EASING BACK

Flatley wins second confidencebuilder in a row, writes Daniel Etches

BOLTON

JULY 16

★★★☆☆ WHOLE SHOW

JACK FLATLEY made it two wins on the bounce since his European title fight loss with a convincing points victory over Russia’s Evgenii Vazem in front of a home crowd at the University of Bolton Stadium.

“The Quiet Storm”, looking to build confidence having suffered a brutal ninthround knockout against Kerman Lejarraga in December, claimed an 80-72 verdict from referee Steve Gray to follow up his success over Kelvin Dotel in March.

The nine-fight card presented by VIP Boxing also saw four fighters maintain their unbeaten records, including Bolton’s Greg Mcguinness, who beat Ukraine’s Mykhailo Sovtus to move onto 5-0.

Mcguinness took a lot of shots and was cut above his right eye in the third round of a fullblooded encounter, but he did enough to take a 39-37 win from Mr Gray.

Also preserving perfect records were Blackpool’s Jake Abrol, Bury’s Marcus Tomlinson and Wigan’s Lennox Lythgoe.

Gray oversaw proceedings as teenager Abrol beat Bognor Regis’ Carl Turney 40-36 and Tomlinson defeated Islington’s Jordan Grannum 39-37.

The evening’s other referee, Howard Foster, awarded Lythgoe a 39-37 victory over Romania’s Constantin Radoi. Among the other winners was local fighter Samir Aftab, who marked his debut with a win against durable Lithuanian Marius Vysniauskas. Backed by an army of fans that had to be ushered away from the ring before the bout could begin, Aftab looked assured on his way to triumphing 39-37 for Mr Foster.

Bolton’s adopted Irishman Liam Gaynor

gave the home crowd more to shout about, prevailing 60-54 against Russia’s Viktor Vezhlivtsev in a contest overseen by Mr Gray.