Dazzling Darren: Hamilton claims Southern Area title at York Hall

Bermondsey’s Pete McDonagh lost his Southern Area light-welterweight title to Darren Hamilton last night as his corner threw in the towel at 2:59 of round eight at the York Hall.

Peter, looking by far the smaller man despite having an announced pound weight advantage, came up against a spirited and determined challenge from Hamilton immediately. From the off Darren caught the far more-experienced fighter with left right left combinations. The “Connemara Kid”, who’ll turn 34 later this year, seemed to struggle to find that lovely rhythm and range that he has shown down the years. While not looking totally confident the 32-year-old Bristolian was catching McDonagh with well-timed straight shots and Peter was unable to avoid the incoming leather over the early rounds.

In the fourth, the stronger Hamilton was able to cuff the Bermondsey-based champion around and was warned for punishing down behind the head. By the sixth, Peter was still trying to stake his claim on the contest by coming forward, but was getting caught on the way in.

The seventh round saw Darren winning the war of the jabs and crucially Peter’s left eye was closing. McDonagh, 16-19 (2) going in, was unsteady on his legs at times in the eighth and seemed not to see the right hands coming due to the now almost shut eye. Thankfully, Peter’s corner saw that their man was getting caught and as he no longer had the fire power to turn the contest around they correctly ended the affair.

In the chief support, 21-year-old Adil Anwar successfully defended his International Masters welterweight title against Aylesbury’s Nathan “Da Lick” Graham as he floored the former footballer four times officially before the contest was stopped in the tenth round. Five years and five unbeaten fights away from his only defeat to Ingle-fighter Tyan Booth, Graham was up against a champion with a 10-1 (4) slate who was boxing for the first time outside of Leeds.

By far the shorter man, southpaw Graham had trouble closing Anwar down from the start. Adil, 10-1 (4) going in and billed as “The Platinum Kid”, boxed with his hands down and his guard open over the beginning of the fight. Referee Ken Curtis missed the evening’s first knock down as Graham was briefly floored after getting caught with a left hook when steaming forward in the third.

Adil definitely had considerable size and natural strength advantages on Nathan. Soon after, another left hand had Nathan down again and this time the third man issued a count. Despite almost seven years as a pro, Graham lost all composure and charged in on the champion. Adil, displaying some nifty footwork, moved out of the way rapidly and Graham went straight through the ropes WWE style.

There was pandemonium as the bell went in amongst the fuss and the York Hall seemed to be overflowing with noise and excitement. Anwar was by far the cooler man in the fourth and managed to floor Nathan again with a right hand. He caught the small challenger regularly and punished him for charging in. I scored with fifth a close session, but Adil hurt Graham in the sixth and Nathan’s attempts to roar back after getting caught were becoming noticeably less effective.

Adil controlled the action well off the back foot in the seventh and although the 28-year-old was still trying to make an impact coming forward, he simply didn’t give himself enough room to work in close which allowed Anwar to defuse the situation and get away again. Despite settling down and taking the next round on my card, Nathan was floored at the end of the ninth by a hard right hand and when the Leeds fighter repeated the trick in the tenth, referee Ken Curtis saved Graham from his own bravery on waved the contest off.

Eric “The Eagle” Ochieng lost his unbeaten record last night as he was out pointed 39-38 by Castleford’s Luke Robinson in a top-class middleweight four rounder that had condensed within it more action than most championship fights. The pair set about each other viciously from the opening bell. Ochieng was scoring well with right hands but it seemed a case of whatever he could do, Robinson could do better. Luke closed the range so well and punched accurately and solidly to exploit any slight weakness in Eric’s guard.

The pair were again exchanging really hard shots from the bell in the second. Even in close, neither man was looking for a breather as both where punching and looking for angles to land. When he did get clear success, Ochieng had to eat up hard counters to both head and body.

The match was a give and take affair in the third, with Robinson always having the slight edge. In the last, Robinson was standing in front of Eric and really got the better of the vast majority of exchanges. Robinson and Ochieng’s records are now a symmetrical 6-1-1 (2). This one would make a fantastic rematch.

Finally, Croydon’s Danny Davis made a successful debut against Lithuania’s Wladimiris Balakitac over four-threes at light welter. The visitor, who’d won his only previous fight, seemed to have a kick boxing background as he instinctively almost followed up an attack with a leg kick before checking himself at the last moment. The Lithuanian began the contest by circling and mugging theatrically but as the contest passed the straight punches of Davis started to slow him down. By the third, Danny was walking through the resistance of the slowing import and probably could have forced a stoppage in the last if he’d put his foot on the gas.