Marshall beats the muggers - and his opponent by Steven McLane May 21st 2008

The Roker Hotel on the seafront at Sunderland was the venue for local boxing promoter Tommy Conroy's latest dinner show last Thursday night. Three competitive fights were served up which went down well with the boxing public. Sunderland middleweight Martin Marshall got back to winning ways with a 59-57 points decision against Doncaster's James Tucker 12st over six two minute rounds.  Marshall, a postman, correctly had his hand raised all in a week that had seen him grabbing the headlines in the local paper after catching a thief who mugged an elderly woman whilst he was out on his round.  Marshall (11st 13lbs) assumed control from the opening bell working behind an orthodox jab and was able to land with rapid 1-2 combinations against the man from Doncaster. Tucker sprung to life in round two, switching his attacks to the body, forcing Marshall to cover up during the early part of the round. However Marshall responded well from Tucker's salvo and stung his man once again with straight accurate shots. In the third, Marshall was able to settle into a rhythm and helped by his impressive hand speed kept a bemused Tucker at bay. In the fourth, Marshall worked his jab well but a dogged Tucker spiritedly kept coming and sank a couple of left hooks into the body of Marshall to show he wasn't going to have it all his own way in the fight. Round five saw Tucker attempt to turn the tide of the fight with an onslaught of boxing off the front foot he was able to land in succession to the head and body of a tiring Marshall who was happy to cover up and try and tie his foe up when in close. The last round was a slightly scrappy affair with neither man throwing with the accuracy they'd shown in the previous rounds. Marshall improves to 9-13-3. Tucker falls to 0-7. A rematch at light-middleweight between Hartlepool-based Scouser Shaun Farmer and John Musgrave saw the man from Barnsley this time emerge victorious with a hotly disputed 58-57 verdict in a bout similar to the first fight they had in March. Musgrave started the quicker of the two men and took the opening round with crisp accurate punching. During the second Musgrave landed a telling right uppercut but Farmer undeterred responded with a good straight right and ended the round strongly backing up his rival with combinations to level matters up. The fight then followed a contrasting pattern with the styles of the two men, Farmer choosing to work at a high tempo and Musgrave looking to counterpunch his way through the scrap. Going into the last I couldn't split the two fighters, both men had to dig deep but I sensed Farmer's superior workrate had earned him the win. Referee Gary Williams saw it different and raised the hand of Musgrave. A third rubber now looks needed to settle the dispute. Musgrove improves to 5-5, Farmer falls to 6-6. At heavyweight, Sunderland's Danny ‘Boy' Hughes remained unbeaten after tackling Blackburn's debuting Steve Bodger in a contest fought over six-twos. The fight was scored 60-56 by the referee. It was Bodger who settled into the fight early on landing with a couple of overhand rights as Hughes carried a low left hand. Hughes finished the round strongly after replying with accurate jabs. Coming out for the second round Hughes welcomed Bodger to the paid ranks with a crunching right hand to the body. The rest of the round was cat and mouse stuff as both men waited for each other to lead off in the exchanges.  In the third round, Hughes was again landing with the jab from range and doing much the cleaner work, whenever Bodger closed the gap Hughes was content to tie his man up. Bodger came out in the Fourth determined to gain a foothold in the fight and had particular success with a left hook in which Hughes took well and replied with an attack to the body of Bodger.  Round five was an untidy affair with a lot of holding, both fighters at this point looked jaded. Credit to both lads for the last round as they picked up the action and landed meaty looking hooks to each others heads sending sweat spraying.  Hughes earned the win and improves to 3-0-1, Bodger is 0-1.

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