Theophane finally repels Murphy firestorm; undercard round up

In my preview for this fight my opening line was 'beware the late replacement'. It would seem that never a truer word had been spoken as Ben Murphy, coming in at late notice, gave Ashley Theophane the fright of his boxing life before succumbing to the British light-welterweight champion, stopped on his feet in round eleven.

However, this does not tell the full story of what surprisingly was a fight full of drama and intrigue at Peterlee Leisure Centre on Saturday night.

Fired up by this unexpected opportunity, Murphy tore into Theophane from the opening bell. A combination of pressure, sometimes crude, but pressure nonetheless and looping rights to the head and sickening rights to the body had Murphy miles ahead after five rounds on my card. Indeed Theophane, who had the look of a man who didn't know what hit him, didn't win a single session on my card during those torrid opening five rounds.

'Treasure', who can be a slow starter, simply had no answer for the whirling dervish that was Murphy early doors and at this stage the upset looked more than a distinct possibility.

Round six saw a slight turning of the tide, with Theophane catching Murphy on the way in, especially with the right hand, the champion doing just enough to win his first round on my card.

Round seven carried on in pretty much a similar vein for me with Theophane starting at last to get his jab working and a big right late in the round pulled another round back for me for the champion. With a cut over the right eye you would expect the brave challenger to be slightly disheartened. This was clearly not the case and he gave as good as he got through rounds eight and nine although, and tellingly it would seem later in the fight, these rounds saw the challenger begin to noticeably slow down.

Round ten was the best round of the fight for me, both fighters winging away but again Theophane's work was slightly more accurate to the point where coming out for start of the eleventh I had Murphy up by a point.

Round eleven started with a big right hand by Murphy - second wind perhaps? However, this was soon dispelled by right hands downstairs from Theophane who had the look of a man who finally realised this was his time in the fight. Sure enough, two more right hands, this time to the head backed Murphy to the ropes and despite a gallant attempt from the challenger, unanswered punches from Theophane finally saw Murphy’s more than brave challenge ended with Howard Foster saving the Hove man from further punishment.

At first glance my initial thoughts were that the stoppage was a tad early, however the general consensus ringside was the referee Foster got the timing spot on. With the benefit of hindsight I now share this view.

What did the fight tell us? Well, Ben Murphy is for real and deserves massive credit for such a brave effort, his all action style will prove a nightmare for anyone and he deserves to see his career go on an upward curve from now. Theophane also deserves credit for eventually repelling a fired up challenger with the complete antithesis of style he had been training for. However, he will need to perform better than this I feel if he is to compete with the Frankie Gavins of this world. Good fight, both men deserve credit.

Speaking of credit, you have to say Chris Edwards deserves a ton of it, as he won a Lonsdale belt for keeps by once again beating Shinny Bayaar in defence of his British flyweight title on the undercard. Unlike their last fight though, Edwards won more clearly using sheer workrate and speed to triumph over a gallant but ultimately well beaten Bayaar.

The fight followed pretty much a similar pattern throughout. Edwards winning rounds with workrate and more effective landing of punches, punctuated by single shot success from Bayaar. No doubting the fact that Bayaar landed the more eye-catching shots, the problem being they were few and far between and it was clear that from very early on Edwards was setting a pace that Bayaar would struggle with throughout the fight. In what was a fight with non-stop action both men deserve credit for giving the small Peterlee crowd an entertaining fight and both men can move on knowing that they both have much to offer.

The rest of the undercard saw a variety of local fighters early on in their careers and there were a few standout performances. Probably the most impressive of these being Danny Price who easily outpointed the wily Hastings Rasani winning every round for a 40-36 verdict from referee Andrew Wright. Price, an excellent amateur seems to have made the transition into the pro ranks fairly comfortably and hurt Rasani on more than one occasion, the veteran at times on the verge of being stopped. Tall and rangy with power, Price looks one to watch in what seems to be a cruiserweight scene domestically which is coming to the boil.

A rare knockout win for Martin Ward was another highlight of the undercard. The usual flashy skills were on show from Ward, this time punctuated with power it would seem as a cracking straight left from the southpaw stance levelled Andy Roberts. Ward continues to march on to what he hopes is a crack at the British title in the none too distant future.

Former British bantamweight champion Stuart Hall shrugged off the disappointment of his loss to Jamie McDonnell by shedding ring rust with a useful six-round workout against the tough Dai Davies from Wales. Whilst Hall cannot claim to have been at his best he got better as the fight wore on, a right to the body to end round four especially catching the eye. Hall will be glad of the win which he duly got 59-56 from referee Mark Curry. Onwards and upwards for Hall it would seem.

In what was a packed undercard, stand out performances from Robert Ismay and Mark Clauzel (both winners by stoppage) and good learning fights for Jonson McClumpha and Gary Fox, both taken the distance by wily operators Billy Smith and Dee Mitchell respectively saw punters get good value for money.

Chuck in a bloody show opener which saw local featherweight David Lake floored, cut and beaten by a fired up Graham McNichol and good points wins for Paul Archer and Robert Dixon and North East fight fans can claim to have witnessed a good night’s entertainment.

What the crowd lacked in numbers, it was more than made up for in atmosphere and it was good to see a whole host of local fighters get their chance on a Sky show.

A nice touch was also added by the traditional ringing of ten bells in recognition of the life of Gus Robinson who did so much for boxing in this region and who died last month.

It’s good to see therefore that the likes of Frank Maloney and Phil Jeffries are carrying on this good work. If we get main events like we did with Theophane v Murphy then it can only spell good times for the North East boxing world.