Birmingham’s Sean Davis (8st 9lbs) was set to face Gamal Yafai at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena tonight, but, unfortunately, the Champ injured his ankle and was ruled out of the contest.
Davis instead faced Chester’s Paul Econmides (8st 9lbs 11oz) for the WBC International Super Bantamweight title.
There was no sign of a ‘feeling out process’ in the first round and both men were keen to stand in the pocket and trade leather.
A cut was opened up at the top of Davis’s head at the end of the second round but the corner team did a good job and no blood appeared to be troubling Davis, 26, come the third. Davis appeared to be the stronger man, despite being slightly smaller and was able to spin his opponent and then wheel himself out when pressed into the corner, ensuring he didn’t take too much damage.
He also appeared to be landing the more hurtful shots and a cut was opened on the eye of Econmides, 29, in round four. Beckoned on by his legion of fans, Davis appeared to be the fresher fighter going into the second half of the fight, this could be partially due to the fact that Econmides actually boxed in a contest last weekend.
The seventh round was probably the best round yet for Econmides as he was finally able to get Davis pressed against the ropes for a more sustained period of time and was able to land some clean shots.
Davis held strong and landed some shots of his own, with both fighters showing solid poker faces and looking largely untroubled with the oppositions work. Economides appeared to find a second wind in the later rounds and had more success in being the fighter on the front foot.
It almost appeared as if the fighters were just taking it in turns to be the aggressor and throw the bigger shots. Both men came out to lay it all on the line in the final round.
They set a ferocious pace from the 12th round bell and traded together for the last three minutes. With neither man ready to give in, we went to the judges scorecards. The fight was scored 96-94 from all three judges. Sean ‘Showtime’ Davis (11-0, no KOs) got the nod in the end, but Economides (20-6, 4 early) played his part in an engaging contest.
