Garber makes promotional debut at Bradford by Paul Concannon Apr 19th 2005

Ex-Bradford professional heavyweight celebrated his promotional debut in fine style here in Bradford tonight. The evening marked one more debut, this writer's first dinner show. When I realised the show was of the black-tie variety, I was brought back to the early nineties, to Davey Bremner and Jim McDonnell's negative commentary on those old Screensport Barry Hearn shows. Dave and Jim felt that the shows, with the champagne luncheons and black tie pomp and splendour, took the soul out of true boxing. Going further back, the majority of Ken Buchannan's early career was hidden away on obscure dinner shows in Scotland back in the early seventies, a fact believed to have hurt the Scottish Legend's career in the early going. Hence, I was a little unsure of what to expect – and must hold my hands up to being pleasantly surprised. After being warmly received by promoter Steve Garber and the debonair Robert King, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the entertainment on offer, which included a rather foul-mouthed Q & A session with guest Steve Collins, which proved a pleasing distraction. As well as Collins, former Bradford Middleweight Frank Grant and current Light-Welterweight contender Junior Witter were amongst those in attendance. First up was an exciting six-twos at Middleweight featuring Bradford Kay debutant Kay Rehman and Wakefield's chiselled Mark Franks who was having his second pro bout. Franks started aggressively, and early on he looked physically stronger than the neat-boxing local. Attacking all the way with heavy rights and bursts of hooks, Franks gave Rehman a tough baptism, and on my card, his greater variety won him the first two rounds. The third saw Rehman going after his man, and taking a thumping right but hitting back with a good right of his own. A perfect 1-2 landed for Rehman later in the round, but a strong finish by Marks, when he attacked with another barrage of hooks, earned him an even round on my card. Marks worked the full three minutes of round four to enter the fifth with a useful lead on my card. Rehman was more aggressive in the fifth, and while his punches lacked snap he worked away steadily on the inside as Franks appeared to tire, earning him, Rehman, the round. Both tried desperately hard in the sixth but it was Rehman who finished the stronger, landing several right hands and badly hurting the tiring Wakefield mans with a strong 1-2 midway through the round. Despite the strong finish, I still had Rehman just one point adrift, but referee Steve Gray raised both men's hands for a well-received 57-57 draw. I made a note at the finish, ‘exciting fight' and it was. It would make a lovely rematch too. Next up was another six-twos, this time in the Welterweight division, between Walsall's Darren Gethin and Joe Mitchell of Birmingham. The bout followed a similar pattern to the first affair, with Gethin working hard over the first three rounds, landing with some lovely shots as Mitchell worked steadily behind a jolting jab. There was little to separate them over the first three, and I had them 1-1-1 in rounds going into the fourth. Mitchell began to get some distance in the fourth and fifth and began following his jolting jab with heavy rights while Gethin attacked often but mostly fell short with his own shots. I had the Birmingham man 3-1-1 in rounds going into the last. He worked the full three minutes and there was some surprise when the referee raised his hand for a 58-57 victory. Mitchell accepted the verdict sportingly, but he was clearly a little miffed, and for my money, he was a little unlucky. This was the third bout between the two, with Gethin holding two razor tight wins against a draw in his pro debut. Another endeavour-packed six rounder saw Dewsbury based Syrian Abdul Mougharbel score a much needed win over Bilston's Neil Read. Despite a rather forlorn record, Reid knows his way around a ring, and overcame a slow start to make a real fight of it over six. Mougharbel boxed his way into an early lead with some neat punch-picking and crafty footwork, only to tagged with some jarring punches in the middle rounds. A strong finish by Mougharbel secured a 59-56 verdict, and the Syrian, who hadn't had a win in his last five, was clearly delighted to be back in the win column. So, with three excellent value, evenly-matched six-rounders, and a near sell-out crowd, Steve Garber's promotional debut was a success. “Not bad for a first show,” Steve said to me afterwards –and he was right. Look out for his second show in September.

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