Below-par Burton beats Crazy Kingy by Ian McNeilly May 10th 2007

Darlington heavyweight Chris Burton had an up and down time last week. The 6'5" prospect was due to box supposed Tanzanian heavyweight champion Awadh Tamimu on the undercard of Isaac Ward's first defence of his Commonwealth super-bantamweight crown. Ward had to pull out with an elbow injury - bad.  Trainer/promoter Neil Fannan decided to go ahead with the show anyway - good.  Burton developed a stomach bug which sapped his strength a little in the run up to the fight - bad.  However, Burton was made top of the bill in Ward's absence - good.  Tamimu arrived in the UK and a regulation eye test revealed he was blind in one eye so obviously wasn't fit to box - very bad.  Sheffield big man Paul King, who was working security at the Don Valley show last Thursday, stepped in at the last minute - good. Burton wasn't himself but still managed to beat King 40-36.  It was a unique fight in a way as this was the only time I've seen a man land more head shots on himself than on his opponent.  Having been beaten to the jab for the first two rounds but not particularly troubled, 'Kingy' got bored.  So, as we all do to alleviate such ennui, Paul smashed himself around the chops a few times, dropped his hands and allowed Burton to tee off on him. We've all seen similar antics, most recently from that more exotic lunatic Ricardo Mayorga, but this wasn't just for a few seconds.  It was more like a minute, which is a long time when you think about it.  Weird.  Anyway, 'Hightower' wasn't getting dragged in to any daftness and a hard, conventional straight right convinced Paul to behave himself. The fourth round was the most active with King making more of an effort.  Burton got home with a hard right to the nose and King stepped back, stopped, dabbed his nose, looked at the blood on his glove and then glared menacingly at his opponent.  Good panto stuff and the crowd played their part, booing the villain. Not his best performance, as Burton himself admitted afterwards, but a win is a win and he showed good discipline to stick to his boxing as he moved to 8-0. Hartlepool light-middle Craig Denton won his second pro contest by way of a 59-55 score against Nottingham's Jon Foster.  A Denton left hook had the visitor holding at the bell for the first and the local man showed good variety in the next to have Foster clinching. I scored a messy third even but Denton showed his superiority in the fourth when a hard left hook had Foster spinning into the ropes with his back turned.  A dangerous but successful ploy, Foster repeated it when under pressure shortly afterwards.  He was on the verge of being stopped.  He never seemed to recover from this - his legs remained shaky to the last bell and his balance looked poor.  Fair play to him though as he stuck in there for the last two, getting through with the odd shot and lasting to the bell.  Denton on top all the way though. The other three fights on the afternoon bill at Darlington's Dolphin Centre all featured debutants.  Fannan's stable has a decent future if these performances are anything to go by. Most impressive was Hartlepool lightweight David Watson who won every round on Gary Williams' card to take a 60-54 verdict over Sutton-in-Ashfield's favourite Estonian, Sergey Rozhakmens. He was fast, accurate and had a very nice southpaw jab.  A hard jab and straight left in the second had Rozhakmens down but the tough cookie got up and withstood Watson's pressure.  A bit like light-welter prospect John Fewkes, Watson showed a bit of devil in his work during clinches and despite his youth, wasn't afraid to play a bit rough inside. The only question was if Sergey was going to survive and it was a little tribute to him that he did.  Keep an eye out for young David Watson. Middlesbrough's James McElvaney was another who impressed in winning every round in a 60-54 contest, this time on Mark Curry's card.  The former England amateur beat Telford's Shaun Walton.  I missed the first session of the show opener due to Bank Holiday weekend traffic but walked in the hall during the second to see McElvaney looking impressive as he opened up with both hands.  The Boro lad made sure shots went to the body in the third and fourth.  The pace dropped a tad in the fifth as Walton had proved himself a tough man in soaking up everything that came his way - he wasn't going anywhere fast.  Fair result, good debut performance. Sedgefield light-welter Mark Dawes took a 59-57 win against Pontefract's journeyman Peter Dunn.  As usual, Dunny gave a good account of himself, winning the fifth and sharing the second on my card.  Dawes was always the sharper though and he put together some good combinations, picking off Dunn who tried to march forward in a crouch. Dawes always knew he was in a fight though and Houghton-le-Spring official Curry's card was a fair reflection of a competitive bout.  Dunny was still coming forward at the final bell.

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