Report on last nights boxing in Manchester

taken from http://www.thecornerstool.co.uk

Written by Danny Hill

Photo’s by Danny Hill (link to all photos to be added midweek)

Last nights challenge for the WBA interim junior featherweight title between Scott Quigg and Rendall Munroe ended in anti-climax as a cut to the head of Munroe forced a technical draw. Both fighters were left dejected as an accidental clash of heads in the 3rd round caused a nasty gash right across the right eyebrow of Munroe, referee Howard Foster wasted no time in getting the doctor to have a look and it was obvious immediately that the fight couldn’t continue.

The ruling that came in last year states that any fight stopped for cuts in the first four rounds is classed as a technical draw or no contest.

The outcome was also disappointing for the fans who had turned out to the Hatton Promoted show at the Manchester Velodrome and had been waiting in anticipation for the bout. The fight had started at a good tempo and looked as though it could be a good, steady battle later on. Both Quigg (now 24-0-1) and Munroe (now 24-2-1) had success in the first 2 rounds, Munroe looked to have had slightly more success in the first with Quigg then looking better in the second but there was little between them. Both displayed the clean, tidy boxing that has placed them 1st and 2nd in the British rankings.

A rematch will now be imminent depending on the length of time it takes for Munroe’s eye to heal. Quigg may be forced to have another fight prior to this to keep himself active.

The Manchester bill also saw Sheffield veteran Ryan Rhodes (46-6-0) succombe to the power of 26 year old Belarussian Sergey Rabchenko who stretched his unbeaten run to 21 fights. There had been controversy in the build up to the fight with Hatton choosing to train Rabchenko for this challenge for the vacant EBU European Light Middleweight title despite promoting both fighters.

The fight started well with both fighters having success in the 1st round exchanges as they settled in to the fight. The second round then saw Rhodes rock Rabchenko with a left that stunned the Belarussian and caused him to wobble for a moment. He then came back with some strong punches himself to stop Rhodes from making any lasting damage.

As the fight progressed it was the impressive power shots from Rabchenko that were having the most impact and bruising to the face of Rhodes became visible. Rabchenko started to get through the defence of Rhodes with more regularity and it was a devastating body shot from Rabchenko in the 7th that put the title fight to bed. Rhodes left his body open whilst going to the head of Rabchenko and the crippling blow from Rabchenko left Rhodes down, winded and unable to get up in time to beat the count. It will be interesting to see where Rhodes goes from here as there is still a lot of talent, but at 35 years old it would appear his best days are behind him. Rabchenko on the other hand will have lots of doors opening although he still has a lot to learn before he could make any sort of impact at world level but the foundations are there.

The 11 fight bill also saw Martin Murray return to the ring for the first time since his draw with Felix Sturm, where he challenged for the WBA Super World Middlewight title. Murray (23-0-1) was taking on the French title holder Karim Achour (13-3-2) in a fight that looked to have been arranged to keep Murray active. Murray appeared to be happy to get some rounds in and despite some bursts of energy from the lively frenchman he didn’t look in any danger. Referee Steve Gray scored the fight 98 -93 in the 10 round affair.

The fight of the night saw another frenchman in Gregory Tony (17-2-0) who took on Sheffield heavyweight Richard Towers (13-0-0). There was nothing cagey about this contest as both men were willing to exchange punches and see who was the first to fall. The 6ft 8 inch frame of Towers caused problems early for Tony who took a knee in the second after a thunderous shot from Towers stunned him momentarily. Tony then fought back in the following rounds to this and at one stage it looked like the referee may be forced to step in and end it after the frenchman unleashed a flurry of punches after getting Towers in the corner. Towers was really struggling and his brain and legs weren’t in sync with each other at all as he struggled to stay vertical. The Sheffield fighter did well to stay up although at one point it was only the ropes that were stopping his body from crashing to the canvas. He managed to survive though and settled the fight back down by slowing down the pace whilst he recovered. By the 8th round it was Tony who was having the problems and he went down 3 times in all before pulling himself out in the 9th round with an arm injury.

In the other fights the heavy handed Australian Lucas Browne (now 13-0-0) had a first round KO win over the experienced Hastings Rasani (23-68-5). The Aussie has now registered KO’s in all but one of his 13 fights. Scott Jenkins (5-0-0) and Adam Etches (8-0-0) continued in their winning ways against Kristian Laight and (6-123-6) and Ferenc Zold (15-9-0). Louis Norman (1-0-0), Kallum De’Ath (3-0-0), Craig Watson (20-5-0) and Adam Little (6-0-0) all had points victories over Delroy Spencer (14-137-3), Anwar Alfadli (1-24-2), Tomasz Mazurkiewicz (5-7-2) and Dee Mitchell (9-20-1) respectively.

Delroy Spencer (14-137-3), Anwar Alfadli (1-24-2)

These guys need to do something else.

the towers fight was funny, great action and yo yo action