Nadeem Siddique and Martin Gethin set Wigan undercard alight by Terry Dooley Jul 17th 2008

Nadeem Siddique entered his Friday night showdown with Martin Gethin heavily burdened by fierce criticism. This criticism centred on his over inflated ring record of 22-0 (6), the record he took into the fight. By virtue of association this record had cast doubts as to his credence as a fighter. All this despite the fact that he had taken the steps to turn pro; had made that nerve-racking first ring walk as a fight; plus, in April 2006, had fought with some fire, and belligerence, against David Kehoe. On Friday Siddique belied claims that his ring record was near-worthless by fighting tooth and nail to keep it intact, that he failed to do so may be seen as a reflection on the said record yet the manner in which he fought is also a reflection on his bravery as a fighter. Gethin, 136.5 lbs, also brought with him a maligned slate, 14-0-1 (6), yet he too fought hard to keep it intact, eventually prevailing in the seventh round of a fierce battle. It began with Siddique going hell-for-leather at his opponent, going at him like a man fighting off a mugger. Body shots with both hands from Siddique were met by popping jabs from Gethin, who sought to slow the pace a little. By the round's end Siddique was cut over the right eye, perhaps spurred on by the sight, and feel, of blood both men sneered a few words to one another before making their way to their respective corners. Dominic Ingle, trainer of Siddique, is a dab hand at stemming cuts, plus, in truth, Siddique's blood was running along the contours of his temple, and away from the eye. There seemed to be little danger of it stopping the fight. Gethin started to get his right hand going in the second round only for Nadeem to continue with his unnaturally demented pace. In fact the only time Siddique paused for breath was when briefly turning southpaw, upon realising he was not quite sure what to do there he returned to his normal stance and crashed home a left hook. It seemed, even this early, that Nadeem was perhaps too used to fighting two-minute rounds, he was throwing a lot of energy away in the early going, Gethin came into the second round in the final minute, a one-two and a right to the head landing well. Both men showed mutual respect at the end of this round. A barely perceptible drop in work rate in round three allowed Gethin to get off with better shots, he also began working Siddique backwards, landing well when trapping his foe along the ropes. Nadeem, possibly looking to end things as soon as possible, threw a pair of uppercuts, left and right. Trapped in the blue corner at the end of the round Siddique then landed a left hook to the body, only for Gethin to land a left hook to the head. Greater work rate early had given Siddique the advantage but his challenge was now fading. As with many young men inexperience caused him to shoot his bolt early. Gethin had done some good work in that pivotal third round, and continued in this vein in the following rounds. That trusted weapon, the jab, was allowing Gethin to set up his attacks, one jab to the body pushed Siddique back, this time, though, the following shots missed. Siddique, to his credit, tried to dig in during rounds six and seven, however he was fighting three-minute rounds as if they were two-minute rounds, doing some solid work early then allowing Gethin to take the latter part of the rounds. In the seventh the jig was up, a one-two clearly hurt Siddique only for Gethin to go wild on his follow-up. A left and right hook from Gethin prompted a defiant left hook to the body from Siddique, sensing a brief advantage Siddique also threw, and landed, a left hook to the head. Gethin composed himself, this see-saw battle had swung his way irrevocably, a big left hook to the head rocked Siddique, a follow through overhand right scattered his defences, prompting referee Steve Gray to stop the fight at 2:44 of the round. Going into the final round I had it three rounds apiece but Siddique had clearly given too much too early in the fight, Gethin's tighter guard when in-close had allowed him to land shots whilst drawing the sting of his foe. Despite there being little time left in the round Gray had timed the stoppage perfectly, saving Siddique from taking bigger shots. Surely both men have earned their spurs. Pre-fight criticism had been harsh, post-fight commendation has seemed mealy mouthed. Bradford's Siddique falls to 22-1 (6) but his profile as a fighter has been raised. Walsall's Gethin rises to 14-1-1 (6). The real winner, though, is John Fewkes, win or lose he was set to face Gethin for the English title, Gethin will surely go into that fight feeling the wear and tear from this one, on the other hand he could go into on a high; either way, more of the same from Gethin will result in a quality fight. Brian Magee is a strange case. A few years ago he was stopping opponents and looking a mean hombre whilst doing it. Since being used as a yo-yo by Robin Reid – who put him down four times before winning on points in 2004 – Magee has seemed to lose faith in his chin, although with that said his boots were also smoked by Carl Froch – who did the job with a right uppercut – so maybe he is making a wise move. On the other hand it means that his fights have become quite messy and boring. Friday's bout with Simeon Cover was no exception. Magee, 168.25 lbs, came out free-wheeling only to then go into his shell. Cover, who weighed 175.25lbs, actually came out and tried to throw a right uppercut whilst briskly walking across the ring, it was dreadful, even worse is the fact he tried it again and actually landed on Magee. Round two was akin to a towel flicking contest as both men lacked intent in their punching. Magee was looking to set-up his southpaw right hook, finally getting one off on the inside. Round three saw more of the same as Magee began to find his range. Success finally came, albeit mistakenly, as Brian put Cover over with a straight left hand, a right hook and a final mixture of leaning on and a forearm smash, perhaps Magee has been watching the tennis, Cover was shoved over for an erroneous knockdown. It was messy stuff, yet it seemed to give Magee a spring in his step, as well as a 10-8 round. Finally, in round four, we saw a partial glimpse of the old Magee. Confident he could not be hurt he landed lead left hand that put Cover down again, properly this time. Cover rose, then he retreated, Magee landed a right hook to the head, from the orthodox stance, before then landing straight left hand and two missed right hooks. Cover again went down, this time he was hurt and there was no point in letting the fight go on, referee Phil Edwards calling it off at 1:04 of the fourth. Belfast's Magee is plugging along, he rises to 31-3-1 (21), yet on this form he has a long way to go before he hits the heights again, especially as he seems scared of taking a shot to the chin. Worksop's Cover falls to 16-41-2 (4), his last win came in 2006. Most people take a time out to relax or travel, not Wolverhampton's Steve Saville who took a break from boxing in 2002 only to have a few fights elsewhere during his hiatus. Saville returned earlier this year, and on Friday he battered a clearly bemused Mark Bett, from Larkhall in Scotland, into submission in four rounds. Saville, 144.5 lbs, is not tailored from the finest boxing cloth but he gave everything he had during every second of the fight, often haranguing his opponent with overhand punches. Bett, 146 lbs, was harried in the opening round, floored, from a right hand, in the second round, hit Saville with good shots in the third, only for Saville to ask for more, and was finally stopped in the fourth. Once again a big right hand put Bett over and given that Bett had been sending out distress signals for two rounds, plus was losing the fight, referee Steve Gray did the right thing by calling a halt to the fight at 1:34 of the fourth round. The fight had been scheduled for four but Bett was at the end of his tether. For his part Saville likes a row, and he also threw in a bit of science, slipping a shot before delivering that final right hand. Often wild he will attract fans to his fights, plus he is a handful, he should have no problems finding work. Unless of course he decides boxing is too soft a sport and moves onto pastures new once again. Other Results: Ali Shah [146 lbs] W4 Peter Buckley [146 lbs] (40-36) Khurram Hussein [146 lbs] W4 Paddy Pollock [151.5 lbs] (39-38) Steve O'Meara [152 lbs] W4 Billy Smith [153 lbs] (40-36) Darren Askew [143 lbs] W4 Graham Fearn [138 lbs] (40-36) Of the four distance fights both O'Meara and Hussein impressed, both for differing reasons. Whilst O'Meara used intelligent boxing to make Billy Smith look unusually subdued Hussein had to dig in to grab the win over Pollock, a final surge in the final round from Pollock almost undoing Hussein's better, if erratic, early boxing. Photos: Knockout Images

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