Horrendous cut ends Thaxton's European dream by Kevin Taylor Apr 8th 2008

Jon Thaxton saw his European title challenge disappear behind a haze of claret after a horrendous cut forced his corner to pull him out of his fight with Yuri Romanov after five rounds last friday at the York Hall in Bethnal Green. Thaxton who's career seems to have gone hand in hand with cuts looked in confident mood as he made his way to the ring with a scowl that would make most opponents weak at the knees while the champion looked nervous during his ring walk. Although he looked almost nonchalent as he chatted with his corner while the ring presentations wer going ahead. Looking at least one weight division above the Belarusian Thaxton prowled looking for an opening while constantly switching styles, although it was the champion who was landing the cleaner shots as he countered. The second saw a better start from the British title holder but he was forced back onto the ropes and seemed to be in trouble as the stinging punches of Romanov landed and all too soon the blood was evident as Thaxton's nose bleed. Romanov was picking his shots well and each one seemed to land with force as he forced the Norwich based Thatxon onto the back foot, the cut appeared during the fourth and although Dominic Ingle managed to stem the flow of blood, it was only a matter of time before the cut reopened and when it did covered the entire right hand side of Thaxton's face in blood and you could still see the blood spurting from the cut as Thaxton waited for the next chance to land a punch. One look from his corner as Thaxton returned after the fifth was all it took for them to call it off, although they seemed to have difficulty geting this through to the referee and Romanov's corner continued to work on their fighter to send him out for the sixth, in fact the referee seemed to want to give Thaxton another round and made him come out for the sixth round despite his cornermen all being in the ring still. Thaxton was made to walk forward before referee Massimo Barrovecchio called it off. The announcement was that it was called off seven seconds into the sixth but we will continue to class it as a fifth round retirement. I had Romanov winning all five rounds with his crisper, accurate punching and he looked a class above Thaxton who couldn't seem to get into the fight. And although it now looks any chance Thaxton had of fighting Amir Khan has disappeared he still holds the British title, although a proposed clash with Lee Meager in July will surely have to be postponed following Thaxton's first defeat under the guidance of trainer Graham Everett. Romanov once again proved he is world class and should now be given his opportunity to pick up a World title, at only twenty-five he still seems to be improving and I wouldn't bet against him picking a World gong of some form or other, I would bet against him fighting Khan next though! Full undercard details from a very entertaining undercard will follow shortly. Photos Copyright Bernard Miller

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