Bury undercard review: Maxwell and Wilson fight to a standstill

Birmingham’s Max Maxwell and Sheffield’s Jez Wilson battled to an entertaining six-round draw at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury on Saturday evening on the undercard of Scott Quigg’s super-bantamweight match-up against Santiago Allione. In a light-middleweight contest which neither fighter deserved to lose after giving everything, referee John Latham’s 58-58 scorecard was a fair reflection.

It will be Maxwell (11st 3lbs) however who will be most disappointed after being held to the third draw of his career (against 12 wins and 9 losses). The Birmingham man, who snapped the unbeaten record of Brian Rose last time out, was hoping to seal a shot at the winner of Sam Webb’s forthcoming British title defence against Martin Concepcion. Given that Maxwell has ran both Webb and Concepcion close in losing points efforts previously he still might get his chance, however a return with Wilson in an eliminator would arguably be more fitting.

The phone-booth style slugfest commenced from the sound of the opening bell. Wilson (also 11st 3lbs) marched forward with his gloves clasped tightly together to protect his face which prompted Maxwell to target the side of his head with arching right hands. The feverish pace continued with Wilson targeting the body only for Maxwell to respond with his own body attack followed by a series of whipping uppercuts inside – Max’s most prominent weapon in the first half of the contest.

If Maxwell edged the first with the greater quality of blows, Wilson’s unwavering pressure saw him sweep round two. A good right hand almost dislodged Maxwell’s gumshield at the beginning of the session and Wilson demonstrated his superior strength by pushing Max off balance as the Birmingham man was under heavy bombardment as the Sheffield fireman cranked up the heat (sorry!).

The barroom brawl went up another notch as both men furiously wailed away but Wilson’s shots mostly consisted of arm punches and Jez returned to his corner open-mouthed at the end of the round. Wilson, now 6-1-1, appeared to have momentarily punched himself out and the pendulum swung back in Maxwell’s favour in the third. Two trademark Maxwell uppercuts jolted Wilson as Max’s shots appeared to carry the greater threat. Jez, who lost his unbeaten record in two rounds against Farai Musiyiwa last time out, absorbed the punches well but the finished the session with a bloodied nose and a knick to his right eye.

The pattern of the fight had now been firmly set. Wilson sought to deny Maxwell time and room as he targeted the body whilst Maxwell was content to fight in short bursts, hooking downstairs and then immediately unleashing fast uppercuts through the middle. Both men continued enjoy success in parallel as neither seemed able to nullify the other’s most potent weapons which is what made this small-hall classic so watchable.

Scotland’s Kenny Anderson extended his unbeaten record to 12-0 (8) with a fifth round stoppage over Sheffield’s Carl Wild. Referee Howard Foster’s intervention, with only 12 seconds remaining in the session, appeared a little premature but Wild had been definitely stunned by a right hand and an uppercut from Anderson and wasn’t throwing back. Carl would probably have survived to the bell but Anderson appeared to have Sheffield man’s measure having hurt him with a right hand earlier in the round.

Prior to the stoppage, Anderson’s work wasn’t overly impressive. The Scot (12st 9lbs) gave away over half a stone to Wild (13st 4lbs) but took the fight to his opponent. Kenny’s punches often appeared as though they were being delivered in slow-motion however, lacking snap and authority in much of the earlier rounds.

Journeyman Wild gradually became more effective at smothering Anderson’s work and enjoyed his best spell in round four, making Anderson retreat after landing a body shot and the Sheffield man also clipped the Scot with a good left-right burst off the ropes. It was Anderson, a former Commonwealth gold medallist though who found a much-needed extra gear to bring about the finish.

Kenny, who is the reigning Celtic super-middleweight champion, hopes to get in the 12st domestic title mix against the likes of Paul Smith, James DeGale and George Groves but he’ll need to stay active and shift some timber to have a realistic chance of beating any of this trio.

Earlier in the evening, Blackburn’s Graeme ‘Dezzi’ Higginson scored a routine 60-55 points win over veteran Birmingham journeyman Sid Razak in their six-twos lightweight match-up. Higginson (9st 13), who lost on points to Martin Gethin for the English crown earlier this year, displayed excellent punch variety to head and body and good footwork to sweep the first three rounds which Razak typically absorbed everything that came his way and continued to plod forward.

37-year-old Sid (10st 3lbs 8oz), appearing in his 53rd contest, having realised that Higginson couldn’t hurt him enjoyed some brief success of his own in round four after connecting with an uppercut and a right hand which probably earned him a share of the session on referee John Latham’s card. After a couple of quieter rounds, Higginson upped the ante in the last, peppering Razak with one-twos upstairs and downstairs.

Graeme’s work was certainly eyecatching but “Dezzi” lacks a dig with only three stoppages on his ledger. Higginson is now 12-8-1 whilst Razak suffered the 51st defeat of his career against four wins.

Earlier in the evening, Sheffield super-middleweight Wayne Reed ended Welshman’s Steffan Hughes’ three-fight winning streak with a fourth round stoppage after Hughes was ruled out by a nasty cut above his left eye. Wild (12s 6 ½ lbs) advances to 5-1 (2) whilst Hughes slips to 3-2 (1).