30th June 2012

John Simpson
Boxing was back The famous
Kelvin Hall in Glasgow last night as the close to capacity crowd came to
see if Paul Appleby and John Simpson would serve up another war
following on from their epic British Title fight in 2008. Add to that
the return of Scotland’s bad boy former 2 time WBO 126lb champ Scott
Harrison
making his long awaited comeback after 6 in a half years out of
the ring.
The
Appleby-Simpson fight was the main even though. The Celtic Super-Feather
Title
was up for grabs , Appleby (9st 4lbs) was making his first
defence since winning the belt in March vs Stephen Ormond.

The champion
from South Queensferry took a razor this decision from Simpson in June
08 , THIS fight was to be a hell of alot different for the now fading 24
year old. Simpson (9st 3 3/4 lbs) looked in tremendous shape , his
large and loud following from Greenock certainly added to the growing
atmosphere as the 2 fighters started where they left off , Toe to toe
from the first bell.
It only
took less than a minute for Appleby’s face to become reddened by
perfectly picked combinations from Simpson , the uppercut being the main
weapon as he was able to catch the Champion coming in. The pace was
ferocious , Appleby had his successes too as he was able to land some
decent left hooks to the body followed by the odd straight right hand.
The second round saw the pace go even faster as Simpson rocked Appleby
with a left hook early after another blistering combination. The third
was closer though as the Champion began to march through the attacks
from Simpson , again the body shots being Appleby’s best punches. I gave
Appleby this round on sheer determination alone even though he was
still being caught with a lot of punches, HE simply just marched
through them to land of more his own.
The
difference in this fight was the Greenock’s fighters defence , with a
high guard he was able to see what Appleby throwing at him whilst
countering with the straight right. Simpson began to angle his body to
get more leverage into his punches thus leaving Appleby with a bloody
nose. Another big round for Simpson. In the 5th Appleby was having a
good round until he walked into another perfectly planted uppercut,
this slowed Appleby down and for the first time the fight looked like it
certainly wouldn’t go the distance. If you
want to know what a face first fighter is then Appleby is your guy ,
there is no doubt the guy has heart but at 24 he looks a faded force
after far too many hard fights at domestic level.
As the 6th round began
Appleby again to his credit kept marching forward. Simpson though kept
calm and midway through the round he timed the on-rushing Appleby with a
hard counter right. Down went the champion. Referee Howard Foster began
his count, Appleby somehow made it up and was ready to go again. The
end was near though as a massive clubbing right hand sent Appleby to the
ground face first for the second knockdown of the fight, Howard Foster
didn’t even count as it was a heavy knockdown , Simpson had gained
revenge as his fans went mad in the background , the time of stoppage
was 2.25 of the 6th round. Simpson can now move on with his career at
130lbs although its very hard to see where young Paul Appleby goes from
here , A long long rest anyway. Judges for this fight was Victor
Loughlin , Ritchie Davies and Phil Edwards. 
Harrison in his heyday
The
main support bout on this Boxnation show was the return of the “Real
McCoy” Scott Harrison
who was participating in his first fight since Guy
Fawkes night way back in 2005. His opponent , late replacement Gyorgy
Mizsei form Budapest Hungary was only 18 years of age but was unbeaten
in 7 previous fights (3ko’s). Harrison looked all business as he made
his way to the ring , black robe , black shorts and the trademark scowl
from his heyday was back. The reception Harrison got from the Glasgow
fights fans was electric many coming to see if the former World Champion
had anything left to give after being out so long.
Harrison
34 began the fight fast chasing his younger opponent around the ring.
The former champions footwork looked excellent as he was able to trap
Mizsei (9st 8 1/2lbs) on the ropes landing fast hard combinations. It
was a fast pace probably faster than many expected , Harrison though
looked in great shape and fighting at lightweight (9st 8 3/4 lbs) he
seems to be a bit faster in both the hand and foot department.
The 2nd
round was nearly the finisher for Harrison as his pressure was telling
on his Hungarian opponent. A hard left to the body floored the visitor
for the first knockdown of the fight. Referee Victor Loughlin gave
Mizsei the 8 count but it wasn’t long before another barrage of punches
had Mizsei down again. The left hook to the body was the punch that was
doing all the damage. Ref Loughlin took a long look at the Hungarian but
allowed him to fight on Mizsei though was met with more fury from
Harrison who was fighting like a man possessed. Another big left hook to
the body floored Mizsei for the 3rd time but again he got up , took his
8 count and fought on. Tough kid.
At this
stage the Glasgow crowd was going wild , i reckon the arena was about
90% full although the noise would match any Old Firm game up here. The
3rd saw Harrison continue with his assault , Mizsei was in full retreat
mode as he began to run around ring. Round 3 was probably the quietest
of the bout although Harrison was beginning to show his array of punches
when he trapped Mizsei on the ropes.
Round 4
finally saw the Glaswegian catch up with his opponent as again Harrison
chased Mizsei to the ropes battering away at the body and landing some
impressive uppercuts. The end came at 1.30 when a clubbing right hand
knocked down Mizsei for the 4th time. This time Referee Victor Loughlin
waved the fight over Mizsei was on his feet but the 18 year old was
taking a huge beating. Good Call by the ref.
Harrison
looked good last night , he cut down the ring well , punched well in
combination and fought at a sharp pace with an incredible sustained body
attack. In his interview Scott says he wants a world title? , on this
performance he looks not that far away although id like to see him in
with a good European class fighter to see if he has it against a better
caliber of opposition. So far so good though , The Real McCoy is BACK. 
On
the Televised Alex Morrison promoted under card Edinburgh’s Gary
McMillan
(11st 3 3/4lbs) scored a 6 rounds points win vs experienced
West Midlander Kevin McCauley ( 11st 3lbs) in a light middleweight
contest. After a slow first round McMillan 14-3-1 3ko’s exploded a big
overhand left to floor his opponent in the 2nd round. From then on it
was all one way traffic as McCauley began to back off. The Edinburgh
fighter went for the KO in the last round but had to be happy with a 6
round decision from Referee Kenny Pringle who scored the fight 60-53 in
McMillans favor.
Barlonock’s
Michael Roberts ( 9st 8lbs) provided the 2nd TV fight for the viewers
on Boxnation as he pounded out a 4 round win over late replacement Craig
Johnson
(9st 4lbs) from Chesterfield. Johnson was better than his 9-4
record suggested as his crude attacks were make unbeaten Roberts 8-0
think probably more than his 8 previous fights. These were 2 well
matched fighters although Roberts cleaner counter punches were winning
the rounds on my card. An Accidental use of the elbow cut Johnson in the
2nd , Roberts took this round with some nice hard shots to the body.
The 3rd and 4th followed the same path with Johnson trying hard to ruff
up Roberts , the Barlonock man though boxed nicely timing some beautiful
1-2s along with uppercuts on the inside. After 4 Roberts was proclaimed
the winner 39-37 on Victor Loughlin’s card.
Billy
Nelson
trained Cruiserweight Steven Simmons ( 14st 4lbs) from Edinburgh
upped his record to 5-0 2 ko’s with a laboured points win against
Latvian Jevgenijs Andrejevs (13 st 5lbs). With near a stone in weight
advantage Simmons bullied his Latvian opponent around the ring for 6
rounds landing numerous body and head shots that surely would have
knocked out weaker men. Andrejevs lost for the 47th time against 6 wins
but has only been stopped 3 times. Simmons needs to be more active as
this was his first fight since being on the Ricky Burns world title bill
on March 1oth. Referee Victor Loughlin scored this bout 60-54 Simmons.
Nice guy
John Thain
(11st 5 1/2lbs) showed his flashy skills to defeat former
Midlands Area Champion Tony Rendell of Birmingham over 6×3 min rounds in
a light middleweight contest. With a decent following coming across
from Edinburgh, Thain began the fight fast showing his superior speed
and movement. Thain’s jab was his most productive weapon as he speared
Randell (11st 7lbs) at will before bring in a couple of nice left hooks
to the body late in the round.
The talent is there for Thain but the
power is something he will need to work on as he landed flush with some
cracking right hands in round 2 and 3. Randell tried to come forward
more i the later rounds obviously the lack of power from Thain a factor
but he found the youngster elusive as Thain showed some nice footwork
and upper body movement. Rounds 5 and 6 were all Thain as he peppered
the tiring Randell with multiple jabs and right crosses. There was only
to be one winner and nobody was surprised at Referee Kenny Pringles
scorecard of 59-55 for Thain who improved his record to 7-0 with 1ko.
The
opening bout of this Alex Morrison 10 fight card saw Glasgow’s Hugh Gray
make his professional debut against the experienced Billy Smith from
Worcester in a 4×3 light welterweight contest. Gray (10st 3lbs) was the
aggressor from the start as he pushed back his well travelled opponent.
Smith (10st 6lbs) is on a losing streak of 11 fights tried hard to get
into the fight but found the debutant’s right cross far to good and
constant for him.
By the 3rd round there wasn’t much coming back as Gray
was bashing away at Smith on the ropes with Referee Victor Loughlin
taking a close look at Smith. Gray went all out in the last going for
the knockout but soon backed off for 20 seconds when Smith caught the
youngster with a wide left hook when he was boring in. After 4 rounds
Gray was the clear winner with Victor Loughlin scoring 40-36 to give
Gray his first win as a pro.
Ryan
Collins
from Irvine now 2-0 narrowly got past London fighter Dan Nayor
over 4×3 min rounds at Super Feather. The 18 year old Collins (9st 6
3/4lbs) still has loads to learn as he was caught far many times by
Naylor (9st 6 3/4lbs) as he rushed in. Collins sheer work rate won it
for him but it was close on Referee Kenny Pringles card with Collins
winning by a single point 39-38
In the 2nd last fight of the night Jon
Slowey
(9st 3lbs) improved his record to 10-0 0 ko’s with a convincing
win over Slovakian import Elemir Rafael over 4×3 min round at
featherweight. Rafael lost for the 60th time but put up a brave fight
against the more gifted Slowey. The Glaswegian southpaw dominated from
start to finish cruising home with a 40-36 scoreline from Referee Kenny
Pringle.
The show
closer saw Sammy Hill (10st 5 1/2lbs) defeat Tottenham’s Mark McKray
(10st 1 1/4lbs) over 4×3 at welterweight. Cheered on by a huge following
that stayed on late to watch him fight , the Symington man came through
a shaky start where he got marked around the right eye to dominate his
older opponent. Hill’s pressure stated to have an effect in the 2nd and
3rd rounds as his precise body attack began to wear down McKray. In the
4th Hill than began to land some big right hands but by then the fight
was a forgone conclusion as he ran out a well deserved winner 40-36 on
Kenny Pringles card.
By Bobby Hunter

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