Cowdell's Christmas Cracker Cheers Chiverton by Tom Podmore Dec 11th 2007

Pat Cowdell's annual three-fight ‘Christmas Cracker' bill proved just that as Mansfield's Karl Chiverton edged out Coventry's Sean McKervey by a single point in a give-and-take six-threes main event at Birmingham's Holiday Inn last night (December 10). I thought the narrow 58-57 decision handed to the former Junior ABA champion by referee Shaun Messer (the third man for all three bouts) was spot on, incidentally. Both protagonists entered their first 18-minute contest with good-looking records (McKervey 4-1-1 and Chiverton 7-1) and had the added incentive of a light-middleweight title fight, be it Midland Area or British Masters, in the offing for some stage of 2008. Chiverton, 21, holds a six-round points decision over British Masters light-middleweight champion Tony Randell – outscoring the mallet-fisted Brummie in Burton-on-Trent in late 2006. He certainly looks like a fighter who can take home championship belts in the future. McKervey may have started and ended the year with defeats but in between has shown he can be a classy, skilful performer with measured showings against naturally bigger and stronger Peter Dunn and dynamite-fisted Steve Cooper. In the third meeting with Errol Johnson-trained Cooper at Coventry's Leofric Hotel in September, the Keresley scrapper showed heart to match his skills and chin when he dragged himself off the canvas in the fourth to outbox the dangerous Worcester puncher for the remainder of the contest. That took him to 2-0-1 in their excellent three-fight series. And although the Pat Cowdell-trained former Bulkington ABC fighter gave away a chunk of height (two and a half inches) and weight to Chiverton (eight pounds), he pushed the former standout amateur hard. The intriguing all-southpaw affair started with both looking to establish their respective right hand lead. Whilst both lead with the right, the similarities ended there. Tall, long-armed Chiverton looked to jab-and move whilst shorter, stockier McKervey bustled in with overhand lefts. Whilst Chiverton (11st 2lbs) scored with long right-lefts on the outside, the shorter man had to bull his way in behind a double jab to land with his hooks to head and body in the second. Both had their successes, but Karl's long-range work edged the round for me. After solid left hook sent Sean off balance in the early stages of the third, Chiverton looked for more success with the left, be it in form of hook or uppercut. But McKervey raced back, scored with his own hard blows and had the Matt Scriven-trained boxer conceding ground in the last 90 seconds. McKervey (10st 8lbs) forced the pace in the fourth but constant shipping of southpaw leads saw his left eye look puffy, red and swollen. Though he was having success, the Coventry fighter's lack of defence meant he walked on to plenty of jabs and left uppercuts throughout. Despite having weight on McKervey, Chiverton paid the price for dropping his right hand as he was cut over the left eye during the fifth. The local bustled forward, buoyed by his success, and found the target with several looping punches that had the Nottinghamshire stylist looking to hold. Mr Messer paid close inspection to the severity of Karl's wound between the fifth and six rounds. Both swapped decent shots in the last, as if knowing how finely poised the fight was on the referee's scorecard. But it was Chiverton, now 8-1 (0), who got the better of the exchanges – drilling shorter McKervey, 4-2-1 (0), with left uppercuts – and the fight. Alex ‘Pitbull' Spitko, the hard-hitting Latvian based with Matt Scriven's Robin Hood camp in Nottinghamshire, added another significant scalp to his seven-fight ledger with a 57-56 decision over Mauritius' 2006 Commonwealth Games lightweight silver medallist Giovanni ‘Michael' Frontin. The fleet-footed Jerry Mortimer-trained stylist had to haul himself off the floor in the latter stages of the first when caught by a long, solid right hand as he was on the retreat. The skilful, shorter Mauritian made use of every inch of the ring throughout the 12-minute fight. Taller, leaner Spitko had his first three outings at light-middle, losing them all, but looks a real handful at ten-stone (light-welter) and has now won four on the bounce (three quickly) since June. He weighed in a career-lightest 10st 1lb for this six-twos. Edmonton-based Frontin, who lost in the gold medal match to Birmingham's Frankie Gavin at last years Commonwealths, won his professional debut a week ago against undefeated Sussex puncher Ben Murphy at the York Hall and possesses some excellent skills, fast hands and quick feet. In fact, I thought the man from the Indian Ocean had done enough to take the verdict by the same margin – winning rounds two, three, five and six for me. He was winning the first until he was decked. But Alex, who scored a cracking retirement win over iron-chinned Ali Wyatt on his last visit to the Second City, was unlucky not to have a second knockdown credited to him when he appeared to have chopped down his opponent with a right to the temple in the fourth. Mr Messer didn't count. Frontin (10st) landed plenty of eye-catching shots in rounds two, three, four and five – bouncing a right hand off the KO-minded Mansfield mans jaw in the second, a shot that made a loud cracking sound. Spitko seemed to be in some pain thereafter. Although Alex stormed forward in the final two minutes, Frontin, now 1-1 (0), gliding in and out, switched attacks from head to body, body to head and looked to have shaded a cracking little scrap. Spitko is now 4-3 (3). Coventry's John Ruddock and Cardiff's David Gentles both entered their super-middleweight contest having had two pro contests and lost both, so there was definite scope for improvement. But it was Gentles who finally got off the mark with a 58-57 decision in a bad-tempered six-twos. Mr Messer's assessment after the 12 minutes looked bang on. Muscled southpaw Ruddock (a former kickboxer) simply let himself get outworked in the first two, had a better third, fourth and fifth and was outworked and outpunched in the final two minutes. In short, the strong fighter from Coventry was far too sparing with his punches. When he did let his fast hands go, especially in round four, Gentles was forced back, stunned, had his face reddened and almost hit the floor. The closeness of the score suggests a greater volume of punches from the Midlander would have meant he could have got something from the bout. I'm sure he kicked himself when he woke up this morning. The Pat Cowdell-trained puncher had lost both of his paid outings against Walsall's Matty Hough before last nights fight. He conceded a 59-56 vote in a six-rounder in Walsall in 2006 before being floored and flattened in three by the same Black Country super-middle in September. Gentles, a former schoolboy amateur champion trained by Brian Coleman, has a colourful past that has been well documented but showed the greater hunger to get off the mark for the first time in three and let his fists fly freely throughout the fight in Birmingham. The first two rounds followed a same pattern: static, flat-footed Ruddock being tagged by lefts and rights by the aggressive, flabby Welshman. The third was even, before Ruddock put his foot on the pedal in rounds four and five – hammering his Welsh opponent, who finished with both nostrils bloody, with quick-fire one-twos. The last two minutes were extremely scrappy with little clean punching of note from either man as both flailed wildly with hooks. David had the better of the un-educated exchanges, however, and improves his paid ledger to 1-2 (0). Ruddock slumps to 0-3. Both weighed 12st 2lbs.

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