Teasdale returns from five-year absence with a win
“Looks like Oscar de la Hoya. Fights like Oscar Wilde.” So observed my good pal and fellow BoxRec News correspondent Steve Walsh after watching a few rounds of the comebacking Daniel ‘The Tease’ Teasdale at Rotherham’s Magna Centre last night.
An astute view, even though the Rotherham boxer beat Dean Walker on points over six.
It was almost seven years to the day (23rd November 2003) since Teasdale made his professional boxing debut at this very venue in a show promoted, as last night’s was, by David Coldwell.
Twice in my life whilst reporting I’ve had to climb into the ring because it was the safest place to be. One was during Teasdale’s debut. If you look at his log, his debut is a No Contest against Patrick Cito. That’s because the fight was called off as a load of Scott Haywood’s alcohol-sodden ‘fans’ were hitting other members of the paying public with chairs. By the time the police turned up mob-handed, both the trouble and the show was all over.
Hey, every cloud and all that. I got the front page of the Sheffield Star.
Coldwell, with his role at Hayemaker Boxing, has gone on to much bigger and better things.
But what of ‘The Tease’? After his aborted debut, he beat Ojay Abrahams twice and another journeyman in Tomas Da Silva before facing fellow South Yorkshire prospect, John Ibbotson, then 2-0. Teasdale was iced in 47 seconds. That was in October 2005 and last night’s fight against Sheffield’s Walker was his first since then.
Teasdale (12st 1 ¼ lbs) came out of the blocks quickly, flicking out a non-threatening jab. Walker (12st 2lbs) crashed in five unanswered left hooks in between Teasdale’s busier work. He wasn’t elusive first time around and he hasn’t improved since. He threw plenty though, landed with a decent proportion of them but there was absolutely nothing on them.
Walker couldn’t miss him in the second and took the round, prompting Teasdale’s trainer Brendan Ingle to offer a lecture.
The Rotherham man had a better third round, helped by Walker doing less, but it wasn’t good enough for Brendan who entertained the intimate crowd with the following classic: “What are you doing you stupid bastard? Jab and move either left or right! I’ll go out there and beat the bastard myself!”
Teasdale kept the Irish veteran off his back for the rest of the contest, moving a bit better and notching up the points with more bunches of pitter-patter punches. I had it 59-57 for Teasdale whereas referee Mike Alexander scored it 59-56. He moves to 4-1-0-1 whereas Walker drops to 12-26-3.
I’m not sure what the 28-year-old wants to achieve in the sport. If it’s burying the demons created by Ibbotson all those years ago, let’s hope he’s done that. If it’s much more, he’s got a long way to go.
‘Super’ Kevin Hooper is causing such a stir in his home town of Grimsby that their local paper sent a writer in person to cover his bout with Sheffield’s Dale ‘Black Mamba’ Hutchison. His log improved to 7-0 after a slashing right cross in the second round opened up a nasty gash over Hutchison’s left eye.
The Sheffielder (now 0-5-1) made it to the end of the session but cornerman Brendan Ingle called referee Howard Foster over in the minute’s break to rightly call a halt to the contest. Hutchison (10st 0 lbs 10oz) was certainly trying hard up to that point but Hooper (10st 4 ½ lbs) was his superior, slipping attacks and turning his man before turning effective aggressor himself.
Rotherham’s Navid Mansouri (11st 2 ¼ lbs) also moved to 7-0 with a comfortable 40-36 win over Leicester trier Lester Walsh (11st 5 ½ lbs). The 24-year-old had too much in every department for the man who is ten years his senior. Mansouri sells a few tickets and some of his fans were vocal in demanding a knockout but he doesn’t appear to be a big puncher and (2-12-1) is accustomed to hearing the final bell. The pair engaged in a very spirited exchange of lusty blows in the last 30 seconds which topped off the evening’s card nicely.
