A CUT ABOVE

Andy Whittle sees Beech overcome a nasty gash to stop Fielding in Area title ‹ght

JAMES BEECH JNR won the vacant Midlands Area super-featherweight title on home soil at Walsall Town Hall, ignoring a badly cut left eyebrow to wear down and halt Tamworth’s Louis Fielding 38 seconds from the end of the ninth and penultimate round.

Had Beech possessed a little more of a dig he may well have triumphed earlier, with Fielding taking several shots flush. But with a wide points victory looking increasingly certain and the cut having just survived a doctor’s inspection, Beech made sure by rocking his opponent to his boots with a cracking hook, the cue for referee Shaun Messer to intervene.

Also on this Black Country Boxing promotion, Northampton’s Nathan Reeve handed Nicaragua’s Elvis Guillen something of a battering. Reeve’s incessant pressure finally reaped its reward in the sixth and final session, when a telling right uppercut dropped Guillen to his knees. Mr Messer scored 60-54 from ringside for trial ref Chris Dean.

The same Messer-dean combo were in operation for one sixrounder and a quartet of fours in which the visitors failed to accrue a single session. The six between Rowley Regis’ Tyler Denny and Middleton’s tough Darryl Sharp

proved fine fare. It ended 60-54 to Denny. Elsewhere, the first of the fours saw local Levi Ferguson

triumph 40-36 over Driffield’s Danny Little, who was sent to his knees by the last shot of the penultimate round.

Tipton’s returning Lee Glover

enjoyed a trouble-free 40-36 win over Telford’s Dean Jones, while Stoke’s Cole Johnson looked sharp in beating Nicaraguan Reynaldo Cajina by the same scoreline.

Ludlow’s jabbing Craig Morris

had an easy night despite conceding weight to Sheffield’s still-winless Karim Khan. There was a matching 40-36 win – in a bout refereed by Mr Messer – for Wolverhampton’s Conah Walker over Stourbridge stalwart Kevin Mccauley.

THE VERDICT Happy Walsall fight fans need wait only until December 22 for their next show.