Too much Chris P. Bacon is bad for Tony Moran by Terry Dooley Feb 26th 2007

The ever-popular Chris P. Bacon won the Vacant British Central Area Cruiserweight title yesterday with a seventh round stoppage win over the game Toney Moran in a fight Moran seemed to be winning at the time of the stoppage.  Seemingly behind on the cards Bacon wore Moran down before stopping him in front of a rollickingly raucous crowd at the GH Carnall leisure centre in Manchester. Chris had started slowly and finished strongly, this was fitting on a show that followed the exact same MO.   First up on the card was a scheduled bout between debuting Nigel Travis and Dean Walker.  Unfortunately, not to mention unprofessionally, Walker failed to show as well as failing to notify promoter Steve Woods in time to make an adequate replacement bout.   Fortunately Martin Marshall from Sunderland was in the crowd supporting Shaun Farmer and was drafted in to fight a three times two-minute exhibition fight with the disappointed Travis.   Walker let himself and his sport down badly but the exhibition received warm applause.  Entertainingly a bunch of lads behind me neglected to tell a mate who had missed the announcement that the fight had been downgraded and he merrily screamed for both boxers to do something throughout.    Next up local trainer Bobby Rimmer sent out his fighter Brian Rose, 11st 3lb, who had been inactive since 2005.  The opponent was Ernie Smith, 12st 3lb, Smith's trainer, the evergreen Nobby Nobbs, was up to his usual trickery throughout; firstly he asked for a delay to adjust the lights then gave his usual running commentary right the way through the bout.   Rose began well behind the jab, he came out in the first and jabbed, then jabbed, then jabbed again; at times he showed a useful ability with his left hand yet neglected to throw many follow-up shots.   As the fight continued Rose continued to show his technical proficiency with the left hand, a double jab and right hand to the body was the pick of the early action.     It seems that leaning away from shots with your chin in the air is this years low left-hand and Rose did this a number of times in the bout.  Smith, ever the opportunist, noticed this and began to wing in left and right hooks as his gander was raised a little by this gap in the Rose defence.   Rose weathered a final round assault from Smith as the fight, like the lights, finally hit the ‘On' switch.  Referee Steve Grey turned in 60-54 card and BBN had the same total.   Next up came Robin White who took on Nicky Taylor over four two-minute rounds at welterweight.  Taylor started brightly, he span White and landed a few right hands over White's low left hand (White obviously prefers retro fashions).  White retorted with a left hook and right hand before sinking in another left hook.     Over the next few rounds it was Whites combination punching, a hallmark of his trainer Oliver Harrison, versus Taylor's single shots and White was coming off the better for it.    White tried his right uppercut early-doors yet it, finally, paid off in the third round as he timed it to the chin of Taylor well.   Referee Keith Garner scored the fight 40-36 for White, as did BBN.   Next up was local favourite Danny Harding, 10st 7lb, who holds a win over prospect Chris Pacy.  Danny seemed subdued throughout his fight with Jason Nesbitt, 10st 2lb, however Danny did enough in the ring to ensure that he won his fight handily, albeit conservatively.    It was frustrating in many ways as Danny can do so much more than he did in this fight yet he once again showed that he can throw some fine punches as well as mixing up some interesting combinations to body and head.     Nesbitt, as is the journeyman's wont, tried it on a little bit in the final round only to be put on the back-foot by Danny's better ability.  A 59-55 scorecard from the referee prompted a frantic ringside search for Nesbitt's winning round.   Yet again a VIP show caught fire with the introduction of the one-man riot Alex Matvienko, 11st 2lb, who beat Shaun Farmer, 10st 12lb, over six two-minute rounds in a tough but ultimately one-sided fight that saw Farmer take an awful lot of headshots.   Alex usually comes out with reckless abandonment yet these days he is coming out behind a high guard, this coupled with some fine defensive moves enabled him to start slightly slowly without giving ground away.  By the end of round one he was whipping in his much loved double left hooks, both to the body and then switching to the head.     In the next few rounds Alex dug in right uppercuts whilst backing Farmer to the ropes, Farmer responded by pouring it on only for Alex to score heavily over the course of the round.   During this fight Alex tried a number of new things, one of them was a right hook to the body and a left hook to the head, this worked repeatedly.  Matvienko did duck low occasionally and this caused him to get caught with silly shots.  Alex came back quickly, this time he showed off a right uppercut followed by a left hook and he scored well, plus repeatedly, with it.   In the final round Matvienko threw a few orthodox one-two's but the round belonged to Farmer who came forward with everything he had.  Alex was tagged with a left hook as he ducked low, as the seconds ticked away both men brawled along the ropes.   BBN saw the fight 59-55 for Matvienko; the referee scored it closer at 58-57.  It was easily the fight of the day so far and would have been given that honour overall if it was not for what happened in the Bacon fight.   Tony Moran, 13st 12lb, came out to the ring and his size advantage was clear from that moment, Chris is a small solidly built guy and I was looking forward to seeing how he responded to Moran's size advantage.    Bacon, 14st 2lb, came out to that anthem of animal abuse ‘Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport' and he immediately tried to put a lasso on Moran by bullying him backwards with left and right hooks.  Moran dugout a surprising right uppercut to the body of Bacon who, despite this, continued to swarm forwards.   It was a tough opening round, Bacon won it, just, yet finished it open-mouthed and over the next few rounds Moran pounded the body with an accuracy that was surprising given his size.     Bacon responded to this with an aesthetics eschewing right uppercut that was crude but effective.  Moran opened up with his own hooks and caused a bad bleeding from the nose of Bacon.     It was a tough fight and exploded further into life in round four as Chris missed a shot, Moran stepped to the side and hit Bacon with a right hand to the temple after some good bodywork.  Bacon rose, by now his right eye was also swollen, and his first thought was to attack Moran before falling into a clinch.  Another right hand, this time an uppercut crashed into Bacons chin at the bell.   Moran was holding, hitting and leaning on Bacon to sap the smaller mans strength.  It was a question of whether the fitness work instilled in Bacon by Bob Shannon would see him through.      This question was seemingly answered, in the negative, in round five as Chris threw a shot only to miss and slumped to the canvas as Moran missed a left, referee Keith Garner was looking away at the time yet still called it a knock-down thereby denying Chris a round he had been winning with his big shots to leave him in a bad spot on the cards.   Bacon seemed to be cured by the second, erroneous, knock down, he was no longer on sea-salt legs and set about his task with relish.   Bacon came out sizzling in round six, a big left hook sent Moran moving backwards, despite Moran's astute body punching Bacon was the one wearing the fight well.  Chris landed a right uppercut, left hook and right hand as Moran missed with a tired swing.  Bacon even rocked Moran a little with a jab before finishing the round with three big hooks.     It was now clear that despite taking a shellacking to the body Chris' fitness was seeing him through.  Moran was moved back by a half-jab before being tagged by a left hook, this shot drained the resolve of Moran and left him a little cowed.  Finally, a series of shots put Moran down for the first time in a topsy-turvy fight, he looked to his corner and showed clear signs of distress prompting Garner to wave the fight off at 1:31 of the round as Moran rose.     Moran had no complaints, it had been a tough fight for both but Chris was too incessant, Bacon had his senses fried a little throughout the fight but, as many know, too much fried Bacon can be bad for the heart and Chris broke the heart of Moran with his desire.  Bacon is an unorthodox fighter to say the least yet on this day he rewrote a popular rule by showing that if you hit the head the body goes down with it.     Backstage Bits and Bobs:   Post-fight Chris was happy to admit to BBN that he had been through a tough fight:     “Yeah it was a tough fight wasn't it but I knew Bob had trained me hard.  The knockdown took me by surprise but I was getting caught a bit in the first couple of rounds because I was trying to get my shots in.    Once I got knocked down I came alive, it annoyed me more than anything.  Bob told me I'd be finding a new trainer if I lost so I went out and did what I had to do!    After a while I brought my jab into the fight as well.  It was a right hook that put him down (after I'd spun him around).  Hopefully I can go onto a British title fight from here.”   Bob Shannon and Kerry Kayes were both delighted with Bacon and told BBN that the Aussie has bags of heart and the determination to succeed in boxing.     Ali Nuumbembe came backstage, once again he looked dapper and this time his sartorial superiority was aided by his Commonwealth title-belt.  Bacon dugout his newly acquired belt for a group photo, not to be outdone Kerry Kayes took his own belt off and asked if we fancied a photo of that.     Ever the gent Kayes stayed behind with Big Al, BBN's photographer, and myself to dissect the most important aspect of the fight, namely the myriad Bacon puns that could be used.  ‘Dangerous (as in Danish) Bacon Fries his opponent' was a Kayes' contribution and has found its way in there somewhere.   Photos: Allan Stevenson

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

Please login before posting comments.

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.