Report: Gianluca Di Caro

The boxing scene in the North of England is really booming, especially  around the cities of Leeds and Bradford. One of the main reasons for  the increase of professional boxing events in the area is due to  Bradford’s very own reigning World Boxing Union (WBU), Global Boxing  Union (GBU) and World Boxing Confederation (WBC) World Champion Tasif  Khan, who for the past couple of years has been working closely with  Leeds based promoter Bridie Murtagh to bring stylish Boxing Dinner  Shows to the area.

The latest of these took place at the Royal Taj, formerly the  Connaught Rooms, in Bradford, which not only featured the  aforementioned Tasif Khan himself in action, against Tanzania’s Julias  Kisarawe, but also heralded the return of unbeaten Lightweight  prospect Justin Newell from Leeds, who faced Latvian Aleksandrs  Birkenbergs

Besides the local lads on the card, exciting Super Welterweight  prospect Chris Wood from Middlesbrough was in action against Belfast’s  Marty Kayes, however two top class International bouts scheduled for  the event, a ten round Middleweight contest between Ishmael Tetteh and  Philip Kotey, as well as an eight round Welterweight contest between  Frank Dodzi and Justice Addy, failed to materialise due to visas for  three of the boxers failing to arrive in time.

Whilst disappointing that these two fights didn’t go ahead, there was  more than enough action to keep the fans happy, as promoter Bridie  Murtagh arranged for two exhibition bouts featuring local lads to  replace the Internationals ahead of the pro element.

First up was Chris Wood against Marty Kayes in a four rounder.

What a cracking start to the pro section, it was all action right from  the opening bell, Wood was clearly fired up and went on the attack,  closing down his far more experienced opponent before letting rip with  a vast array of combinations at every conceivable opportunity. Kayes  though is as savvy as they come, would cover up and seemed more than  content to let the fired up youngster get his shots off before  countering.

After four scintillating rounds the referee’s scorecard unsurprisingly  read as a 40-36 points victory for the Teesider Chris Wood.

Next up was unbeaten Justin Newell in a six rounder against the very  tough Latvian Aleksandrs Birkenbergs.

Newell was on fire, slick movement and very fast hands – Birkenbergs  was no walk over and landed a cracking right hand about midway through  the round, which lit the blue touch-paper for Newell, who went hard on  the attack throwing some tasty big shots to body and head, which  ultimately led to Birkenbergs taking a visit to the canvas. This kid’s  tough, he was straight up and going toe to toe with Newell until the  end of the round.

Round two was fantastic to watch, both lads giving no quarter –  beautiful boxing from both, but Newell’s class proved just too much  for the plucky Latvian as the Leeds lad piled some serious pressure in  the second half of the fight before letting rip with big double handed  salvos that sent Birkenbergs to the deck in the dying seconds of the  round, no matter how hard he tried Birkenbergs just couldn’t make the  count – great win on his return to the fray for Newell who won by TKO,  the time would you believe 2 minutes and 59 seconds of round two.

The headline fight see WBU, GBU and WBC World Champion take on  Tanzania’s Julias Kisarawe in a ten round non-championship contest,  instead of the scheduled twelve round World Boxing Confederation (WBC)  Super Flyweight title defence for Khan, due to lateness of the visa  arriving for Kisarawe to complete the necessary Championship paperwork  for the contest to be sanctioned by the WBC.

First round started fast and see Kisarawe taking the fight to Khan,  however the Bradford lad stood his ground and picked his shots for  maximum effect
More of the same in round two, except this time it was Khan that took  the fight to Kisarawe.

Round three see Khan really start to get in a flow, regularly backing  his opponent up before letting rip with wickedly fast double handed  salvos, the power and speed in Khan’s shots finally had the desired  effect and the super tough Tanzanian took a very brief trip to the  canvas.

On the restart Kisarawe went hard on the attack, throwing seriously  solid lefts in an attempt to do unto Khan what the Bradford lad did to  him moments before (with 14 KO wins on his record Kisarawe is very  capable of doing just that)
Round four was an outright war and fascinating to watch, as was round  five and six but for very different reasons. Khan stepped not just one  gear but at least two or three and corralled the Tanzanian into a  corner and just plain bombarded him with double handed Exocets  throughout

More of the same in round seven but this time Khan managed to  penetrate Kisarawe’s world class defence and sent him to the canvas  for the second time.
Kisarawe managed to make the count but it was clear for all to see  that he was in some distress, so much so that referee James Ancliff  had no option but to stop the contest on the one minute twelve second  mark.

What followed then was a good thirty minute celebration in the ring by  Tasif Khan, his team AND many of the fans!!!!

Have to say the Khan/Murtagh co-promoted shows I’ve attended have  always been top class, however this event, even though a couple of  fights short, was by far the best one yet, the fights were all  beautifully matched all action affairs, what more could any fan of the  pugilistic arts wish for. Can’t wait for the next, which I hear is  going to be in December.