No 'fist of fury' at the Troxy

It was billed as "Fist of fury" but be warned Bruce Lee's version had a bit more excitement!. Now that may be a good thing when it's this reporter's first offical live show!

The Troxy is a plush venue situated in the heart of East London and just a few minutes from the 02 arena and a couple of miles from the York Hall. Promoter Mark Burford put on the show including dinner and cabaret with entertainment from former welterweight world champion John L Stracey.

The venue was set up with a section for the diners and one for those merely there for the fighting. As I looked on it seemed a little like the poor just sat and waited whilst watching the rich eat! We did wait quite a while with the action starting considerably later than the advertised 8pm.

First up was a four three minute round welterweight contest between Phil "experience" Gill 10st  1/2 lbs 3-0 hailing from Cheshunt. Standing in the opposite corner having his 79th bout was Nuneaton's Kristian Black 10st 3lbs.

We were promised an experience, but maybe it wasn't the one they had in mind. The first round saw both men throwing right hand punches, but the alarming concern was the amount of shots Gill was shipping. Although he never looked in serious trouble, my notes said Phil looked more like the journey man. I gave the opener to Laight.

Round two didn't exactly provide any fireworks,other than Laight slipping twice but looking rather elusive yet tiring. I scored this even.

The third saw Phil on top, and Laight spoken to twice for holding, resulting in referee Richie Davies deducting one point. This was a fight seriously lacking any use of jabs, but plenty of swinging,smilar to the old western films! A 10-8 round for the experience.

The fouth and final round saw both men embrace, after which Laight began to embrace a few too many rights, resulting in him embracing the canvas. He climbed up at the count of five,but the count continuing on his feet to eight. Another 10-8 round. My final core was 39-36. Richie Davies had it 40-37.A little harsh Richie!

Bout two saw my fight and boxer of the night. Margate's 27 year old super-middleweight Jack "13" Morris 4-1 weighing 12st 3lbs pitting his wits with Welsh-man Adam Wilcox.

It was Wilcox who came out firing, but the Margate man remained composed replying with a stiff right and a nice combination. An even round.

Round two saw Jack start with a good right and nice use of the jab, but wilcox caught him several times with solid shots. All square again.

The third saw wilcox like the first coming out in a hurry. But he would soon be on the end of Jack's right, which saw a cut open over his left eye. Referee Richie Davies asked the ringside doctor to have a closer look, but it didn't stop Wilcox rushing out and throwing shots early in the fourth and final round. Jack continued with his customary stiff right. A quiet finale. I scored this even. Richie Davies raised the hand of Morris scoring it 39-37. I had it a little closer at 40-39.

Morris is a calm and collected boxer and is someone I will be keeping my eye on in the future.

The penultimate match sheduled at middleweight in four two minute rounds was between Woolwich's Eder Kurti 7-4-1 12st 1lbs and Nottingham journey-man Matt Scriven 12st.

An opening round saw nothing more than an Eder combination and a few jabs. Into the second and Kurti was at the jab again. Scriven seemed content to do little more than avoid a stoppage defeat. The final two rounds were quiet to say the least. Eder again using his jab and feinting. Had he upped the tempo I may have had a little more to write. I give him his due though, he was in excellent shape. Richie Davies and me saw this one eye to eye 40-36.

Last and by no means least the top of the bill at welterweight for a six two minute round bout saw Cheshunt's Bobby "badman" Gladman 3-0 10st 12lbs face 10st 9lbs Jimmy Briggs. It's a good job this "top of the bill" was saved to the end, because there may not have been too many fans left after this!

My notes summed this one up. "How do you score a bore"  Briggs used his right several times in the first two rounds. Jimmy followed suit again in the third with two good right hands. I had him winning the first three.

Gladman improved from the fourth onwards but was still getting a little too close with Jimmy's right hand. The fifth and sixth again saw Briggs get through with his right but Gladman was finally starting to use his jab. For me he didn't do enough. I had Biggs the winner at 59-57. Referee Richie Davies had it 59-57 for the badman.