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Sensational McAllister Secures Crown in Scintillating Style in Aberdeen

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Report by Gianluca Di Caro

The Aberdeen Glitterati turned out in force in support of local hero,  three division World Champion Lee ‘The Aberdeen Assassin” McAllister’s  latest promotion at the stunning Beach Ballroom on Friday night.

McAllister is proving to be one of the most creative of promoters on  the circuit today.  Little touches like turning the stunning Beach  Ballroom venue into a pseudo high end Casino added another level of  cache to the excellent four-bout dinner show.

The show itself was originally due to feature four International  Championship contests, unfortunately one of the title fights was  cancelled after Ghana’s Ekow Wilson failed to obtain his visa in time,  but the fans were not to be disappointed in any way at all as the  three remaining Championship contests plus a late replacement  International four rounder provided more than enough action and drama  to sate any pugilistic appetite.

First fight of the night sees Bardley, Lincolnshire’s Nathan Decastro  in action against Estonian Eduard Belas.

This bout had been added to the card a week or so prior, following  Decastro’s challenge against Spain’s Ronny Landaeta for the IBF  European title, which was due to take place the same weekend in  Malaga, Spain, being called off due to rather unsavory actions by the  Spanish Federation.

It was clear from the off that Decastro was still smarting from the  cancellation of his IBF European Title Challenge, as right from the  opening bell went in hard and fast letting rip with vicious uppercuts  and body shots at every conceivable opportunity, no surprise then that  within the first twenty seconds or so Belas was sent to the canvas.

Belas managed to make the count but was soon under increasing pressure  from Decastro, who peppered the Estonian with a series of combinations  before letting rip with a big shot to the body to send Belas to the  canvas once more.

Surprisingly Belas made it to his feet for a second time, however  immediately the fight was restarted Decastro went straight in hard and  fast to send the Estonian to the canvas a third time, this time Belas  couldn’t make the count, leaving referee Lee Murtagh no option but  wave the fight of on the 52 second mark of the first round.

Decastro’s record now reads 10 wins, 8 by way of Knockout, no losses or draws.

Next up was Sandy Robb versus Latvia’s Aleksandrs Roldiguns for the  vacant Professional Boxing Council (PBC) Silver Cruiserweight  Championship.

To describe the first round as ‘technical’ would be an understatement;  both protagonists took their time, testing their opponent’s mettle  with impressive strong jabs to body and head. As the round progressed  Robb kicked up the pace a little and started to slip in the occasional  combination, in an attempt to break down the Latvian’s defense.

In the second, both decided to step up the pace, which worked well for  the Scotsman, as this opened up more opportunities for Robb to  breakdown Roldiguns excellent defense with crisp flowing combinations  as well as a couple of big right hands to the body.

More of the same in the third, about half way through the round Robb  backed Roldiguns onto the ropes and landed a cracking shot to the side  of the Latvian’s head before switching to the body, the Latvian  appeared disoriented and shortly after began grabbing hold of Robb at  every conceivable opportunity, in a vein attempt to prevent the Scots  lad landing further big shots. Roldiguns received numerous warnings,  not just for holding but also to keep his head up when in close.

The fourth round was very messy, as Roldugins continued to keep  grabbing and holding Robb each time the Scotsman came close. Quite  early on in the round Referee Lee Murtagh decided to put an end to the  Latvian’s shenanigans by deducting a point.

Even after the deduction Robb’s attempts to get back down to boxing  were thwarted, as Roldugins persisted in holding each time Robb closed  the Latvian down. After numerous further warnings for holding Referee  Lee Murtagh’s patience came to an end and Roldugins once more had a  point deducted.

Shortly after the restart, during another close quarters foray, there  was a sickening thud as the boxers heads clashed, leaving a cut over  Robb’s eye. Referee Lee Murtagh deemed it to be an accidental clash of  heads.

Almost immediately after this Roldugins once more grabbed hold of  Robb, who had backed the Latvian onto the ropes, and began rubbing his  head against the cut over Robb’s eye. This infringement was the final  straw as far as Referee Lee Murtagh was concerned, immediately  disqualifying Roldiguns on the 2 minute 50 second mark of the fourth  round.

Following the official results announcement PBC President Mr. Russell  Jacques presented Sandy Robb with the PBC Silver International  Cruiserweight Championship Belt.

The third fight of the night see local lad Nathan Beattie in action  against Ghana’s Tackie Annan for the PBC Silver International  Lightweight title.

Right from the opening bell both lads went to work methodically,  Beattie utilizing his strong jab to keep Annan at bay, whilst the  Ghanaian sought out angles in an attempt to land some strong right  hands to the Scotsman’s body, mostly in vein though as Beattie’s  defense was as strong as they come.

Second round started out with Beattie very much in control, the  Scotsman thwarting the efforts of the highly mobile Ghanaian with  panache. As the round reached the midway point Annan found an opening  and let rip with a big looping right hand to send Beattie crashing to  the canvas.

Beattie just about made the count but was clearly disoriented and  unsteady on his feet, leaving Referee Lee Murtagh no option but to  wave the fight off after just 1 minute and 34 seconds of the second  round.

After the official result was read out MC Douglas McAdam announced  that as Tackie Annan had failed to make the Championship weight, at  the weigh-in the day before, that the PBC International Lightweight  Title remains vacant, as under Championship rules a boxer that fails  to make the weight can still compete but is not be eligible to win the  Championship, only the boxer that made the weight could actually win  the crown.

The fourth and final fight of the night featured Aberdeen’s very own  Lee McAllister against the very tough Ghanaian Ishmael Tetteh, for  both the PBC International and Commonwealth Super Welterweight  Championships.

With over a hundred pro contests between them, including numerous  Championship bouts, it didn’t surprise anyone in attendance that  McAllister and Tetteh would put on an all action, slick display of  boxing at it’s very best, and boy oh boy did they do just that.

From the off both vied for centre ring position as if their lives  depended on, no pussyfooting around with these two, it was all out  war. Surprisingly it was the Ghanaian that eventually wrestled control  of the middle ground, or maybe not as that seemed to suit McAllister,  who throughout the first round utilized the outer ring with great  effect, often he would step in and let rip with blisteringly fast  combinations before moving back or stepping to the side just out of  range of the countering exocets thrown by Tetteh.

Round two was just phenomenal, you just couldn’t take your eyes of the  action for a second, it was mesmerizing to watch as the pair set to  work on their game-plans, one moment they were going at it hammer and  tongs in a toe to toe war, and the next some seriously slick boxing  which had the ensemble crowd on their feet.

As the round was moving towards it’s conclusion McAllister stepped up  the pace and went in hard and fast, letting rip with shots from every  conceivable angle, much to the delight of the fans, who seemed  convinced that their man was going in for the kill. Wow what a round.

It was more of the same in the third, but the fourth was something  special. McAllister seemed determined to end the fight as quickly as  possible, letting rip with power shots to head and body. Initially  Tetteh would cover up and try and withstand the onslaught, but about  midway through the round changed tactics and met the Scotsman head on  in centre ring and started throwing bombs of his own.

Round five started off with a beautiful close quarters exchange, which  must have lasted close to ten seconds and only came to an end when  Tetteh appeared to slip and fall to the canvas.

As Tetteh rose to his feet, and yes Referee Lee Murtagh deemed it a  slip, McAllister began rousing the crowd before going straight for the  Ghanaians jugular with power shot after power shot. Tetteh stood his  ground countering with great effect but on about the minute mark  McAllister threw a pinpoint perfect power shot to the Ghanaian’s lower  rib, to send him down to the canvas and gasping for breath.

The fans thought it was all over and began celebrating, however that  soon came to an abrupt end as terminator Tetteh rose to his feet to  just beat the count.

McAllister once again encouraged the crowd to get behind him, which  they did with gusto, and then proceeded to go in hard and fast with  sensationally quick hands to body and head, initially Tetteh stood his  ground countering, but in doing so left a smidgeon of an opening that  the canny Scot just couldn’t resist, letting rip with huge uppercut to  the floating rib, no surprise Tetteh returned to the canvas but this  time there was no chance of him making the count no matter how hard he  tried.

Referee Lee Murtagh waved the bout of on the 1 minute 48 second mark  of the fifth round and shortly after PBC head honcho Russell Jacques  proudly presented McAllister with the stunning PBC International and  Commonwealth belts.

It must have been over an hour before McAllister finally vacated the  ring though as he then proceeded to invite various dignitaries, as  well as numerous well wishers, into the ring to have photos taken with  him and the PBC belts, which I thought was a really nice touch.

boxing, UK Boxing

Khan and Newell in Sensational Knockout Form Reign Supreme in Bradford

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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.

boxing, UK Boxing

Decastro Stops Tetteh to Secure First Title – Kayes, Becelis, Cairns Impressive in Victory.

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Report by: Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

On Saturday night, at the Arena UK in Grantham, Lincolnshire, local gym owner Russ Brown made his maiden outing as a professional boxing promoter and boy oh boy did he do it in style.

Whilst most people would start off at a small hall venue with a few local ticket sellers heading up the show, Russ Brown approached it a little differently, a full blown Arena show headed up with Championship bouts headlining, originally was due to be three, but due to last minute visa issues the main event, the World Super Bantamweight Unification contest between South Africa’s reigning World Boxing Federation Champion Gabisile Tshabalala and British #1 and current MBC International Champion Marianne Marston, had to be rescheduled so the irritating bureaucracy issue could be sorted.

With no Tshabalala-Marston World Unification bout, it was local unbeaten star Nathan Decastro, in his first title battle, against the highly experienced Championship campaigner Ishmael Tetteh, from Ghana, for the vacant MBC International Super Middleweight Championship that was elevated to headline the show.

Before I get onto the fights themselves I have to say how pleasant it was to be at an event where the entire audience welcomed each and every fighter to the ring with rapturous applause, that included Tetteh, who they welcomed in the manner a star fighter deserved and not a single jeer or boo to be heard.

However that paled into insignificance compared to the reception local star Decastro received, the sound was deafening and it seemed that each and every person in the arena was cheering on their man at the top of their voice as he made his ring walk.

The vocal support continued throughout the fight itself, with the fans ringside cheering every exchange, and believe me there were plenty as this was an exceptional all out toe-to-toe war that could have been fought in a phone box.

Young Decastro wasn’t overawed, far from it, instead he rose to the occasion and showcased the exceptional skills that belie his tender years.

Don’t get me wrong this wasn’t a one way affair, Tetteh is a tough, classy operator that gives his all for every second of every round and he was in sensational form, matching the local lad punch for punch in the early rounds.

The turning point in the contest came midway through the fourth, Decastro landed a wicked body shot that sent the Ghanaian down to the canvas. Tetteh is as tough as they come and just as World class referee Richie Davies reached the seven count, he made his way to his feet.

On the restart Tetteh went hard on the attack, however Decastro’s ring-craft soon came into play, spinning Tetteh so it was him with his back against the ropes and the Lincolnshire lad once more in control.

Round five was a virtual repeat of the fourth, both fighters standing toe-to toe, letting rip with huge shots to body and head right from the off. As in the previous round around the midway mark Decastro let rip with a big combination culminating with a vicious body shot to send Tetteh down to the canvas once more, this time though there was no chance that the tough Ghanaian would recover sufficiently to beat Richie Davies’ count.

The overjoyed crowd went ballistic as Decastro was presented the MBC International Championship belt by Vice Chairman, Ms. Jennifer Burton and the celebrations went on for a good forty minutes or so.

On a side note I doubt there are many times in a boxers career that they are inundated with requests of hand shakes or selfies from fans of the opposition, but Ishmael Tetteh was, even in defeat he must have felt like the champion, quite rightly so in my opinion as he gave his all throughout the contest and made this a fight to remember.

The second Championship bout was for a World Boxing Union (WBU) UK Regional title, contested by big hitting local lad Gary Silverman and Belfast’s Marty Kayes.

The height difference between the two protagonists was really noticeable, Silverman is tall, very tall, and towered over the seemingly diminutive Kayes, however the Belfast man clearly had a plan of getting on the inside as much as possible to neutralize the reach advantage of his foe and implemented it to perfection,

The Belfast man’s performance was sublime, when not on the inside Kayes’ busy movement made life exceptionally hard for Silverman.

Throughout the bout Silverman switched tactics in an attempt to give himself the space to let rip with his patented power shots, however each time he did Kayes would find a way to neutralize any advantage the Grantham lad had gained.

After eight rounds of highly entertaining boxing it came as no surprise that Richie Davies’ scorecard read 80-73 in favour of Belfast’s Marty Kayes.

Prior to Silverman-Kayes was a sensationally closely matched Cruiserweight contest between Dainius Becelis and James Higgy.

I’m a huge fan of the Cruiserweight division, mainly due to such stars as two time IBF World Champ Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham and former WBO, WBC & WBA Champion David Haye, who dominated the division back in the late noughties. In fact I love the Cruiserweights so much that a few years ago I wrote and had published the full history of the division.

Anyway that aside, on Saturday night I was overjoyed to watch two future stars of the division in action and what a closely fought contest it was.

I always hoped that one day Steve Cunningham and David Haye would fight each other as it would have been an all action affair, a true showcase for this exciting but underrated division.

Well that never happened but if it had it would have been very similar to the Becelis-Higgy bout without doubt, so you can imagine how chuffed I was to be ringside for it. Yes it was that good.

It really was a cracking, closely fought, all action affair, so much so by the start of fourth round I couldn’t separate them and honestly expected it to end up a draw, however Becelis managed to pull off a very close victory due to his performance in the final round, don’t get me wrong Higgy performed brilliantly in the fourth too, just Becelis stepped it up enough to secure the win.

Definitely Fight of the Night in my view. After four of the most exciting rounds of boxing I have seen in a long, long while Referee Matt Scriven scorecards read 39-38 in favour of Dainius Becelis – side note: the referee’s scorecards read 1st Round 10-9 in favour of Becelis, 2nd round 9-10 in favour of Higgy, 3rd round was drawn and of course round four 10-9 to Becilis.

Prior to the Becelis-Higgy bout was another closely fought contest, this time a four round middleweight bout between local lad Scott Newcombe and Stockport, Cheshire’s Will Cairns.

As with Becelis-Higgy this was another well matched all action affair that could so easily have ended up a draw, just in this case Cairns superb performance in the early rounds was enough to see him secure the bout by a single point. Referee Matt Scriven scoring it 39-38 for Will Cairns.

The second pro bout of the night see Michael Robinson take on Scunthorpe’s Andy Pirie in a Middleweight contest.

It’s proving hard for me to come up with enough superlatives as each fight on the show were superbly well matched.

As with the Newcombe-Cairns or the Becilis-Higgy bouts, this was another that could have gone either way as both warriors gave their all for every second of each and every round and it really was hard to separate them, performance or points wise, clearly not just myself as Referee Matt Scriven scored it a 39-39 draw.

The opening bout of the night see Grantham’s Mickey Blackburn in action against Hyde, Cheshire’s Will O’Reilly in a four round Super Welterweight contest.

Once again the matching was spot on, and as with each and every fight on the night was a closely fought and highly exciting affair, so much so that after four enthralling rounds it really was hard to call a winner, again not just myself as Referee Matt Scriven clearly had the same dilemma as he scored it a 39-39 draw.

After the show promoter Russ Brown said.

“Other than the disappointment on not having Marianne (Marston) fight, the show was spot on.

I wanted my lads to be in competitive fights, and they were, yes I know a couple lost or drew their fights but so it goes. To my mind this is professional boxing and if they are going to make it to the top they need to have competitive fights and they did.

I’m really pleased the way the show went and would like to thank the BIBA (British & Irish Boxing Authority) officials who did a great job, especially the referees Richie Davies and Matt Scriven, who were spot on with their scoring.

Looking forward to planning the next show, believe me it will be even better.”

Have to congratulate Russ Brown and his team for not just hosting a superb event but also for the matching, It really is a breath of fresh air that a promoter doesn’t try to ‘build’ his fighters careers by having them face ‘journeymen’ for the first ten fights or so, instead preferring his lads to face proven young fighters right from the off, you just don’t see that very often these days.