BACK IN BUSINESS
Nevin too good for game Connelly
TOLWORTH NOVEMBER 24 ★★★ WHOLE SHOW ★★★ ATMOSPHERE
OUT of the ring for more than 15 months, former Olympian John Joe Nevin scored a clear six-round points win over Killamarsh’s Lee Connelly at Tolworth Recreation Centre.
Referee Chas Coakley scored it 60-54, which was fair, but Connelly stood up to everything and gave Nevin (Mullingar) the workout he needed. Nevin pressed forward throughout and showed good punch variety. Connelly moved, covered up when Nevin got close and hit back when he could.
A right uppercut had Connell holding on in the fifth, and Nevin landed the same punch in the last – and Connelly’s face was looking marked up. But he deservedly stuck it out to the end.
The official top-liner on this Hennessy Sports promotion saw Kallia Kourouni (Greece) retain her Global Boxing Union and Women’s International Boxing Federation world super-featherweight belts by outscoring Poland’s Bojana Libiszewska over 10-twos.
Referee Kieran Mccann scored it 96-95, which I thought generous to Libiszewska (who had boxed in Britain three times previously, losing all three). There was a lot of missing, but Kourouni pressed forward throughout and I thought she generally outworked her challenger.
But Libiszewska stayed composed, and always looked to fight back. Libiszewska was marked and swollen under the left eye in the sixth.
At heavy, unbeaten Naylor Ball (Iver) was given four decent rounds before taking the verdict over Hungarian Ferenc Zsalek, referee Coakley scoring 40-36.
Zsalek looked fleshy but moved well, looking for openings. But the trimmer (though heavier) Ball scored well throughout, consistently landing rights to the body – one of which had Zsalek backing off in the third – and got the long jab working well in the second half. Zsalek slipped in the first and was bundled over in the last – no count.
In other fours there were 40-36 wins for Mitcham’s Zahar Al Qahtani over Reading’s Ibrar Riyaz
(Coakley), Farnborough’s George Lamport over Norwich’s Duane Green
(Coakley) and debutant Tony Vincent
over Blackburn’s Naheem Chaudhry
(Mccann).
THE VERDICT Nevin back on track after decent workout.