Rapport: Gianluca Di Caro

Op zaterdagavond, terwijl de meeste Britse boksfans in de Manchester Arena waren of naar BT Sport keken terwijl Tyson Fury zijn langverwachte terugkeer naar de ring maakte, een groot aantal lokale boksfans maakte nog steeds de pelgrimstocht naar de Jubilee Sports Bank in Liverpool voor het nieuwste aanbod van lokale promotor Kyle Gallagher.

 

De afgelopen jaren heeft Gallagher een zeer goede reputatie opgebouwd als het gaat om het geven van kwaliteitsshows, een waar de lokale fans weten dat ze zin hebben in een geweldig avondje uit en goed op elkaar afgestemde actiegevechten met lokale prospects kunnen zien en op zaterdag wordt de normale dienst hervat.

 

Hoofdact van de show was de lokale ongeslagen kandidaat Martin Freeman, tegen de ernstig harde oppositie van de Letse Dmitrijs Ovsjannikovs.

 

Bij zijn laatste optreden, op een door Gallagher gepromote show in maart, Ovsjannikovs behaalde de overwinning op Freeman's sportschoolgenoot Mitchell Walsh, via een tweede ronde TKO, wat een extra beetje pit aan dit specifieke gevecht toevoegde.

 

In de openingsronde staat Freeman op de voorste voet, Ovsjannikovs lijkt het grootste deel van de ronde tevreden te zijn met counteren, met af en toe een aanvallend uitstapje wanneer de gelegenheid zich voordeed.

 

Aanvankelijk was het in ronde twee meer van hetzelfde, Naarmate de ronde vorderde, begon Ovsjannikovs het echter wat drukker te krijgen, actief de strijd aangaan met de Liverpoolse, maar alles gezegd en gedaan was het nog steeds Freeman's ronde.

 

Freeman's beweging in de derde was slecht, hij liep af en toe mank, en Ovsjannikovs merkte dit duidelijk op en begon assertiever te worden in zijn aanpak, zozeer zelfs dat hij Freeman vaak in een hoek dreef voordat hij met een vlaag van schoten losbarstte.

 

Freeman's corner schreeuwde tegen hen dat ze uit de hoek moesten komen, Ik kan het hen niet kwalijk nemen, want het was deze tactiek van Ovsjannikovs die ertoe leidde dat hun man Walsh in maart werd tegengehouden door de Let..

 

Freeman kwam door de ronde, maar nu was het nog maar de enige ronde, want de derde was duidelijk die van Ovsjannikovs.

 

De corner van Freeman werkte tijdens de pauze verwoed op zijn been, but when the opening bell for the round rang it was clear to all that the injury was really troubling the Liverpudlian.

 

The fourth mirrored the third, Ovsjannikovs controlling the proceedings, but Freeman dug in deep and survived the round. Again in the break Freeman’s team worked hard on their charge.

 

With the scores equal going into the fifth Ovsjannikovs went on the offensive once more, however Freeman, whilst still limping, didn’t just settle for countering, oh no, he decided if it was do or die and started to plant his feet once more and let rip with big shots, so much so that Ovsjannikovs reverted to a defensive approach and countering at times, much to the relief of Freeman’s corner I would think.

 

The sixth and final round was a stormer, opnieuw ging Ovsjannikovs hard in de aanval in een poging Freeman in hoekschop te houden, de Liverpoolse had er echter niets van en er volgde een uitstekende klap van teen tot teen, Het was een spannende laatste ronde, controle heen en weer schakelen tot aan de laatste bel.

 

Na zes zwaar bevochten rondes las scheidsrechter Chris Kelly de scorekaart 58-56 in het voordeel van Martin Freeman.

 

De voorlaatste aanval van de nacht ziet Widnes, Jamie Oldfield van Cheshire, in actie tegen Marty Kayes uit Belfast, in een weltergewichtwedstrijd van vier ronden.

 

Oldfield kwam in de strijd na een overwinning in de eerste ronde op Edgars Sazanovics tijdens zijn profdebuut in maart, terwijl Kayes, een put- bekende en altijd drukke tegenstander, kwam in de strijd na twee uitstekende puntenoverwinningen in april, zijn eerste overwinningen sinds juli 2016, zo'n zestien gevechten eerder.

 

Vanaf het begin was het Oldfield dat het gevecht naar Kayes bracht, de Ier hield echter stand en counterde effectief en zo begon een fantastische all-action ronde.

 

Het was een geweldige ronde, je kon je ogen gewoon geen seconde van het gevecht afhouden toen deze twee krijgers ten oorlog trokken, beiden graven diep in hun arsenaal aan schoten, elke keer leek een van hen de controle over te nemen, de ander zou met evenveel kracht tegenwerken om de controle te worstelen.

 

Geweldige ronde kon ze gewoon niet splitsen, zeker een getekende ronde in mijn ogen.

 

Meer van hetzelfde in de tweede en derde, hoewel Oldfield in beide de rondes vrijwel veilig leek te stellen vanwege effectievere aanvallen. Ik moet slechts een paar uitwisselingen noemen, waar Oldfield en Kayes het tegen elkaar opnamen en dubbelhandige combinaties uitwisselden, beide jongens lieten zich meeslepen 10-12 punch-combinaties tegelijkertijd, Wauw, heb er echt van genoten.

 

De vierde en laatste ronde was min of meer een spiegelbeeld van de eerste, opnieuw kon ik ze niet splitsen, qua score, en was enorm opgetogen dat ik hetzelfde had gescoord als scheidsrechter Chris Kelly – 40-38 in het voordeel van Jamie Oldfield

 

Nog een lokale debuterende vechter, David Taylor, was de volgende, tegen de Letse Vladimirs Slikovs in een supermiddengewichtwedstrijd van vier ronden.

 

Beide hoofdrolspelers kwamen er hard en snel uit, beiden strijden hard om het middenveld, what’s more it was clear that neither had any intention of backing down for a second.

 

Throughout the first round it was hard to split the two, each time either let rip with a shot the other countered in similar fashion, no surprise that even Referee Chris Kelly couldn’t split them on his scorecard.

 

Round two was once again an all action round, Slikovs maybe being more on the front foot, however even though Taylor was having to defend more often, it was he that landed the most shots, more importantly the most telling shots.

 

Meer van hetzelfde in de derde, with Taylor clearly winning the round, however the fourth, whilst similar to the previous rounds, except now Slikovs was able to get his range right and land some big shots.

 

After four all action rounds Referee Chris Kelly’s scorecards showed just how close this bout was, as they read 39-38 to David Taylor.

 

Following the interval local debuting lad Steven Sunners faced Latvian Eduard Belas in a four round Middleweight contest.

 

Right from the off Sunners went on the attack, however Belas is as savvy as they come and used his experience to keep Sunners from landing a serious shot initially.

 

However Sunners kept calm and used his jab to great effect to fashion a good opening early in the round and landing a cracking body-shot.

 

Belas changed tactics and went on the offensive. Sunners didn’t seem that concerned and just kept jabbing to the head, forcing Belas to keep his guard high.

 

After a few more exchanges, Sunners threw a neat combination, creating just enough of an opening to slip in another good solid shot, this time with the required effect of sending the Latvian to the canvas.

 

Belas made the count, immediately after the restart Sunners was all over the Latvian like a rash, letting shots off whenever an opening presented itself.

 

It wasn’t that long until another chink in the Latvian’s armour appeared, Sunners reacted immediately and again sent Belas to the canvas.

 

Belas again made the count and defended well until the end of the round.

 

Round two started in much the same way as the previous round ended, with Sunners in full flow and Belas covering up and defending with an occasional shot of his own.

 

Echter, after about fifteen seconds or so Sunners landed a big right hand that sent the Latvian heavily to the canvas, Referee Chris Kelly immediately waved the fight off, he didn’t even start the count, instead summoned the medical team to enter the ring and attend to the stricken Belas.

 

I’m pleased to say Belas was OK and when he eventually rose to his feet, received a warm round of applause from all in attendance.

 

Official time of the stoppage was just 22 seconden van de tweede ronde.

 

Just prior to the interval the fifth fight of the night pitted local lad Craig Kennerdale against Prestwick, Scotland’s Leon Roberts in a four round Welterweight contest.

 

This much anticipated contest between two highly rated young fighters was expected to be a cracker, but it turned out to be much more than that it was a sensational fight between two equally matched warriors.

 

It reminded me very much of the classic Battle Royale between Carl Frampton and Ian Bailey in Belfast a few years back, after that one the entire crowd at the King’s Hall were on their feet applauding both warriors, and it comes as no surprise that after their fight on Saturday night that Kennerdale and Roberts also received a standing ovation from the crowd in Liverpool, boy oh boy they deserved it one hundred percent.

 

As with Frampton-Bailey, it was non-stop action throughout, Kennerdale and Roberts fought magnificently for every second of each round.

 

These two serious talents really went for it throughout the contest, control switching between them with such regularity you just couldn’t take your eyes of the fight for a second.

 

On many occasions this battle had the highly vocal fans standing and applauding the action, especially a couple of double handed exchanges, where both protagonists not only matched each other punch for punch but also flowing combination for combination.

 

Referee Chris Kelly scored the contest 40-37 in favour of Kennerdale, which to be honest whilst the correct result just doesn’t reflect just how close every single round was.

 

Loved every second of this fight, it really was something special, so if you get the chance try and watch the video, which I have been told will be on YouTube later this week, definitely well worth watching.

 

Have to say this was my first choice of Fight of the Night, just as you would have already read above there was definitely more than one contender for that accolade.

 

The fourth bout of the night pitted Bradley Muldoon against debuting David Calveley in a four rounder.

 

Prior to the fight there was quite a bit of talk about this match-up on social media, apparently they had fought twice previously, word was that it was the debuting Calveley that had won both.

 

Right from the opening bell it was Calveley that went straight on the attack, Muldoon initially covered up but soon began to utilise his jab effectively to prevent the hard charging Calveley to corral him against the ropes.

 

Throughout the round it was Calveley virtually bossed the round from start to finish, effectively keeping Muldoon on the back foot.

 

Meer van hetzelfde in de tweede en derde, but the fourth was a much more closely fought round, one in which Muldoon held his own.

 

After four rounds of action Referee scored the contest 40-37 in favour of Calveley, however that wasn’t the end of the matter, as Muldoon protested that it was supposed to be a six rounder and called for the fight to be declared a no-contest. Apparently the promoters running sheet in the changing room showed it as a six rounder not the four as announced at the beginning of the fight and listed by the commission on the schedule.

 

Liverpool’s Dean Ferreira versus Latvia’s Andrejs Konovalovs in a four round Super Featherweight contest was the third fight on the card.

 

Ferreira seemed determined to make a big statement in this fight, coming out hard and fast right from the opening bell and letting rip with big shots, Konovalovs initially covered up, but soon realised he’d have to fight his way out of danger and proceeded to do just that.

 

Ferreira though is as tough as they come and he soon wrestled back control and backed his Latvian foe back onto the ropes before letting rip with fast double handed shots to send Konovalovs down within the first thirty seconds or so.

 

Konovalovs made it to his feet almost immediately, on the restart Ferreira went straight back on the attack.

 

Konovalovs got behind his jab in an effort to keep the hard charging Liverpudlian at bay, but that didn’t last for long once Ferreira started targeting the Latvian’s body and on around the one minute mark Ferreira let rip with a big shot to the Latvian’s lower rib, which sent Konovalovs down like a sack of potatoes.

 

Konovalovs was clearly in distress so referee Chris Kelly stopped the count on three and waved the contest off so the medical team could attend to the Latvian.

 

De officiële tijd van de onderbreking was 1 Minute and 3 seconden.

 

The second fight of the night pitted debuting Lee Cooper against one fight veteran Kyle McNicholas in an all Merseyside four round Super Middleweight contest.

 

Cooper approached the opening round in determined fashion, taking the fight to McNicholas right from the off.

 

Throughout the fight Cooper was well and truly on the front foot and very, very focused, Cooper controlled the proceedings more like an established prospect than a debuting fighter.

 

Don’t get me wrong this wasn’t a one sided contest, far from it, McNicholas fought hard for every second of every round, just Cooper’s performance was exceptional.

 

After four excellent action filled rounds referee Chris Kelly rightly scored the bout 40-36 in favour of the debuting Lee Cooper.

 

The opening fight of the night featured Warrington’s Ben Hough in action, against Blackpool’s Malcolm Richardson, in a four round Cruiserweight contest.

 

Right from the off Hough got behind his jab, Richardson responded in kind, however Hough just doubled up his jab and began to back Richardson up towards the ropes.

 

What followed next was about a minute or so of engaging action, which see Hough on the front foot with Richardson defending his position, then just as Richardson went to let rip with a shot Hough got through the Blackpool man’s excellent defence with a big right, that sent Richardson down heavily to the canvas.

 

Immediately referee Chris Kelly waved off the fight and the medical team entered the ring.

 

I’m pleased to say Richardson was perfectly OK, but must praise both the referee and medical team for the prompt actions, as the way Richardson went down it did look like a full on knockout.

 

De officiële tijd van de onderbreking was 1 minuut en 16 seconden van de eerste ronde.

 

Once again a great event from Kyle Gallagher and his team, word is his next event will be in September and from what I’ve heard on the grapevine this will be a ‘don’t miss’ event as not only will top prospects from his stable be in action, but also featured on this event will be a number of unbeaten prospects from abroad.