EYE CATCHER
Young gun Garner produces clinical knockout with a jab
RYAN GARNER produced a stunning third-round finish as a perfectly judged straight left hand flattened brave Nicaraguan
Johnson Tellez at 2-30 of a slated four-threes at the Novotel Hotel in Southampton, topping an Andy Ayling-promoted card.
Garner, just 19 and fighting in his hometown, looked sharp and dangerous throughout. Tellez was floored in the first by a beautiful long right, and then was forced to take the proverbial kitchen sink of punches from the same side in the second.
The finishing shot in the next was a rarity. Ryan caught the shorter Tellez coming in, and moved his weight through the punch perfectly. Tellez didn’t see it and the evening’s referee Jeff Hinds called for oxygen immediately.
In the first of three supporting contests over four-threes, Pontypridd’s muscular Jermaine Asare shutout Lincoln’s tough
Mitch Mitchell. After taking too many in the first, Mitchell stayed out of trouble by moving laterally in the second. Asare delivered some eye-watering body work over the next two sessions that Mitch withstood gallantly to see his night through to the close.
Southampton’s Ricky Little took a 40-37 verdict over Czech
Patrik Bartos. After a tentative opener, Ricky caught his man with a sharp left hook before unloading upstairs and down. The final two sessions were very one-sided with Little trying to find a way though the very negative Bartos’ defences to break his man down.
Finally, Bournemouth’s MH Legg took every session against baby-faced Lithuanian Deividas Sajauka. Legg caught the Eastern European with some cracking right hands and applied educated pressure throughout but couldn’t find a way to sap the visitor’s spirit.
THE VERDICT Ryan Garner scores his fourth stoppage in as many starts and looks one to watch.