Booth edges Arthur by split decision; more Brentwood action
Jason “2 Smooth” Booth added the Commonwealth super-bantamweight strap to his British title on Saturday night at the Brentwood Leisure Centre as he overcame a slow start to pip Pontypridd’s Jamie Arthur via split decision. Ritchie Davies scored 115-114 in favour of the Welshman, while Ian John-Lewis and Marcus McDonnell favoured Booth by tallies of 115-113 and 117-112 respectively.
Arthur started fast in the first. Despite looking slightly gaunt and angular around the cheek bones, he came forward throwing shots in threes. Jamie seemed to struggle with being the shorter man and had trouble getting into punching range. Jamie started to attack Booth’s 33-year-old body in the second session. He was able to repeatedly arc in hurtful right hooks to the stomach which made a mockery of the 10-3 pre-fight betting on his winning.
In the third and fourth sessions, Jason started to make a better argument of the contest. He started scoring with his own well-timed left hooks and the pace and intensity of punching exchanges was impressive. Notably, the heads of both men started to grind in and both were risking facial damage. Cuts predictably reared their crimson masks in the fifth. Arthur was the first to be affected in the corner of his right eye, but soon after Booth’s own eye was bleeding badly. By the sixth, the contest had turned into a quality finely-balanced championship affair. Booth’s left hooks were smooth and beautifully-timed, but Jamie was connecting with his own shots. His left eye was badly cut now, but expert cutsman Mick Williamson had patched up the right one well. Arthur came forward aggressively and managed to land with some left hooks and right hands. Significantly, Jamie was starting to take a lot more leather to land his own work by this stage and Booth was looking to target the body.
Over the last four rounds, the fight was fought increasingly at close quarters. Arthur followed up his jabs well with left hooks. But Booth seemed to be coming forward the more and scored with some cracking right hands and hard body shots. Former European King Rendell Munroe watched at ringside and a fight between him and either man would be a mouth-watering domestic proposition.
In the chief support, Liverpool’s David Price easily stopped South African import Osborne Machimana after 2:53 of the third round of a Commonwealth title eliminator. Machimana weighed in at 21st 5lbs 1oz which is 299lbs. A respected reporter at ringside referred to him as being “dangerous for a couple of rounds” then he rolled his eyes and several people started laughing. He was simply woefully out-of-shape for an 'athlete'. The former Commonwealth games gold medallist took a look at him in the opener and didn’t really throw a lot at the start. Machimana then appeared to choose to go to the canvas several seconds after taking a shot.
Osbourne, who managed to floor Mark Potter in losing in three on his first London visit in 2002, showed zero ambition in the second. Price hit him with jabs and right hands as he pleased and nothing came back at all. Machimana was given a standing count in the third after using the ropes to stay up following a class uppercut from the Beijing Olympian. He did manage to counter Price nicely with a couple of left hooks as David looked for the finish, but Price floored he again heavily on the ropes and the sub-standard affair was called off.
Southern area Cruiserweight king Leon Williams was given a rude awakening as he was stopped in the second of a scheduled six rounder against Blackpool-based Slovakian Richard Turba. Turba attacked systematically in the opener. Williams was forced to fight off the ropes and he was given no room whatsoever to gather himself. In the first minute of the second, Turba smashed Williams with a hard right hand and missed with the follow up left hook and down went Leon. He beat the count but failed to convince referee Ian John-Lewis that he was in any position to continue. The time was 0:44 seconds.
Exeter’s Lewis Browning lost his second fight in succession as tall southpaw Terry Flannigan from Manchester floored him in both the first and second rounds to earn a wide 60-53 point verdict over six at featherweight. Hard and accurate body shots were responsible for causing the visits to the canvas. Terry, very tall for a feather, found Browning easy to catch with southpaw jabs followed by straight right hands. Lewis was constantly pressed and made to work for survival by the accurate and determined 21-year-old. Browning, who has impressed me with several of his previous ring appearances, simply didn’t have the firepower to make an impact. Flannigan looks one to watch and is now 10-0 (4).
Sunderland’s Jonson McClumpha scored his second win in the paid ranks when he out-pointed stubborn Kevin McCauley over four rounds at middle. Over the first two stanzas, it appeared that the 20-year-old Johnson was booked for his second straight early night. Kevin was badly hurt and not able to either hold the youngster off or put together any meaningful resistance. To his credit, McCauley rode the storm and turned the contest into a very entering affair over the last two rounds. The pair exchanged fast and hard shots which Kevin often coming off the better. At the close, the contest was scored 39-38.
Joe Hughes stopped out-classed Gavin Putney in the first of a scheduled six threes at welter. Graham Earl threw in the towel after his fighter had been floored heavily from body shots and there was absolutely no point in letting the hapless Putney absorb any more.
