Reporting Ringside from a another cracking evening of small hall boxing, hosted by Mickey Helliet

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Yet again Mickey Helliet fills the Camden centre with a very exciting set of eight fights, with everything happening on the evening. From knockouts, to comebacks, injuries and more.

First up was former MMA fighter Joe Duffy against James Conroy. Super middleweight Duffy came out in perfect physical condition. Having had the pleasure of chatting to his parents who were sitting behind me, it was obvious that Joe’s ethos of leaving, eating and breathing boxing since dropping MMA had paid off. Within the first round Duffy threw a vicious right hook to Conroy’s body which caused him to drop his left hand and allowed Duffy to work the head. However, Duffy had absorbed an injury in that same round, by way of breaking his little finger on his right hand (hospital later confirmed), but did not let on to his opponent or corner at that point. Second round, Duffy patiently kicked off power punches to succeed his jab, and by round three threw a thunderous uppercut to stop the fight in 42 seconds of that round. The punch came from the broken hand! This brings Duffy to 4-0. Look forward to seeing him in the ring again soon.

 

Second fight of the evening was between Arturs Geikins and Matthews Ashmole. A very highly entertaining four rounder at light-middleweight saw both fighters unleashing their full arsenal in the first round, but Geikins landing the sharper and more powerful shots to win the fight 39-37 and extending his record to 3-2-1.

 

Third fight of the evening certainly had the biggest following as a very popular Alan Higgins took on Dan Blackwell at middleweight. Blackwell was not only taking on Higgings, but half of the crowd who were relentlessly cheering Higgins throughout the six round belter. Although Higgins won the bout 60-54 and Blackwell was leaking a great deal of blood from his nose throughout the fight, recognition needs to be given to Blackwell for putting on a courageous show, and having a great deal of success in landing heavy shots on Higgins on a number of occasions. An impressive performance from Higgins sees his record extended to 5-0.

 

Next up was Andreas ‘The Ace’ Evangelou against a durable, if not unorthodox challenger by way of Ian Jackson at light heavyweight. First round saw Jackson going for the kill, which did not allow The Ace to get into his stride and execute the jab. Second round was slightly better but again Evangelou seems to be unsure of which stance to fire from and how to break his man down. Round three saw The Ace come out confident and behind his southpaw stance jab started to unload the left hand cross with success. After a small cut appeared under the eye of Jackson, Evangelou capitalised on the fact his opponent was now on his bike, which consequently gave him that essential distance to land more of the same for the balance of the fight. Look forward to Andreas’s next outing… 60-55 to Evangelou, extending his record to 6-0-1.

 

Fifth bout of the evening was the headliner between Dan Woodgate and James Tucker for the vacant British Master Light Heavyweight title. In my eyes Tucker started the fight with more success. Busier, more aggressive and landing the shots. It took Woodgate until about round four to get into his stride, by which time he was perfecting his left hook to the body and the head of Tucker. However, round five saw the tables turn when Tucker inflicted a nasty cut under the right eyebrow of Woodgate, which seems to stun him for that round and the following. By round seven Woodgate had his composure back and by sticking behind his jab, picking his power shots and using his ring craft, managed to win convincingly 98-93. This extended his record to 10-1-0.

 

The sixth fight was straight out explosive. A light welterweight contest scheduled for four rounds between Floyd Moore from Fareham and Asen Vasilev from Bulgaria proved to have everyone on the edge of their seat. Vasilev came out looking like a mini Arthur Abraham, and had Floyd in all sorts of trouble. With a bloodied nose and absorbing all kinds of punishment it looked like Floyd would have a task on his hands to flip the fight around. As doubt entered the minds of the crowd, it certainly didn’t with Floyd! He threw a fantastic straight right hand which sent Vasilev to the canvas for a KO, ending it there and then in the first. I managed to catch up with the bubbly boxer from Fareham straight after:

 

PZ:       You seemed to be getting hit with some heavy shots. What was going on in there Floyd?

 

Floyd Moore:     He seemed to be having success with everything he was throwing. I could get the chance to find my range, or tee off.

 

PZ:       Where did that right hand come from?

 

Floyd Moore:     My corner said to me before. ’If you can land the straight right in the first it will put him off from getting close to you.’ Well it certainly did that!

 

 

This extends Floyd’s record to 7-3-1. I wish him all the best for his next bout.

 

Next up at Middleweight was Elliott Mathews against Borislav Zankov from Bulgaria. Although Zankov had a large tattoo of Hannibal Lecter, who was certainly no murderer in the ring. Elliott worked behind his jab extremely well, working one-two combinations, and some great body shots. Scheduled for six rounds, the Bulgarian failed to make up after being knocked down and claiming a twisted ankle after. Mathews moves to 7-0-1.

 

Eight and final fight was at super featherweight with Eli Green from Guildford making his pro debut and taking on Aivaras Balsys from Lithuania. First round saw Green getting caught with a right hand which rocked him. The Lithuanian could not capitalised and Green held on and came back with his own assault. Rounds two – four were Green all the way as he looked like a mini Arturo Gatti. I would like to see how Green gets on in the future. He has guts and determination, and if he can tidy his defence up, he could have potential.

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