Nico stays cool in his first fight to beat local hero
SENIOR boxer Neacsu ‘Nico’ Nicusor travelled to the Holiday Inn, Bolton on Sunday to compete in his first competitive bout for Hamer Amatuer Boxing Club when he took up the challenge of local favourite Greg McGuinness of Halliwell ABC.
The contest was the last bout of a fourteen fight programme and a big cheer thundered throughout the room when McGuinness stepped into the ring.
Considering that it was his first ever bout, Nico, 21, stayed cool throughout the introductions and when the first bell sounded to start the round he immediately began to show his intentions when he stormed out to take the fight to McGuinness.
The crowd fell silent as Nico threw powerful ‘I wondered if the occasion would be too much for him, but he was terrific in his approach and his work-rate’ hooks that continually connected to both the body and head of McGuinness. The Halliwell boxer pushed forward looking to return punches of his own but he was continually overwhelmed by the accumulation of shots the Hamer boxer was throwing at him.
With the crowd by now completely silenced Nico came out for the second round and continued to land crunching blows to the head and body, while McGuinness tried to fight back.
Nico was in full flow by now and used clever footwork to swivel to his opponents side so that he could land stunning punches to the Halliwell boxer’s body.
McGuinness showed great determination to continue to press forward, but he began to lower his head and was warned by the referee to keep it up.
It was good advice from the referee but McGuinness chose to ignore it and he was met by a sweat uppercut that jolted his head back every time he lowered his head.
Both boxers were tired going into the third and last round, yet it was still non stop action.
The Hamer coach Steven Connellan told Nico to attempt to keep the bout at distance to conserve his energy and at the start of the round Nico tried to punch at long range and he landed straight one-two punch combinations to the head as McGuinness moved in.
McGuinness never took a backward step throughout the fight and he made the Hamer boxer work for every second but McGuinness couldn’t match the Hamer boxer’s speed and it was Nico who had his arm raised in victory as he gained a unanimous decision.
Hamer coach Frank Maddocks said: “I was a little concerned going into this fight. I overheard the Halliwell coach telling McGuinness to use his power, so I expected fireworks from the local lad. It was Nico’s first fight and I wondered if the occasion would be too much for him and when I heard the roar from the crowd as McGuinness entered the ring I thought it would get to Nico, but he was terrific in his approach and his temperament and work-rate was spot on.”