Watson and Burns take the Titles by Tom Walker May 18th 2008

Motherwell Concert Hall was the venue for the first joint promotion between the next generations of two boxing dynasties in Scotland. Chris Gilmour and Carla Rea of Gilroy Promotions put on a four-bout show featuring two International Masters championship bouts over 10 x 3min rounds on Friday evening. With their first joint venture they can be reasonably pleased as the bouts were well matched and all went the distance, the crowd was vocal in their support and the results went the way of the form book (if such a thing exists in boxing). The show opener featured local fighters Mark Bett of Larkhall at 10st 7.75lbs and Charlie King of Newarthill weighing 10st 3.75lbs. King allowed Bett to launch his shots early in the 1st round whilst countering with crisp hooks to the head and body, and frankly looked the more accurate with them. That said Bett did fare better in the 2nd as he forced King back with some heavy handed shots, still picking up counters from the Newarthill boxer, unnecessarily it must be said. King decided to move up a gear in the 3rd and Bett found the pace a bit much as he looked to have run out of steam. Despite this lack of stamina he did get off with some shots which were meaty in strength, but too few to make any significant difference. Kings doubling of his hook to body and head allied to accurate jabs are pulling him clear in terms of scoring. Bett is, by the 5th looking as though his tank is empty, and not for the first time as he was similarly lacking in stamina the last time I saw him in Aberdeen. This fundamental flaw meant that King racked up the points on referee Victor Loughlin's scorecard to win by 59-56. I can't for the life of me understand why Bett, who can dig and take shots, doesn't have enough stamina? Unless that is he doesn't fancy the work necessary to get the fuel on which the rest of his performance depends. Coatbridge “Banger” Chris Black 11st 5.5lbs was matched with Darren Gethin 11st 7.75lbs from Walsall in the second of the four bout card. Black has plenty of support with him and opens with a stiff jab and over hand right forcing Gethin backwards, however Gethin takes this in his stride before finishing the opener with some meaty shots of his own. The roles were reversed in the 2nd as Gethin took charge and Black threw less leather in return. Throughout this bout the dilemma was whether you liked the meatier efforts of Black or the busier but relatively light glove work of Gethin. The 5th had Blacks best round with double hooks to the head and body of the Midlands man, so much so that Gethin has a small nick under his left eye by the end of the round. Referee Paul Graham gave it in the end to the local fighter by 60-56 which I think is a bit harsh on Gethin who was never really troubled by the heavy handed shots and indeed looked on a couple of rounds to be the busier of the two. The first of the two championship bouts featured another local boxer Martin Watson 9st 13lbs of Coatbridge with Chris Long of Calne in Wiltshire at 9st 13.25lbs and Watson delighted his partisan following by starting at pace with quick and eye-catching combinations, Long matched Watson with pace but had no answer for the scintillating form shown by the local boxer. Watson's “Rib Ticklers” were anything but tickling the ribcage of Long, yet the Wiltshire man took them without folding. Watson was taking his time and picking his shots with aplomb, his economy rate of shots on target to those thrown would be very high indeed. Fair play to Long though, he's sticking with it when lesser men may have thrown in their cards, and indeed he's trying to match Watson with his own combinations, too little though to have any real bearing on the end result. Watson delivers crisp hooks to the temple of Long and is sending the spray flying as they register on target. Long's most potent piece of his armoury would seem to be his head as they come together in clinches, it must be said though that the clashes of heads are not malicious, but Watson does have a wee nick above his left eye to contend with. In the 7th Watson seemed to take a wee breather, which well he might, as the pace is relentless and must be hard to keep up. Despite this opportunity Long doesn't capitalise, probably because he too is feeling the pace and he's been on the receiving end of the punishment for the vast majority of it. Long does have a good tight defence, which is just as well, as he's being tagged almost at will from the busy Watson. The one way traffic continued through to the final round when Long's gumshield flew out of his mouth from a hook to the chin by Watson. The decision was inevitably given to Watson by referee Loughlin with a score of 100-91 implying a shared round (probably the 7th). Long was gracious in defeat and quick to acknowledge that he'd been in with a better boxer. Paul Burns of Uddingston weighed in at 10st 5.5lbs for his championship bout with Gavin Tait at 10st 5.25lbs from Kent over 10 x 3 minute rounds in the show topper. Burns, a southpaw has height and reach advantage over Tait and uses them well to flummox the Kentish man in the opening round whilst picking up a talking to from referee Graham for the use of the elbow, which it must be said did not emanate from a complaint from Tait and was entirely accidental. Tait himself gets an equally strong message from the referee in the 2nd for inadvertently standing on Burns' foot, resulting in his look of “Who me?” This isn't a dirty fight by any means it is just the clash of styles which is making it awkward. Burns' is always in control of the earlier rounds, making full use of the advantages he has in height and reach, and jolts Tait in the 3rd with a sweet left hook to the head. However, he'd do well to tighten up his defence as he's open chinned to the wilder shots that are coming his way from Tait Burns straight left is very effective (when he uses it), which is not as often as his fans would wish, nor I suspect his corner. He's allowing Tait back into the fight and the man from Kent is doing just that by the 6th. The bull that is Tait is looking to gore the matador that is Burns, and with a lack of real weight behind Burns' punches Tait senses an upset on the cards, wading in with a lack of finesse but more than a touch of venom. The 8th round has Burns' hands dropping and Tait rattles him with straight rights which must have him (Tait) take the points. Tait seems to be the fresher of the two in the penultimate round, but Burns has reverted to what had picked him up the earlier rounds by poking out his jab and keeping Tait at bay, not before time as this could have slipped from his grasp at any time with the heavy hands of Tait albeit somewhat wild in delivery. In the end though Paul Graham raised the hand of Burns and he duly gets his Championship belt with a score of 98-93. It was just as well that the Uddingston man had put the points in the bag from the earlier rounds as work in the later rounds was being done by Tait.

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