BENNETT IS A JOLLY BOY

On Wood’s festive show, Mcguire loses for the second time in just over a week

WHILE the Manchester version of the ‘Jolly Boys’ pre-christmas show has become an established part of the boxing calendar, the Liverpool version, served up by alwaysgrafting promoter Steve Wood, is a much more recent addition. This year, the fare at the Devonshire House Hotel was made up of three contests – one scheduled for six rounds, which didn’t run its allotted course, and two slated for four, which did. All three bouts were overseen by referee Mark Lyson. The bill-topper pitched Liverpudlian

Nathan Bennett in against Glasgow’s stillwinless Gary Mcguire, who after over three-and-a-half years on the sidelines, had returned to the squared circle just a couple of miles away at the Olympia the previous week. Mcguire made it to the finish in that comeback bout against Isle of Man first-timer Matthew Rennie, but there was to be no repetition here. A retirement at the halfway stage after being dropped and hurt to the body put paid to any hopes of an early festive celebration for Mcguire.

Liverpool’s Ged Carroll had been a relatively late addition to the show after the regulation chopping and changing. He quickly got into his stride and encountered few problems in registering victory number nine against Sudan-born Mohamed Mahmoud, who had made the long trek from Plymouth. Mr Lyson scored Carroll a clear 40-36 winner, the only downside for Ged being that a clash of heads in the third left him with a cut to the right eyebrow. The remaining contest saw local debutant

Wes Mcsween, previously an amateur with the St Aloysius and Huyton clubs, having to deal with a late change of opponent. Conceding a fair bit of weight, Mcsween secured a 40-37 success over Hull-based Lithuanian Zygimantas Butkevicius.