Gary “blitzes” the Welsh Terrier by Tom Walker Nov 26th 2007

The atmosphere in the Play Drome when Gary McArthur boxes is a bit special even by small venue standards. Partisan it certainly is, some would say raucous, but it does have a certain affect on the home town boxers. The defence of his British Masters Lightweight title belt against Pembroke's Henry Jones in his home town of Clydebank brought the crowd to a state of frenzy in support of McArthur on Saturday 24th November. The show promoted by Chris Gilmour, was a sell-out with a crowd of 1,000 and had some arriving to queue at the door a full half hour before the doors were scheduled to open at 6.30pm. The show opened with a 6 x 2min bout with Chris Black of Coatbridge 11st 5.5lb matched with Tyan Booth of Sheffield at 11st 6lb. Booth is so much taller than the stocky Black and being an Ingle trained boxer is very hard to nail. He has movement, variety and a tendency to showboat somewhat, all of which leaves Black forced to lunge in to try and deliver what is undoubtedly harder shots, but it is the only way past the longer reaching jab which Booth is employing like some sort of rapier. Booth did however; show that he too possesses a dig with his left hook, as he rattled Black with it towards the end of the 2nd, this galvanised the Coatbridge man into more direct tactics. Black was though, tending to use single shots rather than doubling or even better, trebling his punches. In harrying the Sheffield man with his “straight at him” tactics, he was becoming frustrated by the languid style of Booth, who was darting out stinging little shots which for my money were still scoring. An expression of mine I've used before to describe bouts is the “Bull and the Matador” and it is apt in this match with the exception that the “Matador” (Booth) didn't have a sword to finish it; rather he was like a Matador with only a red cape. The bout was declared a 58 – 57 points win for Black by the referee, which in all honesty was a bit of a travesty for Booth. Black was harrying Booth for the duration, but Booth was unmarked and hardly out of breath at the end. His sense of injustice was demonstrated at the end when he refused to give his hand to the referee for the verdict announcement, but did proffer it to Black! Dominic Ingle in Booth's corner was almost speechless with the verdict, and with Dominic, he's rarely caught out for words! Next up was David Savage jnr of Scotstoun 9st 1lb, matched with the much more experienced Shaun Walton of Telford at 9st 4lb in a Featherweight contest over 6 x 2mins. Savage went straight to work with his tools, doubling his left hooks to the head and body of the Telford man. As if to emphasise the quality of the work being done by the local man Walton drew him a truly malevolent look at the end of the opener before slumping onto his stool. Savage is fast with his hands, moves well laterally as well as in and out again of range whilst firing off decent salvoes of his ammunition. This mobility, allied to his hand speed and variety of shots, made this bout a pleasure to watch. Despite having much more experience, Walton was always second best in this bout and the result of 60 – 54 was to be expected at the end. The third bout of the evening had Jamie Coyle 11st 4lb from Bannockburn matched with the first of the two brothers Smith, (Ernie) who came in at 11st 5lb. Smith has a sense of humour which he brings to the ring as he tries to stand on tip toes to match Coyle as the referee Kenny Pringle gives his preliminary address to them. In Queen Victoria fashion, Coyle is “not amused”. The opening was fairly regulation with Coyle jabbing and moving, picking off the Stourport man almost at will. Smith was content to see what was on offer by way of opposition. Coyle was scoring regularly if unspectacularly, almost wasp like, though Smith was trying in vain to swat the wasp in front of him. There was a bit of love lost at the end of the 5th as Coyle pushes Smith away at the bell. He (Coyle) did close it out with some tasty rights to the temple of Smith to take the score of 60 – 54 on better work, with more of it to boot. Craig Dickson of Pollock 10st 9lb was in with Ernie's brother Billy Smith at 10st 2lb in the penultimate bout of the evening. Dickson is quicker than Smith in a fairly even opener. However, Smith has a renewed sense of self belief and it shows with his heavier shots. The 2nd has Dickson with a cut above his right eye after an intense rally from both boxers using hooks in somewhat frantic exchanges which the fans are loving. Dickson needs to be the busier of the two since it would appear that Smith is the heavier handed of them, despite the weight advantage to Dickson of half a stone. It is an absorbing contest, which is probably asking more questions than providing answers. Will the faster work rate beat the heavier shots? The early cut has no real lasting impact as Dickson has the redoubtable Benny King in his corner; consequently it's unnoticed since it opened, this despite, magnetically drawn left hooks from Smith, towards it. The last round was attritional as both men went all out with supreme effort to get the verdict. Referee Victor Loughlin gave it to Dickson by 58 – 56 and who am I to argue with Scotland's only star referee? For me though, a draw would have been fairer to Smith who brought a lot to the absorbing bout it was. The place erupted as Gary McArthur of Clydebank 9st 7lb made his way to the ring for his defence against Henry Jones of Pembroke 9st 9lb, sending a frisson of expectation throughout the audience. Both boxers are southpaws so any advantage there is equalised, but McArthur is noticeably taller than his opponent and he is focussed on the task to maintain his unbeaten run. Jones is terrier like in his attacks whereas McArthur is almost calm by comparison using his right lead and left follow up with sufficient authority to force Jones into mimicking a limpet by sticking so close to the taller man. In the 2nd Jones did touch down from a shot, but it was so quick that Victor Loughlin didn't quite catch it and didn't give a standing count. Jones eyes are blinking feverishly from the weight of McArthur's shots, but he's game and starts the 3rd like a greyhound out of the outside trap as if to prove a point. McArthur though maintains his equilibrium, seemingly content for Jones to lunge in like a Jack Russell, whilst he (McArthur) is catching him with neat, tidy work on the counter. McArthur seems to have gotten a dig from somewhere in his training, as previously I'd thought he'd have to go the whole hog in his bouts. Jones with his crouching style does stray a bit south of the border on occasion, but without malice. Jones shots tend towards McArthur's body, whereas the taller man has the luxury of both head and body with his ammunition. Jones gets a standing count in the 6th, which brings the crowd to a cacophony of noise, so much so that no-one can hear the bell for the end of the round, including the ring card girl who realising the round is over has to dart up the steps with the card. In what turned out to be the final round McArthur is turning on the style, and clipping the Welshman with eye-catching combinations, which ultimately put him down again for another count which Victor Loughlin sees as enough for the game Welsh terrier. Cue scenes of unconfined joy amongst the “Bankies”, not only has their man won, he's won well and appears to have discovered more weight behind his punches than previously demonstrated. Amongst the interested spectators was two Scottish Heavyweight hopefuls, one amateur and one professional, Steven Simmons from the unpaid ranks and Ian Millarvie from the paid ones. “Simbo” has recently had a successful operation on his left elbow and looks to start sparring soon in time for the next round of Beijing Olympic qualifiers early next year. Ian too has put all his bad luck and injuries behind him hopefully, to continue his burgeoning career

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