Last night saw Barnet’s Darren Barker back in the ring after a 14 month absence due to one injury after an other since his unsuccessful world title shot with Sergio Martinez. Barker was back and so were the supporters at London’s Olympia to see him take on Kerry Hope for the IBF inter-continental super-middleweight title over 12 rounds. Barker started slow and you could see the ring rust for the first 2 rounds but once he got into his stride the Barker of old was back and the third was a better round with Barker landing at will, then early on in the 4th Barker dropped Hope and with the Welshman up and staggering as barker resumed the attack Hope’s corner threw in the towel at 1.5 of the 4th. Great performance from Barker who will now be looking to build on this win and get some more rounds under his belt before another crack at a version of the world title.
After the fight Barker said”It was a rusty start but I glad to be back in the ring and winning” while his promoter Eddie Hearn said”We want him back out fighting regular and I know Darren [Barker] can win a world title”.
Rising bantamweight star Kal Yafai proved he’s one to watch after destroying Spaniard Jorge Perez in just over 8 minutes. Yafai had Perez down in the opener with a left hook to the body and the second saw Yafai landing shots again. The 3rd saw Yafai landing at will with hooks to the head and body and just as ref Mark Green waved it off the towel came in from the Spaniards corner. Another win for Yafai with the official time at 2.14 of the 3rd.
Tough Yank Carson Jones took on last minute sub Dean Byrne over 8 rounds after Lee Purdy pulled out and Byrne put on the performance of a lifetime moving well and catch Jones with shots at will. Byrne with a deep cut under the right eye took Jones the distance and on my card won the fight 77-73, however ref Ian John Lewis saw it a draw 76-76. After the fight Byrne told DAILY SPORT “I thought I did great to step up at 3 days notice, I though I’d won it”.
Lightweight Martin J Ward put on a great performance in only his 4th outing as a pro beating late sub Dougie Curran over 4 rounds 40-36 showing some good movement and classy shots on the way.
Erick Ochieng defended his English light-middleweight title against Max Maxwell. Maxwell took Ochieng the distance in this well matched 10 rounder with the judges giving it to Ochieng 98-92, 98-93 and 98-94. Erick will now be looking to step up and challenger for greater honours in 2013.
The 10 round British middleweight title eliminator between London’s John Ryder and Northern Ireland’s Eamonn O’Kane started off as a pretty well matched affair but in the 8th with O’Kane clearly knackered and taking punishment from Ryder, referee Howard Foster had seen enough and calle a halt to the action at 1.33 of the round.
2 near upsets on the night were Wadi Camacho v Hari Miles (a late sub) and Andreas Evangelou v Danny Couzens with both the Matchroom fighters getting dropped but going on to win on points. First Camacho got went down in the 3rd and was getting rock on a number of occasions before he just proved too strong for the granite chinned Welshman who by the 7th was talking punishment when ref Mark Green had seen enough at 1.12 of the round. Evangelou had a tough night in his 6 rounder with Couzens dropping him in the second and the fight going the distance with him taking too many shots from Jones but he came through this learning curve winning 58-55 on points.
New signing to Matchroom Callum Smith was in hi second fight as a pro and beat James Tucker over 4 rounds 40-36 and Dale Evans beat Kevin McCauley 40-36 with McCauley as always hanging in their and making the going as awkward as possible for Evans.
