Promoter Dave Thompson again had to cope with pre-tournament problems, this time having to withdraw six of his boxers from pre-arranged bouts because their opponents either didn’t travel or withdrew beforehand, protesting about the number of rounds they were expected to box.
Even so, the contest itself was a credit to the sport.The evening’s entertainment began with junior lightweight Tommy Noel taking on Gavin Blakesley from Priority Park ABC.
As a curtain-raiser it was a crisp, even contest, for both boxers picked their punches well, and although the Leonis man took up the pace in the second round and scored with lefts and fast rights to the head and body, his Birmingham opponent had a solid left-hand lead and a long right follow-through which earned him points throughout the bout.In the last round Noel kept coming forward with combinations to head and body, but by a majority decision the bout went to the Birmingham youngster.Ruben Legge then came into the ring to take on Ryan Cavel of the Windmill ABC.
This was the first contest for the Jersey boxer, who took the fight to his opponent from the opening bell.Despite Cavel’s early aggression as he tried to pin his opponent down, Legge showed good boxing ability as he picked off his opponent with left leads followed by a mixture of lefts and rights which earned him points and, in the end, a unanimous decision.Bout three was to be another win for Jersey when Pisces’ James Manners came up against Birmingham’s Amir Nadir.
From the start the two men boxed toe to toe and the result could have gone either way before the Pisces man forced two standing eight counts towards the end of the contest following some hard rights to Nadir’s head.In fact, so hard was the Jerseyman hitting that the referee stopped the contest in the third round and awarded the win to Manners, to his obvious delight.The score was now 2-1 to Leonis, with teenage lightweight Joe Rogerson about to enter the ring.
His opponent was Abid Nadeem from Nechells ABC.
From the bell the Birmingham man came out throwing big right hands, but Rogerson was wise to them and moved smartly out of range, weathering the attacks before firing back with lefts and rights of his own.
A stiff left jab stopped Nadeem in his tracks, earning him a standing eight count from the referee, and after that there was only one fighter in it as Rogerson chased his opponent into a neutral corner and scored with lefts and rights before a fast left hook on the side of the head dropped the Nechells boxer hard to the canvas.It was only round two, but the visitors’ corner threw in the towel.Although in the ascendancy, Leonis hadn’t yet put this contest beyond doubt and the next bout was again a tester for two lightweight boxers.Leonis’s Ollie Power and Jonathan Peplow of Birmingham Irish took time to find each other’s range, but in a bout of contrasting styles Power’s left jab and right over the top were complemented by Peplow’s quick right hand and his many attempts to land a big punch to end the bout.Power’s footwork and neat style of boxing were impressive, but the bout was awarded to the Birmingham boxer by the closest majority decision.So Birmingham were clawing their way back into the contest, before welterweights Danny Maka from Leonis and Darren Gethin from Wednesbury ABC climbed into the ring.This turned out to be one of the top bouts of the night as Gethin tried to get in close, in contrast to Maka’s choice of scoring with fast long lefts and rights which surprised the Englishman.
Although Gethin scored with some good hooks in close, Maka’s speed of hand gave his opponent more problems than he would have been prepared to admit, and it was no surprise to the crowd that the Island boxer was judged the winner by all three judges.In bout seven, with Leonis now clearly in the ascendancy, welterweight Craig Le Boutillier took on the powerfully built Delroy Mitchell from Small Heath ABC.
While Le Boutillier was scoring with fast lefts and rights and forcing Mitchell back towards the ropes, Mitchell was forcing the tempo whenever he could, even though at one stage he was trapped in a neutral corner and was hit by five fast right uppercuts delivered to his body without reply.Until the last round the Leonis fighter seemed to be on top, but he made the mistake of going forward on to the Birmingham man’s southpaw countering, which caused him to lose on the closest majority decision.Leonis were still out in front, however, and went on to ensure the win after Sean Durkin’s bout against a hard-hitting veteran of 75 fights, Martin Gethin of Wednesbury ABC.
Having seen his brother lose to Danny Maka, it was obvious that he wanted to avenge that earlier defeat, while the crowd were also keen to see one of the most keenly anticipated bouts of the night.However, right from the opening, Durkin’s long left and hard rights caused all sorts of problems to the Midlander, who found it difficult to get in shots of his own against Durkin’s stinging left jab.Only in the fourth and last round did Gethin start to score with hard punches of his own, by which stage it was far too late.
Durkin’s blows to the ribs had hurt the Birmingham man and the judges were unanimous in awarding the contest to the Jersey boxer.Leonis had, with one bout to come, won the overall contest.
However, there was still the matter of two welterweights to sort out, with southpaw Paul Young taking on Javed Quam from Birmingham City.In the first round it became apparent that both boxers could take a good punch.
Of the two, however, Young proved to be more aggressive, landing on target with a good straight right jab and then following through with a hard left, first to the body and then to the head.Following a powerful left hook to the side of Quam’s head, referee Mike Sullivan then had to give a public warning as Quam held on.
In the last round Young was caught by a bone-shaking hard right, but he hung on to take the points decision.Leonis had again proved their ability by winning by six bouts to three.
As a contest it had been well worth the admission fee, but as Thompson said afterwards: ‘It was sporting and good-quality, but light-flyweight Ricky Pryor, Les Bulpin, Shaun Irving, Joey Magrath, Pisces’ Jeremy Fitton and super-heavyweight Dave Lund were all disappointed not to have a contestant to fight against.’On 24 April Leonis take on a Sussex Select, again at the Royal.
Let’s hope all goes well and they are given the bouts they need, against class opposition.’Jersey Leonis are sponsored by Royal Liver Assurance.
