Hall too good for brave Davies
Darlington's Stuart Hall retained his British bantamweight title in good style by way of seventh round stoppage over brave St Helens man, Gary Davies.
Davies (8st 5 1/4lbs) started the brighter of the pair and was definitely the busier, catching the eye with a nice right cross. Hall looked completely uninterested in the second and actually looked like he didn't fancy the job, limiting himself to a couple of jabs whilst Davies forced the pace.
The third was much better from the champion who, whilst remaining composed, managed more scoring shots than his opponent who had begun to head hunt a little. The writing began to appear on the wall as Hall's jab became more effective in the fourth, bloodying Davies' nose who was trying his best but beginning to miss more often. He did score with another right cross but it was placed amongst plenty of varied shots from Hall, including a left hook and plenty of regulation jabs.
Hall sensed his advantage and turned it on at the start of the fifth. The pair exchanged hooks at ring centre but Hall took his third round in succession. Davies' right eye looked marked up at the start of the sixth. Undeterred, he charged forward and hit home with a straight right. A right hook to the top of the head seemed to hurt the challenger and a follow up one-two had him in trouble on the ropes. Hall put the pressure on but was collected enough to bide his time and Davies survived the round.
A straight right from Hall got through at the start of what proved to be the final round; Davies was still coming forward but was well out of range and he was being picked off to boot. Davies let a punch stray low and just as referee Marcus O’Donnell shouted ‘Stop boxing!’ Hall detonated a right hook flush on Davies’ chin and sat him on his backside. No count was issued because of this and to make matters worse, Davies’ was issued with a warning for his earlier transgression once he’d recovered. Action resumed, Hall clinically poured on the misery and the referee waved the contest off at 2:58 of the seventh.
“I had nothing in the tank,” said Davies at ringside afterwards – he’d had to have two goes at making the weight. “I’ve had nothing to eat for two days. I only had five weeks’ notice and I work full-time too.” Given the circumstances it was a credible effort. Hall, though he still has plenty to work on, looked impressive again – especially for someone who is still a novice (now 10-0-1). Davies drops to 10-4.
Sheffield’s Jerome Wilson (10st) notched up one for the Christmas highlight reel when he sparked Cardiff’s Henry Janes after 89 seconds. Already boxing nicely, a peach of an overhand right caught Janes (9st 13lbs) full on. The poor chap was out as soon as it landed and he crashed, unsupported, face first to the canvas. Referee Steve Gray rightly dispensed with the count so it goes down as RSF1 rather than a knockout. Bizarre these rules, sometimes. After some attention from the paramedics, Janes thankfully appeared OK. Wilson moves to 4-0, Janes falls, quite literally, to 7-17.
I was told the action started at 5.45 and thought I’d timed my entrance perfectly. Editor of Boxing News, Tris Dixon, and I opened the doors to the arena to be greeted by the sight of Mark Heffron’s arm being raised. The Oldham welterweight, having his first pro fight in Britain after a brief European tour, stopped Burnley’s Chris O’Brien with a body shot. O’Brien took a knee, made no attempt to rise and was counted out. Time on the clock, 70 seconds and this one does go down as a knockout. Heffron is now 4-0, O'Brien tastes defeat for the first time and is now 7-1-2.
