Essex’s Phil Gill last night won the British Masters Lightweight Title over 10 hard fought rounds against Ibrar Riyaz of Reading. For the first 5 rounds the fight was a pretty even toe to toe affair but from the 6th onward Gill started to pull away in the points in my opinion and won 4 of the last 5. Neither fighter ever looked like getting stopped and both guys put on a great performance in front of a packed house at The Camden Centre. The ref scored the bout 96-94 (I made it 98-93).
On the undercard of Mickey Helliet’s show were 3 pro debuts Super-Middleweight Scott Woods a scouser based in Cheshunt lost to Crawley’s Joe Walsh on points over 4 rounds 40-37, Hemel Hempstead’s Welter Richard Connelly beat Earl Court based South African Bheki Moyo on points over 4 rounds 39-37 much to the delight of his many fans. Local Light-Welter hero Charlie Rice who had masses of support beat late sub Sid Razak over 4 rounds 38-36. Rice looked a good prospect and one to watch.
Results in brief – Light-Middle London based Pole Marcin Marczak beat Steve Spence 40-36 over 4 rounds, Hatfield Light-Heavyweight Joe Smyth beat tough Welshman Steffan Hughes in a 4th round TKO stoppage with Hughes having a bad cut above the left eye in the 4th although Hughes was way behind on points having been dropped either in the fight. East Dulwich Welterweight Ahmet Patterson beat Manchester’s Willie Warburton on points over 4 rounds 39-36 good snappy boxer. Last on the bill was Essex Heavyweith John McDermott who beat Latvian Pavel Dolgovs with a 4th round TKO victory after the ref stopped it the Latvian had been down in every round but the first.
Daily Sport says – Great nights boxing with a real toe to toe battle top of the bill much to the delight of the sell out crowd. We’ll be covering next Friday’s Hellraiser bill at London’s Troxy too featuring Ben Jones v Steve Smith for the WBO Intercontinental Super-Featherweight title.