BBN presents the unheralded fights and fighters of 2007 by Terry Dooley Jan 1st 2008

By any reasonable criteria 2007 has been an exceptional year for boxing. Here in the UK we now have a stack of world titleholders, as well as three linear champions in Joe Calzaghe, David Haye and Ricky Hatton.  All over the world shrewd matchmaking has resulted in string of 50-50 match-ups, which in turn provided exciting fights, the kind of stuff we needed to put boxing back on the map. On the world scene we have had fights like Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik, the intense Vazquez-Marquez rivalry, David Haye-Jean Michael Mormeck, Jaidon Codrington-Sakio Bika, Juan Sebastian Lujan-Walter Matthysse trading blitzkrieg blows, and a host of other contenders for fight of the year. On our own shores we have had plenty of wars. Amir Khan flirting with disaster against Willie Limond. Graham Earl almost coming back from the brink against Michael Katsidis, and then going against Khan and being brushed aside in exhilarating fashion.  Joe Calzaghe provided a quality display in keeping his nose ahead of Mikkel Kessler for 12-rounds in front of a huge crowd. Even at the years end we saw Steven Foster Jr almost upset Alex Arthur in an absorbing bout. All in all, then, there has been plenty to look back on and with which to celebrate this year, yet in truth there are a stack of ‘Fights of 2007' articles out there for the boxing fan to read. To that end BBN is focusing its attention on what can best be called the small hall wars of 2007.  The rules are simple. We have gone for fights that took place in leisure centres or smaller shows. Consequently some of the fights selected have been seen on Sky TV, as Sky showed a commitment to smaller shows last year, but they still have that small hall ethos, when both fighters go for it, of commitment and intensity. So, in no particular order, here are my favourite personally attended fights of the year for 2007. 1 Tony Randell W RSF 5 Johnny Enigma There are a number of reasons for choosing this fight; not least that it was a committed and dramatic display. The fight took place on Sunday 24th June at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan; it was the morning after many of us had stayed up for the Ricky Hatton-Jose Luis Castillo fight the night before. For those of us with blurry-eyes that Sunday this fight set the scene for an exciting bill overall. Randell is a committed journeyman who always brings the fight to his opponent, he eschews the safety-first approach brought by many of his ilk and this writer has personally seen him war with Alex Matvienko, lose contentiously to Danny Wright in Leeds, and push Brian Rose here in Manchester. In the bout with Enigma Randell showed commitment and belief. Enigma came out strong leaving Randell the space he needed to get his own shots off. Both guys scored heavily in the early going but, crucially, this was Enigma's second fight and Randell had been here and done fighters before. As Enigma whaled away Randell worked the body with left hooks inside whilst also crashing the same shots to the head of Enigma. Johnny was soon looking uncomfortable with the pace of the fight but still kept digging out shots in order to discourage Randell. Tony turned-up the pace early in the third leaving Enigma with no choice but to raise his own pace, by the end of the round the onslaught from Randell was forcing Enigma to cede ground. This back stepping left Enigma taking the arcing shots of Randell flush on the chin. By the fourth Enigma was a fading force. At one point Randell, seeing a win on the horizon, tried to push aside the referee Phil Edwards to get at his opponent. The end of a bruising bout came in the fifth. Both had two rounds apiece on the scorecard of Edwards but it was Randell who seemed comfortable with the general carnage. Blood pouring from his nose Enigma was hurt by a right uppercut and left hook. Enigma was then tagged by a big left hook at the rounds end only for Johnny to respond by tagging Randell heavily with his own right hook to the temple.  Seeing a way back into the fight Enigma opted not to see the round out, instead he went for Randell who stayed calm and hammered shots through the open guard of Enigma. It was a truly violent final assault on a fading opponent and a, final, big left hook sent Enigma reeling backwards to be stopped, justly, at 1:59 of the fifth. Despite only a second remaining in the round Enigma was in a bad way and the stoppage was well timed. The crowd applauded the effort of both men as well as singling the visiting Randell out for particular praise. There may have been better fights in 2007 but on this particular morning this fight kicked-started a wild show and perked-up a lot of tired people. For that we salute you.  Randell started 2007 with a wild fight against George Hillyard and rounded the year off by beating Graham Delehedy for the British Masters title at light-middleweight. Overall he is well worthy of being given some credit going into 2008. 2 Chris P. Bacon W RSF 7 Tony Moran Chris P. Bacon's fight with Tony Moran had everything you need on a Sunday afternoon, aside from exceptional technique and poise. It was a less cerebral version of the war fought by George Foreman and Ron Lyle, for that reason alone it merits inclusion on any end of year list. Scheduled for ten rounds for the British Central Area title this fight featured three knockdowns, a bit of blood, crippling body punching and it prompted Bacon to retire in order to seek a less stressful life, he has opted to become a club owner instead. Moran held a size advantage only to belie this by scoring frequently with body shots on the smaller Bacon. Bacon pressed hard in the first round only to finish it open-mouthed from the body shots of Moran. By the second, Bacon was bleeding from the mouth and sending his shots by way of the US Telegraphing Service, accurate body work by Moran was putting Bacon to the test and Chris went from the frying pan into the fire in round four as Moran opened his body up once again and countered Bacon with a crisp(y) right hand that sent Bacon over.  Bacon, not one to be circumspect, rose and attacked Moran with abandon only to be wobbled by a right uppercut at the bell. The fight was a “slam ‘em bang ‘em” affair thus far and an extra ingredient was added as Bacon knocked himself down in this round. A huge shot by Bacon missed its target and Bacon's own momentum threw him to the canvas for the fight's second knockdown. Ironically Chris had been landing freely in this round but was now facing a disaster on the cards. To this end Bacon threw caution to the wind in rounds six and seven. Moran's body punching had lessened and he was taking some heavy head shots himself. Bacon countered a left hand swing by Moran with his own right uppercut-left hook-right hand combo. A big jab rocked Moran at the rounds end. Incredibly Bacon now looked the likely winner. Win Bacon did as he moved Moran backwards early in round seven before flooring him with a flurry of aesthetic eschewing swings. Moran looked to his corner and this prompted referee Keith Garner to pull him out of the fight at 1:31 of the seventh round. With knockdowns, body punching from the bigger man, head hunting from the smaller man, and one guy retiring to open a nightclub, the fight was one of those that wakes you up and gets you fired-up on a cold February afternoon. 3 Ian Napa W12 Jason Booth This one may lack the drive and drama of the top two fights above but it was no less compelling as a live spectacle. Napa had been a nearly man for far too long and it seemed that his talent would go overlooked title-wise when he hung-up his gloves.  It may have been a British title showdown on a Sky bill but its location, Wigan's Robin Park Centre, makes it a suitable candidate for our list. Napa came out to the song ‘Lean Back' but leant into Booth from the start. Boxing like a diminutive James Toney Napa showed US-style skills throughout a well-fought little bout. Napa also showed a little power improvement as he landed clean right hands on the chin of Booth. By the second half of the bout Napa was working the body of Booth then bringing up accurate shots to the head. By the tenth round Booth was hunting for the head of Napa but, from my perspective, was being out-scored as Napa used body shots and head shots to pile-up the points.  A cry of “Yeah!” went out from Napa after the eleventh round and by this point it was clear that, barring a scoring misinterpretation, Napa was on his way to a big win. It came on points after 12 absorbing live rounds. Scores of 117-113, 115-113 and 116-113 were a fair reflection on the bout itself. After the fight a delighted Napa told BBN that he was finally getting the rewards he had worked for. As for his style, yes the little man from England confirmed that he has been liberally borrowing from both James Toney and Floyd Mayweather. For that, and his execution of it against Booth, you have to give him his credit, or props if you will. It was a performance Toney would have been pleased to call his own. 4 Mark Thompson L RSF 8 Vincent Vuma With Jamie More unable to go through with his fight with world ranked Vincent Vuma due to illness Mark Thompson, a relative novice, stepped into the breech right at the last minute.  Although it was a relatively one-sided bout the quality was good and in the fifth round Thompson came tantalisingly close to beating Vuma as he dropped his opponent with a perfect left hook to the body. Vuma had started the bout conservatively, he allowed Mark to punch whilst all the while scoring with his own counters, and in particular his left jab to the body of Thompson kept Mark in constant danger of losing his balance. By the third Thompson was throwing the shots – jab, right hand and left hook – that had felled seven of his 13 opponents thus far only to find that Vuma was wise to this tactic. Vuma continued to pop Mark's head back with his jab then floored Thompson heavily in the fourth round with a heavy 1-2 over the jab of Thompson. It was too late in the round for Vuma to build on the knockdown but the assumption was the he would finish Thompson in the fifth. To his credit, and partly responsible for making the fight a spectacle, Thompson survived an early round clattering to floor Vuma with a huge left hook to the body at the round's end. Despite this success Thompson never quite looked as confident as Vuma and this told in the sixth as Vuma clubbed Thompson with some wicked right hands. Despite landing his own left hooks and right hands Thompson was battling just to stay in the fight.  The end came in the eighth; Vuma hit Mark with a right hook to the head and a jab to the body that sent Thompson to his knees. Mark got up only for more body shots, including a clubbing final right to the body, to finish him off at 1:35 of the round. Despite the fight being somewhat one-sided Thompson was game to take it and, in rounds five and six, looked like he could pull it out of the bag. For his commitment and desire, as well as producing some of his own fireworks, Thompson is deserving of a place on this list, he stepped-up when he did not have to do so and this is something to be commended. 5 Michael Gomez L RSF 6 Carl Johanneson Once again we feature a Sky fight that took place in a smaller venue. This battle for the British super-featherweight title (held by Johanneson) took place at the Doncaster Dome and the first memorable challenge it provided was locating the venue. When I finally got there both men produced a committed display of guys and firepower before Carl deservedly defeated an exhausted Gomez in the sixth round. Gomez, ever the wallflower, practically ran into the ring before bouncing around and gesticulating to the fans. Prior to the fight he had almost started the first round at the press conference by threatening a clearly bemused, although a crucially not fussed, Johanneson. Johanneson came to the ring looking nervous. He had had problems in training for his most recent fights; to this end Frank Maloney was acting as his cornerman for this big fight. That only added to the mix. Gomez landed freely in rounds one and two, blood was brought to the nose of Carl yet, despite Gomez landing freely a la Alex Arthur there was not the steam on the shots that Gomez used to bring. Despite this Michael fought like a maniacal maniac in the early going. Carl began to get his own shots off after this rocky start to the bout, his face was bloodied but his impenetrable facial façade was not showing any panic or frustration. Gomez had landed 27 body shots by the third round but it was Johanneson who was lasting the pace, his punches were gathering steam as the rounds went on. By round four Carl had taken everything Gomez could throw, crucially he was now backing Gomez up, Carl acknowledged his foe with a nod of the head at the end of the round. Perhaps he was sensing that Gomez had shot his bolt early in the fight. In round five Carl was content to weather the Gomez pressure then work behind his own jab, despite taking a big left uppercut Carl was in no danger during the round and it was Gomez who finished it with wobbly legs as referee Mickey Vann looked on with some concern for the safety of Gomez. The end came in the sixth round as Johanneson doubled-up on the 1-2 and put Gomez over for the first time in the fight. It was a heavy knockdown; referee Mickey Vann had been keeping an eye on Gomez for a few rounds and reluctantly allowed Gomez to go on after Gomez beat his count.  Johanneson moved in behind a left hook and right hand leaving Vann with no choice, in his own mind, which seemed to be made-up in the fifth, to step in and stop the fight at 2:50 of the sixth. Gomez did not take the stoppage, which he felt was premature, well. He blamed Vann before storming from the ring vowing that he would get a rematch with Johanneson and set the record straight. Carl now moves into a fight with Kevin Mitchell, on the evidence of the Gomez fight the Champion is living on borrowed time and may be an early Championship causality in 2008. For now both he and his promoter/trainer Frank Maloney can take satisfaction from a job well done against Gomez. Honourable mentions: Darren Stubbs-Hastings Rasani 1 & 2 Stubbs won both fights (W RSF 5 and W6) with the first fight a controversial stoppage win. In both bouts both men stood and traded for long periods with both often being a punch away from defeat. They were like end-of-pier wars between two drunken sailors and the fans loved it. Danny Harding W6 Chris Pacy II After beating the Frank Maloney prospect Pacy on points over 4-rounds in 2006 Harding was left in no doubt as to who would win a rematch.  Out-boxed in fight one, Pacy was outfought in this the second bout. It was a committed bout with plenty of two-way action but the mental toughness of Harding shone through in the end. Harding also gave one of the quotes of the year when summing up his pre-fight confidence as being based on the fact that: “(Pacy) saw his arse at the weigh-in.” Sean Crompton W RSF 3 Irfan Malik A Wigan undercard bout this fight featured Sean Crompton, a former wrestler who seemed, in his boxing career, to want to spend more time on the mat, such was his lack of defence. Countered time and again over his lazy right hand it was Crompton's fitness that saw him survive a knockdown, as well as a number of clean shots, to win this war in Wigan. It was also a fight that left Crompton's trainer Bobby Rimmer apoplectic as well as seeing Crompton being relegated to the amateur ranks to gain some much needed boxing experience. Alex Matvienko Versus any given fighter The fistic equivalent to Phil Spector's ‘Wall of sound' Matvienko had a busy 2007 with a brace (a draw and a win) over Martin Marshall being the pick of a varied year. Mark Thompson W8 Frank Harroche Horta Thompson's second dalliance at the higher level almost saw him suffer his second defeat in the year as Harroche constantly countered Thompson with southpaw left hands as Thompson missed his blows. As was the case in the bout with Vuma Thompson showed a less than tight defence as well as over-reliance on his right hand-left hook combination. Despite this Mark landed when he needed to and took a tight decision on the scorecards. Harroche landed often but his flow would dip a little in certain rounds. Perhaps overconfidence was the reason behind this. Certainly this writer scored the fight for Thompson live but had Harroche winning handily from the TV. It was one of those bouts in a year of absorbing battles, both on the world stage and the smaller stage. Editor's Choices: Tony Booth v Billy Wilson Booth came to the Doncaster Dome in February and provided his usual brand of humour, ring smarts gathered with age and competitive streak.  Perhaps, as usual, brought to lose, it was an absorbing contest which ended with a spectacular knockout in Booth's favour in the fifth round.  Worth mentioning for the fact that, with win number 50, Booth became Britain's active pro with the most victories. Jon Ibbotson v Darren Stubbs Unbeaten 'Ibbo' had returned from a Hatton undercard in Las Vegas with an eye-catching first-round knockout win in January.  He seemed to expect Oldham hard man Stubbs to crumble and unleashed an all-out assault on this May undercard fight at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield.  Stubbs weathered the storm and battered a completely exhausted Ibbotson to a fourth-round stoppage.  Ibbotson hasn't boxed since. Carl Wild v Nicky Taylor It's very intriguing when you get two lads with more losses in the column than wins squaring up to each other.  When these two met in Sheffield in September, Taylor was 2-11-1 and Wild 3-4.  What made this contest even better is that both lads always come for an absolute scrap.  What a toe-to-toe cracker for every minute it lasted as both men shipped blows and whaled away.  Wild prevailed on points, both men hugged each other and the crowd went mental.  These fights are what make boxing what it is. Fighter of the Year: Ian Napa. We said small hall fighters and who is smaller than ‘Dapper' Ian Napa?  Title wins, a stoppage win (against Lee Haskins) in a title fight and a nice display of skills in his recent fights means one cannot overlook Napa for this award.

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Tony Randell Jan 1st 2008, 11:35:39 by tom-podmore Nice to see Tony Randell get a bit of credit. The Birmingham puncher is a nice bloke, a good fighter and a worthy holder of the British Masters light-middleweight belt. There is talk of a Midland Area title fight for him in the coming 12 months.