Economides' challenge to Doherty
“I thought he would stand and trade more, with it being his own show. I never expected him to be so unorthodox; he did what he needed to do.”
These are the words of Paul Economides as he learns to live with his defeat by Robbie Turley in their eagerly anticipated Welsh super-bantamweight clash last Saturday. The bout, staged in Newport in front of Robbie’s home crowd featured the age old battle between boxer and fighter. In the end the all action style of Economides was negated and out-thought by the unorthodox yet effective Turley, which gave the skilful Cefn Fforest man his first title in the pro ranks. Still, there were people ringside that had Economides winning the fight.
“The guy from BBC Cardiff had me winning, and so did some other people. It was a case of ‘what you liked’ when it came to the scoring. I got in close and he held, and then he ran but I was always the one forcing the fight. Really though, I don’t think I did enough to win, especially on his own show, but there is no way that the score of 99-92 was a fair reflection of the fight, that was ridiculous.”
There were, however, things that Economides believes he could have done differently during the night.
“I should have thrown more countering straight shots. All the way through the camp I had been practicing countering with the left hook as I thought I would be on the inside more. When it got to fight night he was running away and I wasn’t able to change my tactics, even though I was being told to throw those straight shots. I will learn from that though, no doubts.”
It cannot be denied that there were positives to take from a night, though disappointing, could hardly be described as damaging for the Connahs Quay man.
“I was really happy with my engine, I still felt strong at the end of the night, and there isn’t a mark on me. I have proved myself capable of fighting at championship level as the score wasn’t a fair reflection of the fight. I just now have to wait for my next opportunity.”
That chance may come sooner than those exiting the arena on Saturday would have possibly thought. The co-main event saw Bradford’s Shaun Doherty win a thriller against former British and Commonwealth title challenger Matthew Edmonds for the British Masters super-bantamweight title. The fight, which arguably turned out to be the best small hall scrap of the year so far, saw Doherty turn around a points deficit and stop Edmonds in the tenth and final round, flooring him three times (having already floored the Welshman in the eighth). Economides, having fought and beaten Doherty twice on points, is not surprised by his ex-foe’s success.
“I will be honest; I thought Edmonds would win the fight, with it being his home show. But Shaun is a really good fighter. People underestimate him because of his record but I tell you, I bet he was robbed in some of those, he would probably say he was robbed against me!”
Doherty definitely felt bad at the end of their second encounter in December, having lost the bout by a razor thin score of 39-38. One wonders whether the prospect of revenge will prove too much for the Bradford man.
“I know and he knows that four rounds isn’t enough to figure out who the best man is. We need to do this; it would be a great fight.”
And Economides would have no problems travelling to face his man on away territory.
“He is the champion, and because of that I am happy to fight him on his own patch. I know his camp have a date for the 26th April and I am happy to be his opponent, let’s get this done.”
Finally Paul has one message for Shaun Doherty - one could call it a Spartan battle cry.
“Shaun, if you want to be a real champion you should fight the only man to have beaten you twice. Let’s get this on.”
