KING OF THE MIDLANDS
Denny outscores Stokes to claim Area belt
ROWLEY REGIS southpaw Tyler Denny
jumped for joy after capturing the vacant Midlands Area middleweight championship by outpointing Tom Stokes on Errol Johnson’s BCB Promotions show at a noisy Town Hall. The scorecard of referee-for-the-night Kevin Parker read 96-94 after 10 good rounds.
I had it wider for Denny. For me, the 26-year-old was well ahead after six, found it tougher in next three as he started to feel the pace, then dragged a big last three minutes out of himself as Stokes went for the knockout he needed. On Mr Parker’s scorecard – the only one that matters – Denny won the first six, Stokes the last four.
In many of the rounds Denny carried out his pre-fight promise to outsmart the West Bromwich ticket-seller. He appeared to bank the early frames by standing off, beating Stokes to the punch and countering. Stokes is known as a combination-puncher, but it was Denny, the more relaxed of the two, who controlled the pace early on.
By the fifth, the outnumbered Denny supporters were making themselves heard and at the end of the round, there was concern in Stokes’ corner. Manager Johnson told him to get his feet closer and let his hands go, but Denny was hard to hit – and quick to counter with singles and flurries. The first round Stokes won on my card was the seventh. He piled on the pressure and with Denny’s mouth hanging open and his punches lacking their previous snap, a turnaround looked possible. The eighth belonged to Stokes as well, but the last two were closer as Denny found more.
Johnson said he believes Wolverhampton switcher Kyle Williams
can be a force at flyweight after watching him extend his unbeaten record. Williams scaled 117lbs 10oz for his sixth straight win, a six-threes shutout against outgunned 42-year-old Estonian Sergey Tasimov.
For round after round, Williams walked down his smaller opponent, launching big hooks and uppercuts from his waist. Tasimov looked disorganised in the second – he was getting hit hard by punches he didn’t see coming – and at the end of the third, Mr Parker went to check on him in his corner after a torrid end to the session. Tasimov was under fire at the bell after Williams buzzed him with a southpaw back hand.
There was a stoppage in the scheduled six between Bloxwich’s James Beech Jnr and Russ Midgley. Mr Parker stepped in to rescue Midgley 40 seconds into the third.
The Leeds journeyman had been over late in the second for a brief count. Beech had tried an arcing, chopping right throughout the session and when it landed, Midgley started to come apart. Beech followed up to force him to the floor – adding an extra right hand when he was on one knee to earn a telling off.
The bell went before another punch was thrown and Beech set about Midgley at the start of the third, driving him around the ring with two-fisted attacks. Mr Parker waved it off after Beech connected with a right uppercut-left hook that knocked Midgley into the ropes.
Newcastle-under-lyme’s wellsupported Luke Caci was a 40-35 points winner over Curtis Gargano. Boxing behind a sharp jab, Caci was always dominant, and though Middleton’s Gargano sought to buy himself a few seconds with some clowning in the last two rounds, he never looked badly hurt or close to going down.
In a four-threes between novices, Danny Ball outpointed the too-negative Brierly Hill southpaw MJ Hall 40-37. Hall ended the fight with a graze under his left eyebrow.
The best action came towards the end of the third, presumably the round Mr Parker scored level.
Ball shipped a clean left hook in an exchange that brought gasps from his corner, but kept swinging with Hall until the bell and was the aggressor throughout the last.
In the four-twos show-opener, Wolverhampton switch-hitter Lauren “Black Widow” Johnson outpointed Borislava Goranova 40-37.
Back from a hand injury that had kept her out since March, Johnson walked Goranova around the ring for three rounds before a more competitive last when the Bulgarian had spells on the front foot.
THE VERDICT Denny triumphs in battle of unbeatens.