15 AND OUT
Sheffield’s 15th show of the year gets over the line, writes Andy Whittle from ringside
SHEFFIELD DECEMBER XX ★★★★★ WHOLE SHOW ★★★★★ ATMOSPHERE
SHEFFIELD flyweight Tommy Frank
closed out a year that saw him claim the British title with a one-sided victory over gritty Tanzanian Charles Tondo on a much truncated show at Ponds Forge.
Referee Darren Sarginson scored 80-73 for Tommy who after a long run of 10 and 12 round contests was probably due a quieter night. Though the more eyecatching stuff, especially late on did come from the home corner, Tondo played his part, landing the odd reply against the run of play without ever threatening.
Grimsby’s unbeaten Levi Giles, busier and pressing for the most part, proved too much for Seaham’s recently crowned Northern Area champion Jordan Ellison
who was always second best and went down to an 80-73 reverse on the card of referee Howard Foster. The quieter closing session was doubtless the one scored level.
Outclassed and ko’d by Mexican opposition in this very same ring less than four months previously, Sheffield Anthony Tomlinson returned in a six against Sofia’s Angel Emilov and sneaked home by the narrowest of margins, Mr Foster scoring him a 58-57 winner. Truth told, Anthony, with that first career loss maybe on his mind, proved far too hittable for a visitor buoyed by his early successes.
North Shields super-lightweight Tommy Hodgson impressed again en-route to a 40-34 victory over another Sofia native, Petar Aleksandrov, having a look before kicking up a gear at the halfway stage and duly flooring the Bulgarian once in the third with a prolonged burst and once more with a right as the final bell sounded. Darren Sarginson refereed.
Barnsley’s Callum Spencer scored a third successive inside the distance victory despite conceding weight to Wolverhampton’s Anthony Woolery who, on the recieving end from the outset, finally succumbed 50 seconds into the third of a bout slated for four.
A hammer of a left downstairs ultimately sealed Woolery’s fate with Mr Sarginson waving it off despite him rising at a count of eight.
THE VERDICT A productive year for boxing in Sheffield.