Shayne brings the pain to his hometown

By Jamie Albrecht: The first fight of Friday evening's bill at Colne Municipal Hall set the tone for an exciting night of fighting and saw Liverpool’s Mike Robinson (4-1, 0 KOs) battle Shaun Doherty (2-3-3, 0 KOs) in a four-round super-bantamweight encounter.

The fight began quickly with both men eager to put on a show and whet the appetites of the lively Colne crowd. Doherty’s most noted achievement in the opener came in the form of a strong overhand right from the Bradford fighter, who looked keen to stand and trade in order to land effective shots. This was a strategy that did not faze Robinson as he gamely fought back to edge the round.

The second round brought the first sight of blood, as Robinson was cut above the right eye when Doherty looked to increase the degree of pressure and perhaps cast doubt in the Liverpool fighter’s mind about his ability to win. Despite being pushed back, Robinson then answered Doherty’s aggressive advance when he landed a good left hook. This signalled a fight back with Robinson coming on more strongly at the bell and capably fighting off of the back foot.

The third saw a 10-8 round for Doherty after he scored a knockdown born from a right hook. Upon rising from the count, survival instincts kicked in and Robinson held on to the end of the round. The last round was an indication to the crowd that the frenetic pace of the previous three rounds had caught up with the participants. However, though both men’s features were crimson and their breathing heavy, they engaged in a last desperate rally to try and convince referee John Latham that they deserved the win. Their efforts culminated in a draw, a result that very much reflected the back and forth nature of what was ultimately the fight of the night. Final Result: Draw (38-38).

Burnley welterweight Wayne Bennett (1-0, 0 Kos) took on the vastly more experienced Kristian Laight (6-83, 0 KOs) in a four-round fight. Bennett began well with a solid and snappy jab that paved the way for brief spurts of combination punching that had the effect of rendering Laight uncomfortable early on. The fast pace that was being set was clearly not favoured by the weaker looking Laight, who was being bullied and coming under heavy looking fire. The second round was slower by comparison with Bennett trying to land hurtful shots. The work behind the jab continued and Bennett was able to expose a weakness in Laight with regards to body shots. Bennett was unable in the short distance of the fight to exploit this to a greater effect.

The third saw more combination work from Bennett and an even more focused attempt on imposing himself physically upon Laight. He forced his opponent to the ropes in order to set up the kind of combination to end proceedings. However, his over eager approach stopped him from capitalising, as Laight was able to use his experience and guile to avoid any worrying shots. It appeared that with more patience employed and coupled with the use of the stiff jab and intelligent combination punching, Wayne Bennett could perhaps have stopped Laight.

The fourth wrapped up a solid points win for the Burnley prospect, now sporting a 2-0 (0 KO’s) record. Final Result: Wayne Bennett win on points (40-37).

Stephen “Georgie” Harkin (4-0-1, 1 KO) clashed with Bobby Wood (3-2, 0 KOs) in a six-round super-middleweight fight following Bennett’s win. The display from Harkin showcased his ability to chase and pressure an opponent. The first saw Harkin catch Wood repeatedly with the left hook and show his advantage in strength as he pushed Wood back and made things look easy as he repeatedly pushed forward.

In the second Harkin seemed to be aiming for the stoppage, trying to corner his opponent to allow him to go to work with punishing intent. There appeared however to be an unsettled look about Harkin, he was winning the round yes, but a failure to get into a rhythm ensured that a stoppage was not forthcoming as he stalked his prey. This tactic continued into the fifth, where Harkin seemed to neglect the idea of getting a stoppage in order to concentrate solely on getting the points win behind the relaxed jab.

The pressure exerted in previous rounds to the fifth had caught up with Wood by the final stanza. Harkin’s final admirable contribution to the fight came via the left hook, a shot that clearly shook and hurt the exhausted Wood, who had done well to slip away from serious harm whenever Harkin tried to trap him. Final Result: Stephen Harkin Win, on points (60-55).

Kieran Farrell (6-0, 2 KOs) featured next against journeyman Daniel Thorpe (23-108-3, 9 KO’s) in a four-round fight that produced the night’s only early finish. “Vicious” Farrell came out characteristically, headhunting and looking to go for the kill. Thorpe looked in trouble immediately, as the roughhouse work that has become Farrell’s trademark was carried out towards head and body at every opportunity. Any attempt by Thorpe to relieve the pressure by holding was simply met with more anger by Farrell, who took the first with relative ease.

Thorpe’s plan in the second appeared to be an idea to stay the distance and he continued to hold in order to stop Farrell advancing well. Any space that was available was not wasted as Farrell pushed Thorpe to the ropes and used the target given to him as a result to keep up his high work rate. To give him credit, Thorpe’s main success came when fighting off the ropes, an area where he offered the most if any resistance to the Farrell onslaught.

The 20-year-old from Heywood came out for the third and subsequently final round determined to end things. He controlled his work and limited it to single, pummelling punches to the body, with Thorpe on the ropes, Farrell called a halt to the fight by landing a rib crunching left hook that dropped the usually durable journeyman for the 10 count and the sixth win of his promising career.

Following the fight, Kieran spoke of his strength and how he feels his performance against much larger opposition of late has helped his confidence.

“I’m hoping to eventually get down to about 9st, at the moment I’m fighting people a lot bigger and am showing a lot of strength advantages over them, so I think it (my strength) will be even more effective for me when I get down to my best weight”. Final Result: Kieran Farrell Win, By KO (1.38, round 3).

The Main event of the evening came with Shayne “The Pain” Singleton’s (6-0, 2 KOs) six-round fight against Ali Wyatt. The man from Colne had previously stated that he was delighted to be topping the bill at his native Colne. The home support certainly didn’t let their man down.

The first round saw both fighters exercising caution in an apparent “feeling out” period. Singleton did not seem to be overly concerned with asserting himself totally, instead preferring to keep behind the jab and move around the ring steadily. Wyatt displayed more aggression, but he failed to make an impact with any opportunities he had in a fairly even round. The second round showed shades of excitement as both men came out more positively, tagging each other with substantial shots in the process. Shane showed the more composure of the two however and although Wyatt again was the more advancing of the two, Singleton stayed calm and was able to continue to build up points effectively; landing a heavy left hook that hurt Wyatt and excited the Colne faithful.

The third showed that Shayne was slowly getting into the sort of rhythm that showed the capability of winning, the single shots had by now given way to combination punching. Wyatt’s come forward attitude was met with a simple calmness that only confidence can bring, Singleton’s solution was to cover up, bide his time and answer with bombs, a case in point being the solid right hook he hit Wyatt with late on in the third round.

By the fourth, Shayne appeared to be going for the knockout to add to an already impressive showing and began letting his hands go with full force, Wyatt’s response of fighting back the tide caused Singleton to slip, an incident that was ruled a knockdown, much to the displeasure of the spectators. The knockdown made no difference to the outcome however, as Singleton once again relaxed and continued to trouble Wyatt with heavy and consistent punching until the final bell. Singleton had achieved two things upon having his hand raised in victory. Firstly, he topped the bill at home. And finally and surely more importantly he got the sweet victory his career needs in order to go from strength to strength. Final Result: Shayne Singleton win, on points (59-56).