BEST IN SHOW GUT CHECK TIME TELFORD TRIPS

Phil Sharkey witnesses Bournemouth ghter win a old-fashioned slugfest Langford 12st bow doesn’t prove easy, writes Craig Birch from ringside Warren draw ends John’s ve-win streak

STILL buzzing after seeing his first British champion Chris Jenkins crowned at the Albert Hall the previous evening, Mo Prior put on another value for money show at the Woodside Leisure Centre.

Fight of the night saw an old-fashioned slugfest. Bournemouth’s Jake Best just did not stop throwing leather for the full 18 minutes and found a willing dance partner in unbeaten Irishman Owen Duffy with local referee Bob Williams seeing it 58-56 in Best’s favour.

Mr Williams oversaw three other sixes: a messy 60-54 win for undefeated Hayes prospect

Fuaad Husseen over Scouse battler Ricky Starkey; popular tall Ilford stylist Umar Sadiq stopped negative 37-year-old Latvian Jevgenijs

Andrejevs after 1-27 of the second round; and after only 59 seconds Fulham’s unbeaten

Zak Chelli notched win number six. Slovakian opponent Ladislav Nemeth, already decked by a body shot, had no defence to Chelli’s followup attack.

In bouts officiated by Mark Bates a sixrounder saw defeat for another negative visitor as Bulgaria’s Radoslav Mitev hardly landed a glove on Camberley-based Rohan Date with a clear 60-54 was scored. The remaining fours saw 40-36 tabs for Londoner Louis Lye over York’s “Pocklington Rocket” Harry Matthews and Maidenhead’s Aaron Sinclair, who mauled of stoic Leeds journeyman Russ Midgley.

Sheffield’s Karim Khan took a share of a round against Wembley debutant Tee Dwyer, who won 40-37, while in a fight of two halves with Sheffield trier Dan West bagging the first two rounds, Norwich’s Rylan Charlton stormed back to take rounds three and four for a welldeserved draw in an always watchable battle. ALL’S well that ends well for Tommy Langford after a battling points victory as he goes up the weights on his future path.

But Birmingham’s Langford was slow out of the traps at the Town Hall against Frenchman

Baptiste Castegnaro. The two swapped leather at will for much of the early proceedings, until Langford knuckled down and nudged ahead on the scorecard. Referee-for-the-night Kevin Parker had it 58-56.

The bill was supposed to be headlined by Midlands super-lightweight champion Connor

Parker’s defence against Cori Gibbs, but the challenger withdrew through injury.

That moved another area boss, Rowley Regis middleweight Tyler Denny, into the chief support position with a six-round points whitewash (60-54) over Vaidas Balciauskas from Lithuania.

The evening’s third six-rounder didn’t go past three as one of Ricky Hatton’s charges,

Conah Walker from Wolverhampton, ended the clash in emphatic fashion. Arvydas Trizno was planted on the mat by a right hand to the forehead, which the Lithuanian complained was to the top of his cranium.

Connor Lee Jones from Dudley was on the front-foot for much of his bout against Reading’s Ibrar Riyaz

Jones boxed for his country at junior level as an amateur and displayed that grounding. A 40-36 points landslide came his way.

The show’s first stoppage came in the first contest, with Kirstie Bavington battering

Katarina Vistica from Bosnia-herzegovina into submission during round two.

A left hook and a right hand did significant damage for the two knockdowns, with Wolverhampton’s Bavington in fantastic shape after warm weather training in Tenerife, where she was joined by Denny. FLIXTON’S John Telford had been motoring along nicely since his first professional defeat, a four-round decision loss to Darryl Sharp in April 2017, with five straight wins since that reverse. But he suffered a setback with a six-round draw against Alistair Warren on this small VIP Promotions and Gary Booth bill at Irlam and Cadishead Leisure Centre.

Referee Darren Sarginson scored the contest 58-58. It halted the run of four defeats Huddersfield’s Warren had racked up since his upset win over Marcus Morrison in June last year. Those two are scheduled to have a rematch at the Middleton Arena on April 26.

Simen Nysaether had a better time of it when running out a handy winner over Ossie

Jervier. The Norway-based boxer cantered to a 60-55 win on the card of Mark Lyson.

London’s Jervier has had a staccato career and this was his second loss in a row following defeat to Deion Jumah for the Southern Area title cruiserweight title in December.

Anton Wright made a successful transition to the paid ranks. The Matthew Hattontrained, Manchester-based southpaw beat Gloucestershire’s ever-reliable Lewis van

Poetsch by the narrow margin of 39-38 on Mr Lyson’s card.

Manchester’s Ben Capps registered a points win, beating Spain-based Nicaraguan Eligio

Palacios 40-36 in a fight that was refereed by Sarginson. Salford’s Jade Taylor was the recipient of a four-twos points victory as she beat Poland’s Bojana Libiszewska by 39-37 with Lyson the referee.

Jamie Anderson was on the wrong end of the night’s sole stoppage defeat. The Glaswegian was hoping to move to 2-0, only to be stopped in three by Miles Willington. Grantham’s Willington registered his first professional win after Darren Sarginson halted the action.