STILL UNBEATEN
Undefeated trio keep their perfect records intact with little fuss
MACDUFF’S Billy Stuart was initially scheduled for a potentially searching examination against former Commonwealth flyweight champion Thomas Essomba atop this SM Promotions dinner show at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Aberdeen Treetops. The Cameroonian, though, was later offered a shot at the bantamweight version of the belt in Glasgow two weeks later, and understandably elected for that option. Stuart instead went in with tough, experienced Georgian Khvicha
Gigolashvili, and while he didn’t quite have things all his own way, was still a clear victor.
Gigolashvili came to win but his clubbing attacks were no match for Stuart’s more educated boxing. His left hand in particular was a versatile tool, put to use variously as a punishing jab, a hook to the body or an uppercut. Although finishing an 80-72 shutout, and likely not the test Essomba would have presented, it was a good learning fight for Stuart.
Local lass Kristen Fraser bills herself as “TFE” – The First Ever – in relation to her being Scotland’s first female pro boxer (she beat Hannah Rankin to it by seven weeks), and she continued her development with an impressive dissection of Czech Dominika Novotna.
Novotna made things competitive in the opening two rounds. However, Fraser’s hurtful accuracy trumped the visitor’s industry and gradually chipped away at her resolve. It was one-way traffic by the last round and the Aberdonian took the spoils, 60-54, in a bout contested over two-minute rounds.
Lithuanian Arvydas Trizno, in his 110th bout, offered Dean Sutherland a moving target, but little else. This allowed the Aberdeen southpaw to run through an eye-catching repertoire of skills en route to a 40-36 win. Sutherland is a former decorated kickboxer but exhibited a pugilistic fluidity not usually seen in graduates from that sport. At just 19, he is one to watch.
Kenny Pringle refereed all three bouts.