Everything Goes to Plan at the Leeds Town Hall. by Paul Concannon Nov 14th 2005

Promoter Rick Manners (of the fighting Manners brothers) latest promotion was a six-bout offering from Leeds Town Hall, promoted in conjunction with Ingle Promotions, and featured a range of talent from West Yorkshire taking on visiting opposition. First up was Bradford's former ABA finalist and England international, Robert Nelson, taking on Wolverhampton's lively southpaw Neil Marston, in a super-bantam 6 x 2's. The well-supported Nelson fought an aggressive fight. His experience as a quality amateur showed, with a few old pro tricks such as bouncing up and down in the clinches while Marston's jaw rested on his shoulder. There was other rough stuff, both were warned for wrestling in the second and third, and both ended up on the floor in a heap after some grappling-gone-wrong in round five. It was rather untidy until round four, when Nelson got into his stride and began landing the majority of the cleaner shots through the final three rounds, though was guilty of smothering his best work on occasion. Marston put up a decent fight, landed some decent left crosses and never stopped trying, but Nelson's greater industry was enough to see him take a 60-55 decision. Another six-rounder saw Bradford's Ingle-trained welterweight Nadeem Siddique take on Stourport journeyman Billy Smith over 6 x 2's. Siddique, smooth and clever in the classic Brendan Ingle mould, didn't have things all his own way. Smith is better than his statistically horrendous 1-28 (1 NC) record, and did his best to create an elusive target while landed his share of single shots as the Bradford prospect stalked, banging away with flashy flurries. The result was a predictable 60-55 in favour of Siddique who moves to 16-0, but with just two stoppages amongst those victories, it remains to be seen if his undoubted skills will be enough to see him compete at championship level without the benefit of a KO punch to back them up. Next up was Leeds' talented British super-featherweight contender, Carl Johanneson in a six round bout. This was announced as a warm-up for a planned eliminator to the aforementioned title. Johanneson went in with the well travelled, and sometimes-dangerous Carl Allen. Johanneson, so easy on the eye, picked his punches beautifully, took a few slick licks in return, before forcing a retirement victory before the third round. The end was officially due to an eye injury, though Allen also seemed to be in discomfort from a well-placed hook that had cause a red torrent from his nose. Rick Manners told me, “Some of these guys know that Carl likes to take a few rounds to get into his stride before he breaks them down bit-by-bit so they try to jump on him early. But Carl was so sharp tonight Allen never really got that chance. Carl (Johanneson) would have liked a few more rounds but we are really happy with his performance. He's such a dedicated man, when he's training he lives a secluded life, and takes nothing for granted.” Next up for the Leeds man is a rematch with previous victim Andrew Ferrans, then presumably, a mouth-watering clash with Alex Arthur sometime in the New Year Keighley's extremely popular debutant Paul Newby, who Rick Manners tells me was a top-notch karate champion, won a sparkling lightweight six x 2's with Brixton's Ian Reid. Newby was a new name to me, but fought an accomplished battle with a very lively opponent. The competent, confident and exciting novice seems likely to raise a few roofs in his pro campaign. Newby took a 59-55 decision, and several thumping rights, but injected a surge of atmosphere into the card with an aggressive style and tremendous support – he was well worth the win. In other action, Bradford's Khurram Hussain took a 40-37 decision in a somewhat pedestrian four-rounder against Peter Dunn of Pontefract at welterweight. Closing the show was well-supported veteran, Darren Rhodes who mixed it up with Earnie Smith in a vigorous six-rounder. Darren, who is gradually rebuilding after a campaign that has seen him fight at a consistently high level in recent years, seems to be enjoying his boxing and is in the privileged position of being a relatively young guy with bags of experience. Rhodes took a 60-55 decision, and fought with proficiency and experience against a tough old visitor who gave him a decent workout. NB – Bradford's Donovan Smillie, who was ringside, and fights Coventry's Steven Bendall in defence of his English Middleweight title, had one simple, and rather tongue-in-cheek-message for his forthcoming opponents, “Beware The Dark Gladiator!” Donovan travels to Coventry on the 12th of next month for his first title defence. Pictures by Paul Knox - Copyright 2005

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