JENMAN ICED
Commonwealth king Cameron secures a stoppage victory at Sheffield Ice
LATE replacement Nicky Jenman of Brighton had weighed heavy prior to his Commonwealth title bout against local champion Liam Cameron at Sheffield Ice, so could not win the middleweight title anyway. However, that proved incidental when he was floored heavily by a booming right in the dying embers of the second session.
Cameron, after taking a look during a one-sided opener which at one stage saw Jenman grabbing, was already being urged to step it up by his corner. Cutting off the ring he obliged, slamming home a right to the head and a left downstairs before sitting Jenman down in centre ring.
Jenman did manage to haul himself upright but unsurprisingly failed to convince referee Terry O’connor of his suitability to continue and the time of the stoppage was announced as coming at the end of the round.
The Central Area flyweight title changed hands in the chief support when Sheffield’s Tommy Frank outpointed Bentley’s tenacious Craig Derbyshire 97-93 for referee Steve Gray. My card tallied with that of the third man at the finish with Derbyshire, his left eye reddened early, enjoying sporadic success when able to get in close against an opponent who proved the busier man behind the jab for the most part.
Referee Gray finally lost patience with the persistent holding of Birmingham’s
Reiss Taylor who, out of his depth against Derby’s Conar Blackshaw, fell in and grabbed at every possible opportunity.
The official had docked a point as early as the second and spoke to Reiss at length for wrestling in the very next session. With another point having been taken away in the fourth, the inevitable disqualification came at 2-43 of the fifth. It had been scheduled for eight. Back in October 2013, Middleton’s
Curtis Gargano had earned a debut draw against seasoned Lincoln pro Mitch
Mitchell, but since then there has been precious little cause for celebration.
This was Gargano’s 50th outing and since that opening draw he has won just six of almost 200 rounds boxed. His fortunes never looked like changing here either with local favourite Christian Kinsiona, improving with every passing round, forcing a stoppage 42 seconds into the fourth of a fancifully slated six.
Having experienced only little by way of reply, Kinsiona sent Gargano to one knee following a spell of pressure early in the fourth, with referee Gray waving it off despite the protestations of the visitor.
Gargano wasn’t the only one aggrieved; Joe Ducker and his team thought they’d done more than enough to get the nod at the conclusion of a show-closing six boxed in front of a handful of supporters and die-hards.
Leicester’s Ducker had shut out Dewsbury veteran Youssef Al Hamidi over four only a month previously and he looked shell-shocked at finding himself on the wrong end of a 58-57 scoreline against the same man. Mr Gray was of the opinion that much of what Ducker was throwing was being taken on the arms and gloves of Al Hamidi who, stronger in the early stages, duly secured his first win since February 2017 – 19 fights ago.
Paignton first-timer Shane Medlen hadn’t read the script and proved too strong for Lincoln’s Jordan Mcloughlin. He opened with a pair of rights downstairs and went on to boss proceedings to such a degree that by the end of the second session Mcloughlin was nursing a bloody nose, while his hands were beginning to drop too.
Having bagged the third, Medlen’s pressure finally proved too much and with Jordan once more under fire Mr Gray intervened with 76 seconds of the fourth and last having gone.
There was a 40-36 success for popular local Sonny Price against Reading’s busy Ibrar Riyaz who, after making the obligatory Friday evening trek up the M1, found himself in the ring less than an hour after arriving at the venue. Mr Gray refereed.
THE VERDICT A successful first defence for Cameron, as Jenman folds early.