SIX OF THE BEST
Home wins the order of the day in Stoke, writes Jane Warburton from ringside
THE first of two shows at the Kings Hall within the space of just six days was this Carl Greaves offering comprising a couple of six-rounders and a quartet of fours.
The bill was topped by unbeaten Meir lightweight Liam Berrisford. In his first bout over six, and despite having to contend with a late change of opponent in the shape of Blackburn puncher
Naheem Chaudhry, he controlled proceedings sufficiently to secure a 60-54 victory with Kevin Parker scoring from ringside for trialist Chris Dean.
Hanley super-middle Jamal Le Doux didn’t have things all his own way early on in his six against Portsmouth-based Nigerian Eric Nwankwo who, while appearing a touch clumsy at times, was dangerous all the same.
It was only in the later rounds that Jamal, having weathered a decent Nwankwo spell in the fourth, came to the fore. After catching the African with a barrage in the fifth he duly forced the intervention of Mr Parker with just 19 seconds of the bout remaining, a burst to the head doing the trick.
Newark referee Parker had a frustrating time with James Biddulph (of Biddulph, Staffs) and Sheffield’s Qasim Hussain, both being warned several times to tidy it up after a little too much goading and showboating before the sharper Biddulph got the nod 39-37.
The Dean-parker pairing was in operation for the remaining fours, the first of which saw Wrexham’s Aron Canning overcome fired-up Derby’s cruiser Elvis
Dube 39-37 while there were 40-36 shut-out wins for popular Ollerton welter
Ben Eland and Chasetown’s Luke Jones, who came out on top in respective bouts against Newark’s Fonz Alexander and Brummie Waqas Mohammed.
There was a well-observed 10 bells salute for former Stoke middleweight Larry Parkes who had passed away a week earlier aged 88. In a career spanning the years 1952-54 Larry won 17 of the 21 contests in which he was involved.
THE VERDICT Potteries fight fans won’t have to wait long for another fistic helping.