Warrior Anderson wins in Muttley's backyard by Tom Podmore Jun 2nd 2006

Crowd violence marred, what was a fantastic night's boxing, at a sold out Aston Events centre, Birmingham on Thursday night (1st June) In a fight of the year candidate, Scotland's Kevin Anderson stopped British champion Young Mutley in 10 rounds, and in the process, added the British title to his Commonwealth welterweight crown, in front of the Sky Sports cameras. In what was one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent years. Warrior is a word to describe the Scot. Clashes between supporters of Anderson and Mutley, will overshadow the fight, and cast doubt on Birmingham's big fight future. The scenes were reminiscent of the clashes between fans of Rob McCraken and Steve Foster 12-years ago – the last time a truly big fight was held in the city. Indeed, Rob was summarising for Sky Sports, and was shaking his head in disbelief at the scenes. The highly anticipated clash, for the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles, saw a combined record of 37-1, and both men at the top of their game, To the main event, and what a fight it was. Scotsman Anderson entered the ring first, to a rousing reception from his travelling Scottish supporters. Wearing all-green shorts, the Commonwealth champion looked in excellent shape, as he waited for the hometown boxer to make his way to the ring. Mutley received a deafening cheer, as he made his entrance. The West Bromwich fighter was in excellent shape, and wore shorts bearing the cross of St.George. In an even first, Mutley (10st 6lbs 10oz) landed some meaty left-hooks, to let ‘Ando' know he was there to fight. Anderson looked visibly shocked as he tasted the power of ‘The Mutt', in a round where both men teed-off with power punches – although neither man gave ground in an exiting opener. The second started with Anderson (10st 6lbs) being forced to give ground and retreated to the ropes, after being ‘buzzed' with a right. The breakthrough came, halfway through the second, when Mutley landed a peach of a left-hook, which caught Kevin flush, landing flat on his shoulder blades, and did very well to beat the count. Credit to the Scot, he fought back well for the rest of the round, and was unlucky not to have had a knockdown of his own called, he clipped Mutt with a right and Mutley touched the canvas. The referee called it a slip. Rounds three and four followed a similar pattern, with Mutley pressing forward, trying to end matters with left-hooks, followed by rights to the body. Anderson was trying – unsuccessfully - to jab his way inside. The Fife native picked up a cut early in the fourth – above the right eye – which he dabbed at sporadically during the round. Anderson was countering well by the sixth, but was still wary of the Midland man's power, and his expression on his face told the story – a look of pain etched on his face, when Mutley landed his patented blows. Mutley was not only outfighting Anderson, but also now outboxing him. Kevin was trying to turn the tide and a right sent spray flying from Mutley's head. Just as it seemed he was gaining a foothold in the fight, Mutley landed a beautiful left-hook – a punch that couldn't miss during the duration of the fight – that stiffened the Scotsman's legs. In rounds seven and eight, the stronger Mutley was throwing (and landing) superb combinations of left-hooks to head and body. The West Bromwich puncher was now in total control, his accurate blows making Kevin hold. Clipping left-hooks were making Anderson step back, but to his credit Anderson was boxing better, using his jab and counter-right's to unsettle the Englishman late in the eighth. The ninth saw Anderson continuing his mini-revival, landing crisp combinations and trying to initiate attacks. It was noticeable that ‘Mutt's' workrate had dropped no longer throwing combinations – single shots were the order of the round. I still thought Mutley won the round, he landed the heavier, and accurate shots – a left-hook counter in particular saw Anderson hold. In what was to be the final round, Anderson seemed to catch his ‘second-wind' and was hurting Mutley for the first time in the fight, one such right-hand sagged Mutley on the ropes. Kevin, sensing victory let go with a barrage of blows, a left-hook sent an exhausted Mutley stumbling across the ropes, where referee Phil Edwards stopped the contest with 2:18 gone of the tenth. Kevin's face showed, just how much the win meant to him, he had won, when it hadn't seemed possible, he came back from the brink (many times). He was almost knocked out in the second, rocked in almost every other round, Anderson showed the heart of a champion, and now is the British and Commonwealth champion. It was a tremendous fight; both men showed exceptional heart and durability, taking each other's power shots for ten-rounds. Without taking anything away from Kevin, it seemed that ‘Mutt' was blowing hard by the 6th, and had punched himself to a standstill. He had taken harder shots earlier in the fight, but Anderson showed what a talented and brave fighter he is to stick with Mutley to the end and stop him. With that Anderson improves to 17-0 (11). Mutley drops to 20-2 (11). A rematch would be more than welcomed, but don't bank on it. Tommy Gilmour, Anderson's promoter, when I asked him if there would be a rematch said: “No way, do I look crazy”. Let's hope the board makes it happen. Chief-support on this Matchroom and EJKO promoted bill, saw Birmingham's Matthew Macklin, stop Poland's durable Marcin Piatkowski in four-rounds. The fight was scheduled for eight-threes. Terry O'Connor refereed this light-middleweight contest. Macklin set out his stall from the opening bell, throwing a ramrod jab into the face of Piatkowski – who's face was a scarlet colour by the of the opener. Macklin (11st 3lbs) was in total control, forcing the Pole to cover-up on the ropes. The second stanza followed in the same vein. Piatkowski (11st 3lbs) covering up on the ropes, throwing the occasional jab. Matt was hitting to the body (shot's that would have made stable mate Ricky Hatton proud!) with such vigor, that Marcin sat awkwardly on his stool at the bell to ease the pain. The fight was following the same pattern, with Macklin unloading shots to body and head – starting with a jab, then following through with hooks to the ribs. It was worrying to see Piatkowski being beaten from pillar to post, throwing nothing in return. The job was done for ‘Matty' in the fourth. Macklin resumed the vicious bodypunching, finally getting the break, with a crunching hook to the ribs that sent the Pole down for an 8-count. He beat the count, but referee Terry O'Connor had seen enough and compassionately stopped the fight with 2:17 gone of the fourth round. A splendid win for Macklin, who was making his debut as a pro in his home city. Richard Williams had to go the full route with this opponent, up at middleweight. Macklin will fight Jamie Moore next, provisional set for the 21st July, in Manchester. Macklin record ups to, 17-1 (13). Pick of the undercard, saw Scotsman Craig Dickson, who challenged Kevin Anderson for his Commonwealth belt last time, losing a close six-three's, to improving Walsall welterweight Darren Gethin. Referee Sean Messer scored the contest, 58-56, after six, toe-to-toe rounds. I scored the fight 58-58 incidentally. All six rounds were hard to score, with Gethin (10st 8lbs 13oz) throwing the harder, wilder shots and Dickson (10st 10lbs) the more compact of the two, throwing cleaner, shorter blows. Gethin's workrate was the deciding factor on Sean Messer's card. Both men fought to a standstill, which suited the aggressive Gethin more, Dickson wasn't using his jab as well as he could of, instead trading in a close quarters battle. Dickson dips to 12-2-1 (7) and Darren- on a marvelous good run recently - moves to 6-7-5 (1). Opening the show, in front of a sparse crowd, saw returning Polish super-middleweight, Albert Rybacki improve to 14-0 (7), with a 58-57, six-threes points win over tough Paddington based Syrian Hussein Osman. Terry O'Connor refereed the contest. The first three-rounds were one paced. Rybacki (12st 9lbs 4oz) tried to lower the high-guard of Osman (11st 12lbs 2oz), with crunching hooks to the body. Hussein was trying, and didn't take a backward step, but was being picked off. The last three saw Osman trying to take control, but the weight disparity (of almost a stone) played a part, with Rybacki pushing Osman back and landing body blows, as well as good head shots, which opened up two cuts on the right and left eyebrows of Osman. Tristian Davies worked well behind the jab, to pick up a 59-56, six-three's win over hard punching Wolverhampton light-welterweight Carl Allen. Sean Messer officiated. Allen (9st 13lbs) was pressed against the ropes for much of the six-rounder, as Telford's Davies (9st 12lbs 10oz) jabbed his way in, before hitting Allen with bodyshots. Davies improves to 7-0 (0) Burton ticket-seller, Jonjo Finnegan, had a tougher than expected night, against Welsh journeyman Mark Phillips, eventually winning 40-38, over four-three's. I scored the fight closer at, 39-38, to the Burton super-middleweight. Sean Messer refereed. Finnegan (12st 3lbs 3oz) wasn't given a chance to breathe by the aggressive Welshman, who pushed Finnegan back, but smothered his own work a lot of the time. Finnegan's cleaner boxing won him the fight ultimately. Phillips (12st 8lbs 4oz) looked rueful at the bell. Finnegan moves to 8-1-2 (0). Young Scottish featherweight prospect, Paul Appleby improved to 4-0 (4) with a second round stoppage over Graham Higginson of Blackburn. Terry O'Connor was in charge of the four-threes. The boyish looking Appleby (9st 8lbs 10oz) of South Queensferry, looked a little over eager at times, walking in a straight line and crudely throwing his shots. Higginson (9st 5lbs 5oz) had a decent first round, catching the Scot with some good ‘one-two's'. Appleby was more composed in the second and an overhand right below the ear, dropped Higginson heavily on the ropes. He beat the count, but Mr.O'Connor had seen enough with 1:58 gone of the second. Final fight of the night, in front of a handful of people, saw Walsall's Martin Gethin move to 6-0 (2), with a four-three's points win over Coventry veteran Baz Carey. Carey (10st 4lbs) boxed well, using his jab to frustrate Gethin (10st) for the first three rounds. Sadly for Baz – such a nice man – he was dropped twice in the fourth, and conceded a 38-37 points decision on Sean Messer's card. I had it 38-38. Without the knockdown's Baz would have won.

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Anderson Jun 8th 2006, 14:10:30 by ukibo Kevin Anderson today joins the real mans club, Great job son welcome to a very special club.