my head was swimming when he caught me, but I knew what I had to do and I recover quickly, I've learnt alot from this fight and it will make me better in the long run." JJ Bird, another well surpported fighter, hailing from Peterborough, lost on points 38-39 to the Shinfield trained Dale Miles in a 4x3 light middle contest. Personally I thought JJ did enough work for the win as he took the first two rounds, lost the third and shared the fourth in my opinion. It was the kind of fight though where Bird (11st 2lb), although throwing more shots, was being made to miss and countered effectively with the straight left at times by the southpaw Miles. The rounds were close and the positive corner work of Jason Shinfield gave Dale (11st 1lb) the boost he needed in rounds three and four to pick the pace up and clinch another victory. Skegness lightweight Ben Lawler fought a 6x2 contest and produced a near shutout 60-55 points win against veteran Karl Taylor. Taylor, bringing bags of experience with him, kept Lawler (10st 5lbs) busy as he bustled his way inside but could not get past the reach and height advantages of the Greaves trained man. The first half of the contest saw Ben, who's fans continued to sing their support for their man, work the 1-2 well and also the straight right hand lead. Taylor (10st 6lb) was simply out-worked as Ben moved in and out well, boxing nicely to keep it at range as much as possible. Karl had some success as he did manage to get inside at times and flurry away when he managed to push Lawler to the ropes. Karl was cuter in the last round making Ben miss more than earlier but was just not matching the younger mans workrate as Ben managed to double up on the jab and follow with the straight right on occassion. After his hand was raised he immediately jumped to the ropes to acknowledge his loyal fans who were delighted as he notched up another win. Leicester's Mark Walsh who was making his debut and Bristol's Syed Ali fought to a cracking six round draw at welter in a see saw contest, that had Ali's trainer, Chris Sanigar, quite literally spitting teeth in excitement. Walsh vs Ali fight was fight of the night for me, as both had the power to hurt each other and it was clear both wanted the win so much as they battled through fatigue when the rocky moments came. The well surported Walsh (10st 9lb) was rocked almost with the first big punch landed by Ali but returned the favour in kind. I initially thought maybe both men would warm to each others shots but it was evident throughout the contest when they landed clean on each other they both had the power to do damage. Each round of this 6x2 minute contest was close and by the fourth both men looked tired and sometimes looked as if they were walking in sludge. The heart and will displayed by both as they tried to gain the upper hand over the other made for an exciting spectacle, in fact so exciting for a certain Mr Sanigar who was passionaitely shouting instructions to Syed (10st 9lb) his false tooth made a trip to the canvas. In the fourth round Ali landed a left hook that rocked the Leicester man to his boots, as he tried to follow up, it looked to me that he was bundled to the floor. Mr Gill thought differently and administered a count to the Sanigar trained fighter. Walsh was still hurt and Syed immediately went on the attack after being given the eight count. It was a very close contest at the end of the six completed rounds and Mr Gill could not seperate them as he scored the fight 57 points each. Eddie O'Rourke advanced to 2-0 as he gained a points win over the busy Sid Razak in a 6x2 lightweight contest. Newark's O'Rourke gained the nod 59-55 and was made to work in the last couple of rounds as the ever advancing Razak tried to close the distance behind his high guard. 'Fast' Eddie (9st 10 1/2lbs) started well working behind a stiff jab and mixing his work well with power shots to the head and body. In the second the Newark man slowed the pace slightly looking for the openings more and got through with a nice right hook to the head as Razak stalked his man behind the jab. Rounds three and four saw Eddie picking the pace up again, firing nice combinations in and occassionaly switching stance to keep the advancing Birmingham man guessing. O'Rourke was trying to land every punch in the book but was made to use the ring as Razak (9st 9lbs) would simply not back up and kept a tight guard. The fifth saw the best work from Sid as he managed to land some nice body shots and he tried to build on that, O'Rourke fired back with a left hook, straight right to finish the round off. In the sixth the Newarker came out determined not to let Razak gain any foothold and landed a nice left hook counter to the head after blocking a one-two on the gloves. Confindent in his work he danced a little as he continued to work the jab well, circling to his left and got through with a straight right to the body and left hook upstairs to finish off the round and get his hand raised. Overall it was a cracking five well contested fights and with the win Unsworth will be headlining the next Greaves promoted card in his home town of Sleaford in November as he fights for an International Masters Title.

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