Late sub Byrne’s gamble fails as speculation mounts on Gavin’s future

Dean Byrne’s commendable gamble to take on Frank Haroche Horta with just 24-hours notice backfired after he was retired by his corner after eight completed rounds at a sparse Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester last night. Byrne, who stepped in when troubled former amateur star Frankie Gavin went awol on Thursday, was outclassed by the French southpaw Horta who was gradually starting to work the Irishman over when the intervention came.

Byrne’s corner, led by Anthony Farnell and Dean Powell, sensibly elected to preserve the Dublin man for another day. In hindsight, perhaps this courtesy should have been extended to the punters who had bought tickets to see Gavin vs Horta and Ronnie Heffron take on Chris Johnson in the chief support, which was also shelved when Johnson pulled out citing a bad back.

The 27-year-old Byrne (10st 10lbs 11oz) was unbeaten in 15 but this was his first serious test against Horta (10st 7lbs 6oz), who despite his patchy 26-8-5 record was unbeaten in ten in an unbeaten run stretching two-and-a-half years. Brimming with confidence, the charismatic Frenchman found his range with some poking southpaw jabs from the off which caused some reddening to Byrne’s face in the opener.

Horta continued to irritate Byrne with his jab as he controlled the action at long-range as Dean struggled to get inside. The Irishman, who fought only last week when recording an eight-round points victory against Michael Frontin, seldom looked capable of solving the puzzle except when he decided to stand his ground in round three. Byrne was unable to up his workrate though and afterwards admitted he had lost nine pounds after accepting the fight.

Byrne was made to look sluggish by Horta who started to dominate on the inside with short, accurate punches to head and body in the fifth. By the sixth, it was apparent that Dean was really starting to struggle as blood began to seep from a wound in his mouth as Horta did as he pleased. Dean commendably tried to rally in the seventh but this only served to prompt Horta to pick things up which he duly did in the eighth. At the end of another difficult session referee Richie Davies made his way over to Byrne’s corner and seemed poised to wave the fight off but the Irishman’s corner had already come to the same conclusion. Byrne was officially retired due ‘to a damaged right hand’. The non-title welterweight contest was set for 12 rounds.

On a night of disappointments, former Commonwealth light-middleweight champion Matthew Hall looks set to enter retirement for a second time after he dropped a six-round points decision to Bulgaria’s Alex Ribchev. Steve Gray’s 58-57 scorecard reflected a close contest which could have gone either way but sportingly Hall had no complaints. In a refreshingly and heartfelt post-fight interview afterwards, Hall described himself as ‘an old fighter’ and stated that he felt he lost fairly against an opponent who he should have beaten comfortably. Sadly, it was hard to disagree with Matthew’s frank assessment.

This was Hall’s first fight back after he briefly hung his gloves up following his stoppage loss to Lukas Konecny for the European title last September. The Manchester man returned with a new trainer (Pat Barrett), and with a cleaner bill of health after he solved some breathing difficulties which he believed were behind his disappointing performances, but ultimately to no avail.

By Matthew’s own admission, he looks a million miles away from the fighter who demolished Bradley Pryce in two rounds to capture the Commonwealth crown in 2009. Slow out of the blocks, Hall (11st 7lbs 6oz) sustained a cut to his forehead in round one and further damage to his left eye in the third as Ribchev (11st 7 lbs) repeatedly breached the Middleton man’s leaky defence with straight rights through the middle. Hall came on stronger in the fifth and sixth as the fleshy Ribchev tired but there was no snap in Matthew’s punches and everything appeared forced.

Hall, who is provisionally booked to contest a British title eliminator against the unbeaten Kris Carslow next month, slips to 23-4. Ribchev, who is likely to become a regular visitor to the UK, improves to 12-3-1.