Prizefighter: Hide out Okoth in

As Jon-Lewis Dickinson quickly finished off Mark Krence in the first semi-final, a mouth-watering tear up between Herbie Hide and Darren Corbett was just minutes away. Or so we all thought.

It was left to a Sky camera man to inform me that Herbie had just announced his withdrawal from Prizefighter after sustaining a nasty cut to his right eye in his quarter-final.

Hide wisely counted the cost and a possible stoppage due to his eye would have resulted in him losing his WBC number three ranking.

While Hide was on his way to having stitches it was left to reserve Nick Okoth to be the first reserve used in Prizefighter history and step into Herbie’s place facing the tough Irishman instead.

Okoth was a happy man and smiled as he touched Corbett’s gloves at the start. When the bell rang to begin proceedings Okoth was still crouched down in his corner with his back to Corbett as referee Phil Edwards ordered him to hurry.

It was an uneventful opening round with many punches missing the target. The only markers were a few left hooks from Corbett but Okoth was going for it

This close-quarters affair helped Okoth to connect, but it was Corbett who had the more noticeable power catching Okoth with several hard shots.

A glance at the Sky monitor revealed Okoth had landed more punches and he confirmed that wih a heavy left which rocked Corbett’s head back.

It was Okoth who was pressing a difficult fight to score. I had it even while all three judges left the large Corbett following disappointed by agreeing on their tally of 29-28.

Although Okoth was outclassed in the final, £16,000 for two fights is not a bad night’s work considering he came in with an 8-27-5 record.