Pleasure and the pain for Magnificent Seven boxers

Derek Chisora enters the ring

It was a night of pleasure and pain for the fighters performing on Frank Warren‘s Magnificent Seven boxing show on Saturday night at the Birmingham LG Arena.

This fight was a rematch after the pair met back in June 2008, Chisora now 14-0 (9 KO’s) stopped Sexton back then too in round six. This fight was a much better scrap with honours now being on the line and the joint champions treated the fans to splendid fight.

Norwich man Sexton who drops to 13-2 (6 KO’s) put on a good showing and took everything Chisora had to give him without going down, but Chisora proved a class above in every department and if referee John Keane had not stepped in when he did maybe Sexton would have sank to the canvas with the sheer intensity of ‘Del Boys’ attack, who now is unbeaten in 14 fights, winning 9 by KO is looking to move a level up as he looks towards his dream of winning the world title.

Math’s graduate Nathan Cleverly had all angles covered keeping intact his unbeaten record with an impressive punch perfect display of intense accurate boxing, before stopping German Karo Murat the 10th round of their WBO light-heavyweight world-title eliminator.

The unbeaten Kell Brook retained his WBO intercontinental welterweight title with a fifth-round win over Chorley’s Michael Jennings in a war of the roses battle of Yorkshire vs Lancashire in the Midlands.
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Brook from Sheffield landed a slashing left uppercut which opened a serious cut around Jennings’ left eye, almost instantly seeing how bad the cut was, referee Terry O’Connor summoned the contest over, it was an unfortunate end to the fight for Jennings who was doing well up to that point.
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Brook (right) will hope this fight can ignite his career and if he is to fill the potential star slot that British boxing experts are bestowing on him, including former world featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, who came out of the same Sheffield gym and was at ringside heaping his praises on his fellow Yorkshire man.
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The fight was also an eliminator for the WBO title world title that is currently owned by pound-for-pound world superstar Manny Pacquiao, although a fight with the ‘Pac-Man’ doesn’t look like taking place anytime soon, a rematch with the unlucky Jennings could be a possibility. 
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James DeGale earned himself a shot at the British super-middleweight title held by Liverpool’s Paul Smith, by stopping another Scouser Carl Dilks in the first round.

Matthew Macklin

Matthew Macklin fighting on his Birmingham home soil, retained the European middleweight championship that he didn’t lose in the ring, when Georgia’s Shalva Jomardashvili quit at the start of the sixth round in this vacant title clash.

“I don’t fear anyone in this division, the better the opponents are the better I perform” added Macklin who extends his record to 27-2 (19 KO’s).

IBF champion Sebastian Sylvester’s name was mentioned as a possible opponent, for Macklin  and if a fight is made for the world title then Macklin would jump at the chance, but the fight with Barker is the one the British Fans hope can be re-arranged..
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Enzo Maccarinelli was brutally knocked unconscious by unbeaten Ukrainian Alexander Frenkel in the 7th round of their European cruiserweight title fight.

Maccarinelli, the European and former world cruiserweight champion, came to his fight against the unbeaten German prospect Alexander Frenkel with three first-round wins in his last three fights, after coming off two stoppages defeats. Since his loss to David Haye Maccarinelli was never the same fighter and was immediately wobbled by a right hand in this fight.
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Maccarinelli had wobbled Frenkel with a right hand in the fourth round and also put him down in the fifth only for referee Meronen to rule it a slip.

The Welshman up to the knockout had held his own in the fight  giving Frenkel work to do and not making things easy for the German who had stopped 17 of 22 opponents, Maccarinelli though had to ship some big shots non more devastating than the poleaxe of a left hook in round seven that pivoted Big Macs head around and dropped him on his back.

With the power and leverage put into the shot and the way he fell, it looked Maccarinelli wouldn’t get up, but he groggily rose to his feet, the fight should arguably been called off there and then by Finnish referee Erkki Meronen, but he gave the Welshman the benefit of the doubt and waved the fight on.

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Maccarinelli was defenceless to what followed and a barrage of shots ending in a sickening left hook bounced off the exposed jaw of a disorientated Swansea man, who was layed out cold for many agonising minutes, while ringside doctors treated him with oxygen in the ring.

Maccarinelli was able to come around and leave the ring by himself which looks like being the last time he will do so after this painful heavy defeat.

It looks like that is the end of the road for Hall, when he said afterwards at ringside: “If I cant fight at that level, then I’m not as good as I thought I was.. and I’m done now, I’m retired.”

Frankie Gavin (8-0) stopped Michael Kelly (8-2-1) when the referee called a halt to the contest in the 5th round, winning the Irish light welterweight title and becoming the first man to stop Kelly.

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