WORLDWIDE ACTION
Camacho gets revenge as freak injury rules out old foe Iqbal
Camacho gets revenge in Bethnal Green, but it’s pain in Spain for Gavin
WADI CAMACHO
won the vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight title in confused and chaotic circumstances when former conqueror Arfan Iqbal was ruled out with an accidental injury at York Hall (Goodwin Main Events).
Iqbal was shoved through the ropes in the seventh round. Referee Marcus Mcdonnell signalled no knockdown, and Iqbal clambered back into the ring, but he was clearly in some discomfort. A stool was placed in a neutral corner, and Iqbal was sat on it – nobody knew what was going on, and some sections of the crowd grew restless. One idiotic spectator hurled a metal notice – with metal stand and base – into the ring, and it was sheer good fortune that no one was injured.
Eventually it was announced that Iqbal (Derby) was unable to continue because he had injured his back. As it was an accidental injury, it went to the scorecards, with the incomplete seventh round being scored – and Camacho (Canning Town) was declared a unanimous winner: 69-63 twice (Ian John-lewis and Robert Williams) and 68-64 (Kieran Mccann).
For Camacho, it was revenge for a fourth-round stoppage defeat for the vacant English title in this ring in July 2017. Last time, Camacho lost because he took the fight to Iqbal and got nailed. This time he cannily used his height and reach advantages, keeping things long and scoring with the southpaw jab. Iqbal tried to get close, and had occasional success with rights, but generally Camacho dictated at long range.
Iqbal was thrown down in the first and dropped by a burst to the head at the end of the fifth, and had a bruise under the left eye. In the seventh, Camacho scored freely with jabs to head and body, and three successive lefts had Iqbal under pressure. Iqbal landed two rights but was soon in trouble in Camacho’s corner. He moved along the ropes but was shoved through, landing on the Board of Control’s table and sustaining the injury that caused the finish.
Michael Ramabeletsa (Preston) sensationally won the vacant English super-bantamweight title by halting Newham’s Ryan Walker in the first. Both began fast – then Ramabeletsa landed a combination to the head that put Walker down. He was up at ‘two’, but Ramabeletsa was on him at once, and a right to the head dropped Walker a second time. Again he was up quickly, but Ramabeletsa’s follow-up attack convinced referee John-lewis to stop it at 2-05.
Hereford’s Dean Evans twice floored Mo Gharib and took their four-rounder by 38-36. Gharib started aggressively, with Evans content to cover up – but then Gharib walked onto a right counter and went down. Encouraged, Evans launched an attack, forcing Gharib to hold. In the third, a right decked Gharib once more,