THE COMEBACK KIDS
Mansouri and Tombs make their return to the squared circle
THE main event on Dennis and AJ Hobson’s joint promotion saw hometown man Loua Nassa claim victory with an 80-72 verdict against veteran Estonian Sergey Tasimov.
Nassa was barely one-year-old when Tasimov first stepped through the ropes as a professional, and age looked to be the deciding factor as Nassa had too much energy for the 42-year-old.
Sergey was harshly given a count in the sixth by referee John Latham when he was caught with a body shot and looked to trip on the ropes moments later. It was one of the rare moments in the fight where the unbeaten and quick Nassa looked capable of earning an early finish, as the wily Tasimov kept out of trouble and fought back gamely when needed.
The former English super-welterweight champion Navid Mansouri put his injury troubles behind him. Rotherham’s Mansouri’s once-promising career has been on hold after he sustained a snapped Achilles tendon early last year. His ring return looked to have been going to plan until he was dropped in the last of six rounds against Islington’s Jordan Grannum.
It was a short right hand that did the damage, but Mansouri was able to shake it off to claim the victory 58-55 in the view of referee Howard Foster. Mansouri had earlier shown class and volume to get ahead on the scorecard.
A rematch with the ringside Commonwealth champion Sam Sheedy seems unlikely with Sheedy now at middleweight and in negotiations to fight Sheffield city rival Liam Cameron.
There were knockdowns in three undercard fights as Duane Green earned a draw and home prospects Kyle Fox and Scott Westgarth won on points.
Green, from Norwich, battled to a 38-38 tie with Sheffield’s Dan West,
which was overseen by Mr Latham. West had started sharply and simply did not see a second round overhand right from Green coming. He went down heavily and had to keep ducking, something he was frequently warned about, to avoid a repeat. West rallied to make up the ground lost with the knockdown, but still looked vulnerable.
Fox was a clear winner over Sutton-inashfield’s Nick Golubs. Golubs, originally from Latvia, was down in the third and fourth rounds in almost identical fashion. The knockdowns were a result of heavy pressure from the Doncaster man with Golubs pinned in the corner, and were more an accumulation rather than one punch.
Golubs had earlier shown decent defensive skills, but the tempo Fox set was too much for him as he went down 40-34 according to Mr Latham.
Latham was also in charge as Sheffieldtrained Geordie Westgarth decked Bognor Regis’ Callum Ide in the first round of a 40-35 win. Winless Ide did well to overcome the first round body shot to hear the final bell as Westgarth did not stop looking for the stoppage throughout and frequently dug shots deep into the midsection.
Big-hitting Danny Tombs made his ring return six years to the day since his last outing.
Sheffield’s Tombs, who looked in tremendous shape, has been on the MMA circuit and showed some quirks from that as he outpointed Dmitrij Kalinovskij.
Tombs hinted at his power throughout as he pushed the Lithuanian back, but it will have done him no harm to get rounds under his belt as he claimed a 4036 win in a match officiated by Mr Foster.
Novices Tommy Frank and Denzil Browne preserved their unbeaten records with 40-36 wins watched over by Foster.
Sheffield’s Frank, trained by Glyn Rhodes MBE, beat Bulgarian southpaw Georgi Andonov.
When Andonov could be pinned down, Frank punished him with a variety of shots.
Frank’s work to the body proved to be the most effective, but Andonov saw out the contest comfortably.
Leeds’ Browne cruised to victory over Lincoln’s Mitch Mitchell. Browne showed patience and maturity to pick his shots well and few were wasted. He looked best when throwing orthodox straight punches, but Mitchell stood up to them. There was little in the second round, but the rest were all won clearly by the West Yorkshireman.
THE VERDICT Mansouri’s return the most important development in Sheffield.