SMP Host Successful Inaugural Show by Terry Dooley Jun 2nd 2007

Sports Managements Promotions hosted their inaugural show at Old Trafford on Thursday night with a dinner-show that featured local talents Steven Bell, Anthony Crolla and Brian Rose fighting. A fine meal was followed by a well-rehearsed speaking engagement by former light-heavyweight title-holder John Conteh, his quick-fire wit and easy delivery culminated in a series of Audley Harrison jokes that – much like Big Aud' himself – went down well and to a roaring round of applause. SMP work in cooperation with local trainer Anthony Farnell and aim to be an outlet for his fighters as well as other local talents. The first fight of the night featured the easy on the eye skills of Bobby Rimmer protégé Brian Rose. Rose, 11st 8lb, was facing off against tough journeyman Tony Randell, 11st 5lb, and boxed his way to a comfortable six times two-minute rounds win. Brian had over ninety amateur fights and is setting about tailoring his style to the pro game. Having seen Tony fight a few times it was good to see Rose turn what could have been a hard slog into an easy fight. Randell caused problems for Danny Wright last year – a fight many present, myself included, had felt Tony was unlucky to lose – as well as giving Alex Matvienko a close-quarters conflict early last year. Rose did not give Tony a chance yet he also did not make the mistake of moving away and giving Tony room to swing his wilds blows into. Instead Brian – for reasons he later revealed to BBN – stepped to his sides whilst peppering Randell with jabs and the odd left hook to the body. A nice one-two caught Randell clean late in the round. Over the course of the next few rounds Brian put in one-two after one-two whilst all the while nicking left hooks to the body when the need arose. Randell's swings were picked-off and Brian was too smart to lean back from one and risk copping an unfortunate one to the chin. This was highlighted in round two as Randell swung a wild one-two; Brian stepped back after one shot, was back in range by the second shot and popped Randell with a fine left hook counter. The subtle side-steps continued into the final two rounds as Brian came out behind his jab in the fourth: a dip of the knees after one jab gave him the chance to pop a right hand in, By the final bell Rose had ticked all the boxes and threw the odd uppercut and gusty burst off the ropes into the equation. Most impressively he sank in a low left hook in the fifth and was pulled up by referee Phil Edwards. Rose then came straight back with two left hooks to the body to show he has conviction in what he is doing, a right uppercut, left uppercut and left hook went in also during this period. Rose rises to 4-0 (0) whilst Randell drops to a deceptive 3-16-2 (1). In the dressing room post-fight trainer Bobby Rimmer enthused to BBN about Rose: BR: ‘He is one of those kids that everything I ask him to do in the corner he does it. The kid (Randell) came to have a fight and tried to win but Brian had to put him in his place and stop him from winning. I was really pleased.' ‘Brian is technically very good and is working more to the body now. Brian will tell you himself that he was a little bit off tonight and he was still good. With them long-arm fighters you have to try and nullify their work and the best way to do that is to stay close-up to them, step off with the jab and the right cross then move side to side.' At this point Brian entered the conversation: Brian Rose: ‘It was quite tough and I did what I had to do to win. To be honest I had not felt too good before the fight and just needed to grind out the win. If I'm not moving my feel there is something wrong but I showed I could grind it out and stay close in a fight. I'm throwing a lot of body shots now and I am planting my feet more now when training with Bobby.' Next up was the likeable and bubbly Anthony Crolla who took care of Neil McQuade in a single round to leave many wanting more. Crolla, 9st 8 ˝lb, had to endure a brief sticky moment after cutting his scalp during the brief action yet Neil McQuade, 9st 9 ˝ lb, came out like Steve McQueen and copped a bullet at 2:15 of the first round. McQuade had success in Manchester a few months ago when he out-muscled and out-pointed local fighter Abdul Rashid with this high-octave start (ironically Crolla had made his debut against a well-prepared and up for it Rashid last October). McQuade's early gamble yielded a single left hook as he caught Crolla napping in the first seconds only for Crolla to land his own left hook in retaliation then deflect any return fire off his shoulder. Crolla then started popping his jab out in a bid to rein McQuade in. A clash of heads led to a cut on the right of Crolla's scalp and just as we began to think he may have to endure a bit of a moment he blitzed McQuade with a left hand and right hook from the southpaw stance. The left hand set McQuade up, Crolla leaned back a little and the right hook finished the job before the blood had even begun to trickle down Crolla's face. To his credit McQuade did beat the count only to be deemed to be in no position to continue. The fight was over in the first and if this is how Crolla deals with a crisis one can only hope his next assignment is routine, purely to see him get some rounds in. Post-fight the likeable and bubbly Crolla chatted to BBN about the early finish: AC: ‘I (had) watched him before and knew he had beaten Abdul Rashid who is a decent lad so I never expected an early night. I knew when I landed the shot that it was over.' ‘I turned southpaw and threw a left cross and right hook. We'd worked on it in the gym with Arnie and it is good to see what you do in the gym come off in a fight. I'm known as a boxer but over the past few months I've matured an awful lot and am getting stronger all the time. I'm hitting hard in the gym and am bringing it to the fights.' Next up was a six times two-minute rounds short-notice (Aaron Thomas withdrew from the card with a shoulder injury) bout between Matt Scriven, 11st 5lb, and David Wakefield, 11st exactly. Wakefield started brightly and in doing so set the pattern for the whole fight, Scriven was fistically inert for long periods, Wakefield took advantage of this by putting out his shots at the right time and taking round after round. In the third Scriven did get success with his left hook only to again see Wakefield drive his way back off the ropes with shots, this time Wakefield fired in a left hook or two off the one-two to back Scriven off him. Seemingly frustrated Scriven dropped his hands in this round and Wakefield duly obliged him by landing a left hook; Scriven had, seemingly, dropped his hands to get the mobile Wakefield to settle down and open up, well be careful what you wish for. Rounds four and five followed the same pattern. Wakefield then closed the fight out in the final round to seal a wide win on the cards. Referee Phil Edwards scored it 55-60 (where does this uneven 55-60 scorecard come from, and what does it want?) whereas BBN had Wakefield pitching a shutout 54-60. Next up came the jovial and popular Steven Bell, fresh off his March British Central Area title win over Jamie McKeever in Liverpool. Smith, 9st 7lb, came out looking relaxed only for Krauklis, 9st 12lb, to throw the first meaningful shot, a right hook that missed. Bell replied with a left hook to the body only to see Rom reply with a right uppercut (missed) and a right hook. It was a feisty opening round and both men landed shots, however at this early point Rom seemed to be punching through his target whereas Bell was putting his shots out, connecting without punching right through Krauklis. In the second Bell got his jabbing going then used it to bring his right hand in as well as setting up a left uppercut with it. Bell won the round handily. There was, however, a sense that his work was a little forced and perhaps he was a little bit flat in there. This impression was exacerbated in the third round as Rom was again allowed to let his shots go. Bell responded to a burst with a few left hooks to the body followed by a step back and the jab. Krauklis gestured that a body shot had strayed low and was then buckled slightly by a double one-two as Bell closed out the round. Bell was now looking more relaxed; he had taken a few wild right hands and looked open to the shot. Rom was putting all his eggs into wild swinging baskets in the hope of cracking Bell's chin. Rom landed a right hand early in the fourth before sending Bell backwards with a jab that distorted Steven's balance slightly. Bell got his own right hand retaliation in before losing steam on his shots and tiring as the round wore-on. Rom got enough into his own shots and landed enough to steal the round and make the fight interesting. In the fifth Bell again got on the one-two only for Rom to counter one with his own wild right hook. A jab followed by a right uppercut to the body from Bell backed Rom off and Steven seemed to rediscover his stamina as he out-scored Rom throughout this round, a right hook and left hook blitz to the body was the pick of the action. Over the course of the fight Bell had seemed to dip to the level of his opponent and had made the fight harder than it had to be. Rom had landed enough wild swings to keep Bell thinking on his feet and in the final round Bell countered a clearly gambling Rom. Bell should not have looked so ragged at times and lost plenty of steam on his shots but as he told BBN after the fight he dropped down a level and made the fight tougher than it needed to be. Steven also told BBN that his aim had been to get his jab going again and this, naturally, gave Rom a chance to fire right hands into the gap left by the odd lazy jab. Overall Steven had shown that he could handle this type of fight easily as long as he stays consistent throughout the rounds. Referee Phil Edwards scored the fight 60-54 whereas BBN had it closer at 58-56. Bell improves to 12-0-2 (5). In terms of bums on seats, entertainment and in-ring action SMP can feel pleased with their inaugural promotion as they set about making a mark on the local scene by showcasing prospects and topping the bill with fighters hoping to move on from the prospect level. Photo: Allan Stevenson

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