THE OTHER WALSH RINGSIDE NOTES
Ryan Walsh secures on the Lonsdale belt on his brother’s undercard, reports John Dennen
l FLOYD MAYWEATHER was of course in attendance with Gervonta Davis, whom he promotes. As well as expounding on just how good he thinks Davis can be, Mayweather spoke with surprising candour about the process that’ll lead him towards fighting UFC star Conor Mcgregor. Visit www. boxingnewsonline. net for more.
l LIAM WALSH was ringside for his brother’s British title fight, stressful I’d imagine a couple of hours before his own world title fight. Badou Jack, Shawn Porter and Ashley Theophane were also accompanying the ‘Money Team’ on this particular trip to England.
l THROWING beer from the crowd at Davis after he won was totally uncalled for, not only because the American didn’t deserve it but because it sprayed beer over my laptop and notebook.
RYAN WALSH defended the British featherweight title against Marco Mccullough and won the Lonsdale belt outright on the undercard of his brother Liam’s world title challenge. Walsh took control early on, driving punches to the body. Mccullough jabbed back but couldn’t catch Ryan with anything hard enough to push the aggressor back. In the second half of the contest Walsh began to take him to the ropes, drilling in hooks. At times Belfast’s Mccullough sat on a lower strand, shifting his body to slip shots but it kept him dangerously square on. In the 11th round Walsh went for the finish, hurling punches off both hands. For a moment it looked like Marco could withstand the barrage but eventually the Cromer man broke through, jolting his victim’s head badly for referee Howard Foster to stop it at 1-58.
Anthony Yarde looked a fearsome light-heavyweight winning the Southern Area title. He’s huge for the division and Southampton’s brave Chris Hobbs could not handle the weight of his punches. Yarde walked him down, his arms loose and limber and thudded in heavy shots. The Londoner put Hobbs down five times overall, whipping left hooks to the body dropping him finally at 2-51 in the fourth round when Chris’ corner pulled him out.
There was a dramatic reversal when
Aarron Morgan fought Southampton’s
Joe “The Pig” Pigford in a thrilling fight. Morgan countered him with punishing rights that stunned Pigford, who slung back with increasingly tired arms. But despite Morgan’s control, in the fifth round Joe buckled his legs with a hefty right hook. A following right cross and left hook knocked the Londoner down for a savage finish at 2-33.
In a mere seconds Greenwich heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois
destroyed Sheffield’s David Howe. He jabbed Howe to the ropes and slammed a massive, arching right hand through the Sheffield man’s jaw. David rolled to the canvas, for Jeff Hinds to count him out at 0-40 of the first round.
Chingford’s Boy Jones Jnr came back successfully from an unexpected loss to Craig Poxton in February. Jones was a whirl of constant activity as he drove combinations through Norbert
Kalucsa’s guard and stood in close to trade with the Hungarian. Kalucsa was suffering, but not going anywhere, Jones won 60-55 after six.
Harrow Weald’s Mitchell Smith, without Adam Booth in his corner, overwhelmed Lee Connelly. He slammed through clean right hands, trapped the Derbyshire man in corners and on the ropes. He looked for the left hook to the body, though it strayed low too often. Referee Jeff Hines took a point off Smith in the last round but that didn’t stop him winning 59-54 after six. Smith had come in a heavy 139lbs. New Malden southpaw Lerrone
Richards took a clear six points victory over Croatia’s Bosco Misic, picking out openings for his backhand left and winning 60-54. Romford man Sam Mcness started off sharply against
Zaurs Sadihovs, dropping him with a cracking body shot. But the stubborn Latvian refused to shift and Mcness took a points win over six rounds. Croydon’s
Sunny Edwards picked up the first stoppage win of his budding professional career, halting Hungarian Gyula Dodu.
West Ham’s Lucien Reid dropped his hands but unleashed sharp combinations to control Worcester’s Michael Mooney and win 60-54 after six rounds. Tamas Laska could not contain Archie Sharp. The Welling man attacked with accurate combinations. He struck the body with a cluster of shots in the third round and the Hungarian sank to the canvas, halted at 1-31. Hornchurch’s Sanjeev Sahota took a stoppage win over Steve Backhouse, from Manchester, at 2-25 of the third round. High Wycombe’s Ben Smith had some rousing support as he outscored Dewsbury’s Yousef Al Hamidi 40-36 in a four rounder. THE VERDICT
Yarde and Dubois starred on the undercard.