On Saturday 19th April, I was delighted to have been invited as a guest of Ross Minter and Alan Foley (AKA – The QBL Gaffers) for their latest boxing extravaganza at Epsom Downs Racecourse.
I had interviewed Corey Jackson and Yisan Rodriguez a week before this contest, so was obviously disappointed when the bout had been cancelled as a result of injury. These things happen, and that’s the nature of sports. I’m delighted to say that both have rescheduled for June 8th at the Effingham Park Hotel. The balance of the 11 fights did provide more than sufficient entertainment to keep the hundreds in attendance on the edge of their seats.
The first fight between Mike Midas and Frank Smith was a little scrappy if not somewhat entertaining with the occasional after bell blows and certainly got the crowd in the spirit of the evening. As the announcement was made that Frank had won by UD, both fighters walked the ring holding each others arms aloft. Great sportsmanship.
Second bout saw Ben Vezza blow Josh Houston out in a round. Fairlplay to Houston – he took the bout at late notice, but was simply outgunned. Next up was southpaw who Jon Martin beat Andrew Joicey in an UD over 4×2 min rounds, knocking Joicey down on a number of occasions. I would have said that Joicey was the stronger opponent, but it was timing, precision and lateral movement which won the day for Martin.
Next bout was Baeu Jeffrey, with an explosive stoppage after 52 seconds of the second round, over James Banbkhead, followed by Danny Parsons v Hassan Abdi for a defence of Parsons regional title. Hassan’s grounding in martial arts was certainly apparent with his shorter, squarer, upright stance and took a fair bit of punishment in the first round from defending champ Parsons. As the rounds went on, Hassan started to make ground, but it was not enough to take the title. Parsons won by MD and I have a feeling will continue to climb the ranks in QBL (No bias of the fact that we are both from Kingston!).
Liam Bates v Tom Rankin finished as a draw, Liam McKeown lost an MD to Mike Tokatlian, before the headliner of the evening started between Daniel Spencer and the very likeable (not that Spencer was dislikeable!) Kieran Leinster. Kieran, as defending undefeated national champion went into this bout as the favourite, but Spencer certainly came to fight. In fact, I gave the first round to Spencer, the second round even and then the third round the tables turned as Lienster moved up a gear. Changing his target area from head to body, Kieran landed some fantastic hooks to the ribs, then as Spencer dropped his elbows to defend the attacks, Kieran unloaded to the head knocking Spencer to the canvas and sending his gum shield flying. Round 4 was Leinster all the way, with Spencer fortunate to have been given a standing count seconds before the end of the round. Round 5 – the inevitable happened. Leinster unloaded a massive right hand within five second of the bell being sounded, leaving Spencer flattened on the canvas. The ref stepped in and the bout was called to a halt. And still……. I take my hat off to Spencer though – he came to fight at the top end of QBL and gave a good account of himself against a good champion. Regroup mate and come back harder, faster and stronger for your next fight.
A good night had by myself. It was also good to see Abi Griffiths interviewing Danny Lineham. Danny is a natural in front of the camera. Surely a QBL legend such as Danny should be a regular commentating now he’s retiring from the ring.. (hint hint Foley & Minter ;-)
Looking forward to the next show.
