Fighting Pride Hull
The monks who founded Hull in the 12th Century would have been turning in their grave viewing the rap freestyles and colourful street talk face-offs between Curtis Woodhouse and Darren Hamilton.
The only monk who would have endorsed that particular type of behaviour is the character played by Jason Statham in the movie “Mean Machine”
I was surprised firstly at how good the fights ended up being, the Tommy Coyle v Daniel Brizuela one for example exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Gavin McDonnell won the British Super-Bantamweight against Leigh Wood by a 6th round stoppage.
McDonnell, twin brother of Jamie the former IBF World Champion weathered a storm in the first half of the fight.
I had Wood winning comfortably before the ref intervened after a flurry of unanswered punches descended on him from McDonnell.
By securing the Lonsdale belt, Gavin and Jamie made British Boxing history by becoming the first twins to win it.
Luke Campbell displayed maturity in his 8 round stoppage against a resilient Scott Moises to take his record to 5-0.
Campbell got some much needed rounds in the bank and adopted a patient approach in breaking Moises down.
Credit to Moises who absorbed the kitchen-sink that Campbell threw at him; I didn’t expect a stoppage but credit to the 26 yr old, he became the 1st man to stop the Norfolk native in his career.
Curtis Woodhouse delivered on a promise he made to his late father by winning the British Light-Welter belt against Darren Hamilton.
Woodhouse a former professional footballer won on points to spark an emotional dedication of the victory to his father.
I felt Hamilton had done enough to edge it, despite Woodhouse arguably winning the late rounds.
But you couldn’t begrudge Woodhouse the victory and I will be surprised if he decides to continue as he should retire on a high.
He would admit himself that he has no aspirations to compete at European or indeed World Level.
Trained by Adam Booth and his team prior to the fight, their input in to preparation and giving Woodhouse that extra boost between rounds can’t be overlooked.
Even for Booth, who has won world titles with David Haye in 2 weight divisions, this will rank high on his CV.
Credit to Hamilton and manager Spencer Fearon, they displayed humility in defeat; I have no doubt that Hamilton will come again and perhaps reclaim the Lonsdale belt should Woodhouse retire.
Tommy “Boom Boom” Coyle defeated Daniel Brizuela in a pulsating fight that saw 8 knockdowns and 3 point deductions in total.
Coyle was stunned in the 2nd when he was caught with a right hand and hit the deck.
The 24 yr old was knocked down in the 6th with a sickening body shot that I was amazed he managed to get up from.
Boom Boom knocked down the Argentine in the 8th with a right to go ahead on the cards for the first time in the fight.
Both fighters were penalised in the 8th and 9th respectively for low blows.
The 11th round wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Rocky movie. Brizuela twice chopped Coyle down with vicious body shots, exploiting a clear chink in his armour.
The man from Hull on the 2nd knockdown took an 8 count and proceeded to walk straight over to the Argentine and lamp him with a huge right. Brizuela was sent sprawling to the canvas in my favourite moment of the fight.
In to the final round which you never wanted to end, Coyle retained his IBF International Lightweight title by throwing yet another right that dropped Brizuela. On this occasion the ref intervened to halt the fight to cue rapturous applause for Boom Boom.
In the post fight interview, when most men would attempting to catch their breath, Coyle spoke about aspirations of fighting Kevin Mitchell on the Froch Groves 2 undercard.
Whilst I think it would be a great fight, I feel that Kevin Mitchell is a level above Coyle at this stage.
Mitchell has looked superb of late since rejoining Tony Sims and I believe he would stop Coyle well within the distance.
Man of Steel – Glasgow
This Saturday sees the return of WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns against Terence Crawford after his broken jaw injury.
Burns who wrongly retained his belt against Raymond Beltran in September 2013 on points, has plenty to prove to his doubters after two poor displays of late.
The Rickster is relishing being the underdog in this bout against hot-favourite American Crawford who has been billed as future star of Top Rank’s stable.
“I’ve been made out to be the underdog in some of those other big fights as well. It’s just taken more pressure off me,” he told Sky Sports.
“Obviously fighting at home in front of 10,000 fans, that’s big enough as it is.
“I always try and put that in the back of my mind. I know things are going well in the gym so I’m just hoping to go out there and put on a good performance because I’m due one, especially after the last couple of fights.”
Credit to Burns for acknowledging that he is well over-due a big performance and I make comparisons to historical fights from ghosts of boxing past.
I view this fight as a Benn v McClellan, Calzaghe v Lacy and Froch v Bute moment for the Scot.
He has the backing of 10,000 passionate crowd and needs to blast Crawford away in emphatic fashion to make the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
The Glasgow crowd need to create an intimidating and volatile environment to give Burns a psychological edge from the outset.
I have seen 2 of Crawford’s fights and he is a tricky customer, he has the tools to make it a very difficult night for Rickster. It should make for compelling viewing.
With a stacked undercard supporting it should be yet another great night for British boxing.
- Anthony Joshua MBE v Hector Avila
- John Murray v John Simpson
- Scotty Cardle v Paul Appleby
- David Brophy v Jamie Ambler
- Anthony Ogogo v Gary O’Neill
- Michael Roberts v Romain Peker
- Martin J. Ward v Craig Woodruff
- Ryan Smith v Ibrar Riyaz
- Ryan Collins v Mariusz Bak
- Scott Allan v Francis Croes
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