Scottish victories at Culloden (this time)
On a night of foul weather which would have postponed the real battle of Culloden, the Highland Capital’s three professional boxers put on a show which warmed the hearts of their fans in the swish “New Drumossie” hotel only a mile or so from the original site.
The hotel sits on top of a hill overlooking the Highland capital Inverness, and with the temperature hovering around 3 degrees centigrade but with a wind chill factor which took it to the minus scale, it made for an uncomfortable night for we smokers who have to go outside for a nicotine fix.
No such problem inside the 4-star hotel, the surrounds and the sell-out crowd raised the temperature to almost perspiration. This was another super night of the “Noble Art” with ultimately, the right results for the home fans with victories for all of their boxers. Andrew Young restarted his boxing career after two years out of the sport with a convincing win over a callow looking youth from Lithuania Remantas Seniunas.
Young scaled 14st exactly while Seniunas came in at 14 st 1oz. The kid from Lithuania must be heavy boned as he looked to me (at the weigh-in) as though he was several divisions lower. However, looks are obviously deceptive and my eyesight isn’t that bad he was the heavier by the merest ounce.
The bout itself started with Young doubling up on his jab and following it up with meaningful right hooks cum crosses. In truth, the youngster Seniunas never looked as though he was going to trouble Andrew, while frankly looking out of his depth against a resurgent Invernesian. Seniunas was being marked up from Young’s attention right from the first bell and it was exacerbated by his pale skin showing every mark.
The bell for the second round brought further punishment for Seniunas, and close to the end of the round Young hit him with a gut wrenching body shot which doubled the youngster on the canvas. One look from the two metres distance where I sat ringside, showed there was no chance of him recovering either his breath or composure as Referee Kenny Pringle inexorably counted to ten after 1 minute 22 seconds of the second round.
Andrew will face tougher opposition than this in his resurrection as a professional boxer, but it was good to get this over and done with, and without overtime.
Next up was Alistair “Jasper” Chisholm (10 7lbs 2ozs) in only his second contest as a professional, matched with Mark Bett (10st 11lbs) of Larkhall. I knew and saw Jasper when secretary of Inverness City ABC, but this was my first sight of him in the paid ranks.
Perhaps the pressure of his first bout in his home town with an legion of fans got to him in the opening round as Bett took it comfortably with only the ropes preventing Chisholm from joining the official in charge and the time keeper after walking straight into a stiff right.
Without wishing to be unkind to Bett, this unaccustomed success obviously drained his energy as it was all down hill from the second bell. I’ve seen Mark on a few occasions and his stamina has been called into question on those bouts, so there was no surprise when it flagged again. His heart is a different matter, there’s no shortcomings there, he has guts and heart in abundance. That in itself should be a caution to him and his management, he won’t give up when he’s on the end of a shellacking. Fine for the paying punters but not conducive to his longer term well-being.
Jasper listened to his coach Laurie Redfern and the calls of Tommy Gilmour to 'be first' after his disastrous opening round, and from then on it was one way traffic, Chisholm could hardly miss the exposed head of Bett even if he wanted to. It is as well that Jasper isn’t heavy handed otherwise the paramedics would have had their work cut out with the Larkhall fighter.
The fans loved it for the war that it was, but it was a one-sided war after the opening round and those of us who know boxing, know when someone is being hurt over and above the call of duty. Kenny Pringle scored it 59-55.
Top of the bill was the fans favourite 6ft 7in Gary “The Highlander” Cornish (16st 8lbs), rematched with Hastings Rasani (15st 13lbs 2ozs) after a late call-off from his Lithuanian scheduled opponent.
Both men had served up a stirring contest in Aberdeen in June of this year when a cut over the left eye forced Rasani to retire in the 4th round, and although this one went the distance of 8 rounds, again Rasani was cut again over his left eye, which Errol Johnson managed to keep control over.
The bout had an innocuous opening couple of rounds. Disconcertingly Cornish insists on occasionally keeping his hands like a pugilistic 'Irish Dancer', down beneath his waist, so far in his embryonic career this hasn’t been too much of a problem. However in the longer term, and as the opposition improves, this will cause him some grief. Using the 'Irish Dancing' metaphor, if only his footwork matched theirs then he could dance in and out of range with ease.
There is a rawness about Gary which is purely based on his relative inexperience, but he hits with the force of a cannon ball and he is fast with it. Tidy up the other aspect (defence) and his star will surely ascend.
In the third round he felled Rasani twice and how many can say they did that to the 'teak-tough' Zimbabwean? He literally staggered back to his stool at the bell where the ministrations of Errol saw him fit to continue.
Rasani obviously came to the conclusion that the best form of defence is attack and he did so with some gusto towards the end of the fourth. The sixth round was lit up like a Christmas tree with a hammer of a blow which opened up a nasty cut on Rasani’s left eyebrow. As the fight drifted towards the final bell it was apparent that Cornish wasn’t going to stop Rasani as the older man knew how to tie up the enthusiastic Invernesian to smother any Exocets that Cornish might send.
The referee’s decision, 80-71, says it all, and I’m probably being too picky with criticism of the low hands and dodgy footwork, but if Cornish is going to go to the top in this sport he needs to be the all round polished article, and Scotland needs him to fulfil the desire of the country for a decent heavyweight.
A super night of pugilism in the Highland Capital City marred only by the dreich weather, bitterly cold winds and driving rain on the three hour journey home.
