VISITORS WHITEWASHED
Imports are dominated by home ghters in the capital
ALL four of the visiting overseas opponents failed to win a round on Mickey Helliet’s dinner show at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel. However, that didn’t seem to deter the bow-tied audience from cheering on all the participants.
Joshua Ejakpovi from nearby Marylebone extended his unbeaten and untroubled winning run to 11 as he kept the durable Arvydas Trizno on the end of his southpaw jab for the duration of their six-rounder. Ejakpovi picked and poked, looking for openings. A low blow in the fourth gave the Lithuanian a brief respite from Ejakpovi’s long levers, as referee Chas Coakley awarded a whitewash 60-54 to the Londoner.
Mr Coakley also gave every round to West Brompton’s Sohail Ahmad, who was a 40-35 winner. A left hook from Ahmad induced a first-round eight-count for Bulgarian Radoslav Mitev. A regular loser in British rings, Mitev used his experience to ride out the storm. Ahmad, with former top pro Kevin Mitchell in his corner, didn’t rush his work, leaving the bloody-nosed Mitev bruised around both eyes.
Loughton’s undefeated Daniel Khan also had the benefit of Mitchell’s corner advice (in tandem with Barry Smith) as he launched quick-fire combinations to claim referee Kieran Mccann’s 40-36 verdict against Barcelona-based Nicaraguan Edwin Tellez. Despite being warned a couple of times for pushing, Khan eased through the four rounds.
The evening’s only stoppage befell Latvian Andrejs Tolstihs. Decked at the end of the first, fortuitously for him the bell rang a couple of seconds after he got to his feet.
After being dropped again for an eightcount at the start of the second, Tolstihs gambled on trading with New Cross’ unbeaten Andre Sterling, but left hooks doubled up the Eastern European veteran who, with his back turned to the aggressive Sterling, was stopped by Mr Mccann after 2-53.
THE VERDICT A straightforward night for those in the home corner.