‘HITMAN’ HAIGH
Jane Warburton sees Ricky Hatton’s pupil dominate a late substitute
RICKY Hatton-trained Jake Haigh, of Macclesfield, was initially scheduled to trade leather with Dudley’s Josh Miller. However, he instead went in against late replacement Emmanuel Moussinga (Stourbridge via Cameroon) in the billtopper on this five-bout Black Country Boxing promotion at Kings Hall. Unfazed by the change of opponent, Haigh took every session for an 80-72 win.
Jake’s gloves were low early on, but they gradually got higher against the always-dangerous Moussinga, who still managed to get through with a couple of decent head shots when that guard slipped again momentarily in the fourth. Moussinga was made to pay, though, with Haigh letting fly with a lengthy barrage which left the Africa-born puncher with a bloody nose. The pace in the late rounds proved noticeably slower, with Moussinga’s replies becoming increasingly rare. It was a short night for Stoke’s Nathan Heaney, whose Czech opponent,
Martin Kabrhel, was on the canvas three times in the opening round of a scheduled six. On the third such occasion, referee-for-the night Kevin Parker called a halt at 2-41.
A thrilling contest that finished 40-35 saw impressive one-bout Wolverhampton novice Connah Walker defeat Slovakian Rudolf Durica. Having done mightily well to survive round three in the face of quite an onslaught, Durica was then docked a point in the last for persistent holding. Connor Parker, from Woodville,
stuck to a steady pace throughout, which was quite a contrast to the Walker-durica bout. Varying his attacks nicely, he took all six rounds (60-54) against Stockport’s Jamie Quinn.
There was some nice boxing from local debutant Cole Johnson en route to a 40-34 win against highly experienced Lithuanian Simas Volosinas, who was another to suffer a late point deduction for clinching.
THE VERDICT Barely a month passes without the Potteries hosting a show. This latest offering sees all five home boxers score victories.