SECOND TIME LUCKY
After missing out the rst time, Kelly claims the Midlands Area super-welter strap
WHEN, already two rounds to the good, local favourite Ryan Kelly caught Stoke’s
Owen Jobburn towards the end of the third and followed up with a burst that sent him down, it appeared the end was nigh. Not so, as it turned out – not immediately anyway. Jobburn regrouped and, for a few more rounds, made a decent fist of it. He contributed regularly enough, albeit against the run of play, to make for entertaining viewing.
He had no answer though when Kelly, in his second tilt at the vacant Midlands Area super-welterweight title, upped the ante once more. On the back of a spell of sustained pressure that begun with a pair of clubbing lefts to the head, Ryan forced the intervention of the night’s referee Shaun Messer with 30 seconds of the seventh still to run.
It must’ve been a quiet night in Telford as it seemed half the town had descended on Villa Park to urge on firsttimer Nathan Mcfarlane. He didn’t disappoint against Nuneaton’s evergreen
Kristian Laight, securing a 40-36 decision.
Laight, now just six bouts shy of the 300 mark, switched stances from an early stage in an attempt to avoid incoming shots, but he was forced to grab late in the second after the new starter, picking up the pace, found the target with a fast combination upstairs. What little bit of trading there was came towards the end of the next, but Mcfarlane had the better of it, before further stretching his lead late on. A warning for using his head was the only blot on his copybook.
Two more debutants, both from Wolverhampton, experienced varying fortunes in their respective fours.
Clayton Bricknell, previously an amateur with Birmingham’s Jewellery
Quarter Boxing Club, outpointed Stockport’s Jamie Quinn 40-37, while
Kirstie Bavington had to settle for a share of the spoils – 38-38 – against Bulgarian veteran Borislava Goranova.
Bricknell, trained by ex-pro Richie Ghent, had initially been set to go in with Warminster’s Paul Cummings, but instead ended up exchanging pleasantries with the busy Quinn. While this one was maybe a little closer than the scoreline suggests, the right man got the nod.
Bavington, meanwhile, having played football for half-a-dozen top clubs, including Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion, found the going tougher than expected against Goranova. On her 16th trip to the UK in her 18th year as a pro, the visitor experienced success of sorts for the very first time. My card mirrored that of referee Messer at the finish, with Kirstie, courtesy of a pair of decent right uppercuts, nicking the last and, in doing so, a share of
the fight.
The experience of one last debutant, this one in the away corner, proved short-lived. Just two minutes and four seconds of another scheduled four had gone when Swadlincote’s former MMA fighter Kent Kauppinen, already cut below the right eye, was counted out on all fours. The first-timer fell victim to a hammer of a right downstairs and another to the head from towering Brummie Shakan Pitters. The height differential between the pair was such that London-born Kauppinen’s eyes had been on a level with Pitters’ chest during the pre-fight instructions.
Newark’s Fonz Alexander rarely lets a weekend pass without him boxing and, along with trainer Andrew Lowe, Birmingham was the latest stop on their odyssey. A 40-36 defeat was their lot at the conclusion of a one-sided bout against Tamworth’s bearded Ellis
Blake. Courtesy of fast hands and a nice mixture of shots, Blake seemingly always had victory assured. A meaty right uppercut and a glancing left cross late on emphasised his superiority. Another Tamworth man, Tommy
Silcox, registered his sixth straight win, taking a 39-37 decision versus Blackwood southpaw Paul Ducie who, now winless in four, proved a tougher adversary than expected.
THE VERDICT Just a fortnight had passed since Tommy Owens last promoted at this venue, and he goes here again in just over a month.