PAIN IN SPAIN
An out-of-sorts Skeete is blasted out early by Lejarraga in EBU bid
BILBAO, SPAIN APRIL 28 ★★★ WHOLE SHOW ★★★ ATMOSPHERE
PENGE’S British welterweight champion
Bradley Skeete packed his case and headed to the visually stunning Bilbao Arena to face unbeaten local Kerman
Lejarraga, with the vacant European crown being his intended target.
Lejarraga, dubbed “Revolver”, had shot down another British visitor to the Basque Country in June 2016 when he needed just four rounds to see off Manchester’s Denton Vassell. Urged on by an extremely partisan crowd who had booed and hollered as Skeete made his ringwalk, Lejarraga needed only two rounds this time. The Spaniard sent Skeete to the canvas no less than three times in the second before the towel came in and referee Daniel Van de Wiele waved it off.
Skeete, having endured that hostile entrance, had begun behind the jab but had failed to make any real inroads and it was Lejarraga who, buoyed at having had the better of the opening exchanges, stepped it up a notch early in the second. The breakthrough came when he caught Bradley with a chopping right solid enough to send him to one knee.
Skeete, shell-shocked, hauled himself up only to be sent back down again by a vicious left to the body. With victory in sight, another Lejarraga left, this time upstairs, repeated the feat, and it was all over at 1-45.
Also on the bill, there was a tussle for the vacant European Union featherweight title between Bilbao’s Andoni “El
Macho” Gago (stopped in nine by Welshman Lee Selby 13 months ago) and France’s Geoffrey Dos Santos. Despite only stepping into the squared circle for the 12th time as a pro, Dos Santos duly contributed to a cracker before going down to a unanimous defeat with the scores reading 116-11 (Arnold Golger), 115-112 (Luca Montella) and 114-112 (Mr Van de Wiele).
Dos Santos, errant with the head in the latter stages, was docked points in both the 11th and the 12th by referee Phillipe Wouters. An early head clash had left Gago cut on the right eyebrow. A 10-rounder pitched Spain’s Jorge
Fortea in against Azael Cosio, who was cheered on from ringside by fellow Panamanian Roberto Duran. Fortea took it 98-91 (Jon Llona Fernandez), 97-93 (Mr Montella) and 95-94 (Mr Van de Wiele). Manuel Maritxalar officiated.
Chingford’s Boy Jones stayed busy by going in with Bucharest’s limited
Stefan Nicolae in a scheduled six. The Romanian had won just two of 11 going in, so it was no real surprise that 21-yearold Jones emerged a clear winner on points.
THE VERDICT Skeete suffers his first defeat since 2014, as the European crown eludes him.