McCullough edges Mills for Masters strap in Torquay

Mark McCullough successfully bounced back from a three-fight losing streak last night (June 19) by edging out Bridgewater’s determined pocket battleship Dean Mills to claim the vacant British Masters lightweight title at the Riviera International Conference centre in Torquay.

Mills was floored by the taller McCullough in the opener thanks to a long straight right hand. Dean managed to retain enough of his faculties to follow referee Grant Wallis’ count on a knee before rising at eight. Mark, perhaps conscious of being in his first ten rounder, failed to follow up his advantage and Mills reconstructed his boxing well to see out the session despite his nose bleeding freely.

Dean, now 4-4 (2), rebounded convincingly in the second to take the stanza on my card. His work was assertive and his punches carried both intent and snap. The 22-year-old had beaten former English super-feather king Ryan Barrett in his previous contest and he controlled the action well throughout the round and the next. Mark’s boxing was effective in patches but he was beaten too often to the punch by the Jim Evans-trained fighter.

However, Mark made the fourth a case of déjà vu for Dean as that arcing long right had him on the deck again. Instinctively Mills rose quickly then took a knee for the mandatory eight on the advice of his corner. Then Dean did exactly as he’d done in the first, regrouped and boxed beautifully to be on top at the end of the session.

McCullough, despite his lead on the cards, found Mills a handful in the fifth and sixth. Mills had a lovely rhythm to his work and ploughed into the 27-year-old with venom, hoping to claw the fight back on the cards for a second time. Mills’ fought well through mounting facial damage. A cut on the brough was hampering his efforts.

Mills seemed slightly fortunate to be awarded a knockdown in the seventh after McCullough appeared to have slipped on the canvas advertising. But the crowd, including former Commonwealth middleweight champion Michael Watson, were the real winners on this Kieth Mayo promoted card as the pair went at it hammer and tongs over the final three rounds.

Dean’s eyes and nose were bleeding freely and Mark was the more mobile of the two as both fought through the pain barrier to win. At the close of ten pulsating rounds, referee Grant Wallis’ card read 95-94 in favour of McCullough. Don’t be surprised if this one happens again.

New Milton’s Danny Goode seemed to be well in control of his super-middle six twos against Sennon Cove’s Sam Smart when he fell apart and was stopped in the fifth. Smart, a fairly upright southpaw whose chin followed his jab, was subject to some solid body work from his 30-year-old opponent over the first three sessions. In truth, the action was scrappy and marred by mauling on both sides.

By the fourth, Smart had proven himself to be at least resilient and Goode seemed to be running out of steam and looked far less dangerous. The end came at 1:09 of the fifth when a hard shot by smart and a follow up salvo of around three shots put Goode down on his knees. His eyes were unfocused and glazed and the action was rightly halted.

Sheffield “Alley Cat” Daniel Thorpe played to the gallery and had a whale of a time winding up Jamie Speight’s fans before predictably dropping a 60-54 decision on Wynford Jones’ score card in a lightweight bout.

Thorpey pulled his regular routine of mugging, walking and goading. Speight, now unbeaten in five (none quick), gave it a real go at times and pushed to get Daniel out of there, but without any form of dig and against such an experienced campaigner, the odds were always against it. The needle between Speight’s fans and Thorpe between was fairly entertaining though, and at the close everyone was happy and Thorpey will be at the end of the phone ready to fight another day.

Plymouth puncher Gavin Brook upset the applecart as he flattened Paignton’s Liam Power with one massive left hook after 1:26 of the fourth of a scheduled six twos at light-middleweight.

Power had been beaten last month in Bristol by Kevin McCauley over six and started the fight well with classy powerful combinations from his loose and open stance. He even managed to have the stockier Brook bleeding from the nose by the third. However, very few boxers have the reflexes to compensate for keeping their hands down and the fight was sensibly waved off without the count once Brook’s huge left hook had found its target. Gavin moves to 2-6-1 (2) and Power needs to re-evaluate his choice of fighting style.

Swindon’s Former Western Counties Junior ABA titlist Kelvin Young successfully rebounded from his shock knockout defeat last time out by outpointing Puriton’s Tommy Marshall 59-56 over six twos at middleweight.

Kelvin suffered a crushing one punch one round defeat to Paul Brown in April in Swindon, but boxed with both confidence and purpose in the opener last night. Although the action was scrappy at times, Kelvin showed maturity in holding on when caught by a hard right in the second.

Both fighters were hit and hurt in a very exciting third round. Marshall was tagged by a solid right hand and his legs reacted, but he regrouped well to land with his own right hand left hook salvo. Tommy was noticeably the more tired and dispirited fight over the second half of the fight. The action was messy again at times with Kelvin being warned for use of the head, but overall the Swindon man had the better of the action to take a deserved comeback win.

Carl Allen is one of those valuable trialhorses that are always willing to put on the gloves and provide a test for a young prospect. I interviewed him after his 100th fight and really enjoyed the conversation. At 40 however and without a win in over six years, the time has maybe come to call it a day. He took a lot of punishment against Torquay’s Ben Wakeham in losing a four threes at welter last night. Wynford Jones’ card read 40-35.

The action was barely competitive throughout and I couldn’t help think about the sad plight of Howard Clarke as the unbeaten Wakeham hit and hurt Carl over the four sessions. Allen, now 18-91-7 (5) and weighing 10st 10lbs, seemed far more hittable and less fit then I remembered. Wakeham could have plodded out a win, but chose to try and get brave Carl out of there. Carl took his shots and avoided the stoppage and the compulsory suspension, but experienced ringsiders didn’t find it at all palatable.

Kristine Shergold stopped Bulgarian import Galina Glumliysika in the fourth of a scheduled six twos at super-feather. Shergold, now 4-3 (1) from Paignton, looked neat and solid in the first. She boxed well behind a double jab and punished her opponent for pulling her head straight back.

Kristine built on her sound opener in the second by working Galina’s 36-year-old body. By the third Glumliyska was being forced to walk forward and smother Kristine’s work and the end came in the next round when the Bulgarian protested that she’d been head butted on the bridge of the nose to probationary referee Clarke Joslyn who contextualised her discomfort in the spell of pressure she was under and called a halt to the contest at 1:49.