POCKET WARRIORS

Andy Whittle sees Ahmed dig deep to see off gritty battler Blackshaw

I’VE long held the opinion that little comes close to the passion engendered by an Area title clash. This one at the Holiday Inn for the vacant Midlands Area flyweight title between Brummie Ijaz Ahmed and Derby’s Conar

Blackshaw certainly lived up to expectations. Just two points separated the pair of pocket warriors on referee Shaun Messer’s scorecard at the finish. Ahmed took the verdict 97-95 thanks to an impressive closing couple of rounds. Before then it had been difficult to split the pair, the advantage swinging from one to the other with almost every passing round in what proved to be an absolute cracker.

Also on this Black Country Boxing bill, Wolverhampton-based Pole Damian Kiwior came unstuck for the first time. Preston’s experienced Chris Jenkinson floored Kiwior late in the second session of what went on to be a great scrap. The knockdown proved the difference and saw Jenkinson home by a margin of 57-56.

It must have been a quiet afternoon in Telford as seemingly half of the town had journeyed to Birmingham to cheer on firsttimer Liam Davies, who duly rewarded them for their support by claiming a 40-36 victory over bearded Georgian Khvicha

Gigolashvili. The score, however, fails to reflect how close much of the contest was. Gigolashvili certainly came to fight, before ultimately coming up short, having had his nose bloodied along the way.

Another fight finished 40-36, with Birmingham’ s former English super bantamweight champ Sean Davis–now tipping the scales a little over the lightweight limit–proving too much for always entertaining Worcester trier Michael

Mooney. Mr Messer scored from ringside for trialist referee Chris Dean, as was the case with all three undercard bouts.