Choi wins Prizefighter at second attempt
Insatiable forty-year-old Choi Tsveenpurev became the latest Prizefighter champion as he overcame Manchester’s Rhys Roberts to capture the first featherweight title at the York Hall yesterday. The final was neither a classic nor fight of the night in fairness. Roberts, an ambitious 22-year-old whose only defeat in fourteen pre-Prizefighter contests had come via injury, started off cagily.
Choi scored the only meaningful punch of the round staggering Roberts with a left hook on the ropes. The Mongolian clocked Roberts with a hard overhand right in the second and Rhys didn’t seem able to be able to nullify Choi with his sharp counter punching attacks. In between further mauls, Tsveenpurev smashed over hard hooks and was brutal at roughing the younger man up. The final session was again anti-climactic – Choi found a way to hurt and bully Roberts in-between spells of mauling and arm-locking.
Choi started the evening in far more convincing fashion as he blasted out previously unbeaten Lee Glover after 1:02 of the second round. Lee was down twice in total, both from right hands. After the second knockdown, which came as a result of a shot that seemed to hit him behind the ear, Glover didn’t respond to the referee’s instructions and walked towards his own corner. The contest was rightly called off by Victor Loughlin.
Former England Amateur George Jupp progressed into the semi-finals by way of cuts stoppage over Liverpool’s well-supported Lee Jennings. Jennings started strongly in the opener tagging the 20-year-old with hard clean shots but then the tide turned quickly as George connected with a hard right uppercut and left hook. The bad cut appeared in the corner of the left eye courtesy of a punch in the second round. Lee bravely and desperately tried to turn matters around but the contest was brought to an unsatisfactory close at 1:55 of the round with blood flowing freely.
Future finalist Rhys Roberts cruised into the semis by shutting out Slough’s tough Ian Bailey on all three judges scorecards. Bailey, with a slate of 7-7 (0), is better than a journeyman but couldn’t cope with Roberts’ style of class throughout the contest. Rhys, boxing with his hands low and looking at catch Bailey on the way in, would catch the strong and determined Bailey with crisp straight shot and occasionally you could see a slight reaction in Ian’s legs, but his heart and desire kept him fighting over the full course.
Unbeaten Troy James overcame Nottingham’s Barrington Brown in the last quarter-final. After a very sharp start where Barrington caught James right at the get go and caused him problems, Brown became increasingly deterred by the volume of punches from James – who at one time was managed by Barry McGuigan. After three sessions over which Troy’s buzzsaw style squeezed the ambition out of Barrington, the three scoring officials scored the affair 20-28, 29-28 and 29-28.
At the outset, I thought the first semi-final between Choi and George Jupp would be a case of man against boy considering the gulf in experience between the two fighters. But the South-East Londoner made the Mongolian miss repeatedly and he seemed to be able to score with his own shots at times. But ultimately, Choi was just that bit too experienced, that bit too strong and at times too hurtful for Jupp to overcome. Jupp is one for the future though, even if the night belonged to Choi. Terry O’Connor scored it a wide 30-27 but Mark Green and Ian John Lewis’ cards seemed closer at 29-28 a piece.
Rhys Roberts used his slick quicksilver skills to capture the second semi-final in beating Troy James, A big left hook rocked James in the opener. James came forward and threw a lot of punches, but seemed too ineffective for me to take the session. It was clear that James’ style suited Roberts to the ground in the second. Troy was marching right onto shots and Roberts has excellent timing and precision. It was almost surgical how one or two punshing incisions by Roberts could defuse a swarming James attack. James did manage to push him close at times but Rhys was always in control for my money.
Finally, the evening started with the “Prizefighter Prospect” fight before the round robin tournament started. Enfield-based Cypriot Andreas Evangelou looked fortunate for my money to capture a 39-37 verdict courtesy of Terry O’Connor over Matt Inman at light heavy. Both Sky and myself scored the contest a draw. Andreas didn’t seem comfortable throughout the fight. He regularly gritted his teeth in an over-the-top way and seemed very tired in a four-rounder. His punches lacked snap or variety and Inman seemed to be able to take most of the incoming efforts on his gloves.
