In a fight pitting a former world champion against an undefeated prospect Gavin Rees (now 34 - 1) managed to grind out a hard fought victory over the tough John Watson (now 13 -1).
Rees, the pre fight favourite in this British lightweight title fight started much stronger dominating the first six rounds before allowing the man from Liverpool (Watson) back into the fight. Eventually though in the 10th round, Rees was able to find a counter right hand to drop Watson and it was just a matter of time before he forced the referee to step in for the stoppage mid way through round 11.
Rees came out looking extremely sharp and quick in the 1st round landing some impressive right hands and left hooks. Watson was off balance and looked very open to Rees shots. Rounds two to five followed a similar pattern with Rees winning all of them on the scorecards.
Round six was a slightly closer affair with Watson gaining in confidence and starting to back Rees up more, however Rees probably still nicked the round. Round 7 was the beginning of a twist in the fight in Watsons favour. Rees suffered a nasty looking bloody nose and this seemed to distress him a fair bit. Watson grew in confidence landing some impressive looking body shots easily taking the next few rounds. Just when it looked like Watson could cause an upset and maybe stop Rees there was another suprise in order. Towards the end of the tenth round out of nowhere Rees landed a short, sharp right hand counter punch that put Watson on the seat of his pants. Watson managed to beat the count, but looked shaken and as Rees pressed for the stoppage, the bell for the end of the round saved Watson.
Any thoughts that the minute rest between rounds would help Watson quickly evaporated at the start of the 11th when he still looked wobbly and shaken. Rees landed some big punches and it was a formality when the referee stepped in halfway through the round to stop the fight. Watson tried to complain, but there was no arguing with the stoppage decision.
"He took everything out of me" Rees told Sky Sports afterwards. As for the future, a rematch would be a popular choice among fight fans and with Watson. Rees will try to build on this victory and maybe look at getting a Europeon title shot. Watson can take a lot of heart from this defeat and you would expect him to come back and fight for the British title again in the near future.
