Young gun masters Randell for first title - Swindon report
Kelvin Young captured the International Masters middleweight title on Friday night with a convincing ten round points victory over Birmingham’s experienced Tony Randell at the Oasis Leisure centre in Swindon.
Kelvin, a celebrated amateur at Penhill Royal British Legion ABC, had been unceremoniously clobbered to a stoppage defeat inside a round last time he fought at the same venue by Paul Brown in April last year. So it was unsurprising that he seemed cautious in the opener. After that point, Young found both his range and the measure of Randell with relative ease. He connected with educated straight right hands and followed up with chopping uppercuts.
Randell, by far the taller man, was being tagged regularly by the jab and found his reckless surges being heavily punished by the fighter in blue and gold. By the midway stage, Randell hadn’t managed to either trouble Young or to land any scoring shots regularly. Kelvin was now stringing his punches together in twos and threes and looking fantastic.
The later half of the contest followed the same pattern with the Swindon man getting the better of the action from the back foot and peppering the former Midlands area king with clusters of educated punches. Third man Grant Wallis scored the fight 97-95 at the close. I had it far wider but the right man won. Kelvin moves to 9-1 (0) while Randell slips to 12-25-2 (4).
Trowbridge’s Nick “Bang Bang” Blackwell scored a fifth round stoppage over stubborn Romanian Mihai Macovei. It was Nick’s first outing since being stopped by Martin Murray for the British and Commonwealth straps in June and was clearly designed to be a confidence booster for the 20-year-old from Wiltshire. Mocovei, a 35-year-old who has mainly fought in Austria despite having his last three outings in France, proved to be determined and durable opponent until Nick found a peach of an overhand right.
For the first four and a half rounds, Blackwell marched into punching range and looked to cripple the import with shots downstairs. He would then switch his attack to the head and look for the finishing shots. The only snag was that Macovei took a whack wonderfully and was super game to boot. It looked that Blackwell wasn’t going to be able to stop him and that Mihai would survive, but then the crunching overhand right landed and even though he managed to beat the count, the referee stopped the contest at 2:00.
At 24, Chris Higgs from Lydney boxed beautifully to take a 60-55 point verdict over tough man Danny Dontchev in a six rounder at light middle. Danny never really made his mark on the contest. As those who have seen the London-based Bulgarian fight will testify, he can be a real handful if given the chance. But boxing bin man Higgs was shape and accurate with his combinations and absolutely superlative with his footwork. Dontchev was defused without ever getting a foothold in the contest.
Gloucester’s Danny Carter made a successful start to his paid career in risky fashion when he gave away almost a stone in weight and overcame a heavy last round knockdown to overcome Worcester’s game Billy Smith by 58-55 over six twos. For the most part, Danny would use his tight defence and a rolling style to beat the experienced journeyman to the punch and then escape unscathed. Billy seemed laid back and wasn’t troubled by any of the punches had took in the slightest. Then in the last round, Billy floored the well-supported Danny with a right uppercut to the body the advantage wasn’t forced when the action resumed.
Bristol’s Lee Churcher returned to winning ways in pipping Swansea’s Chris Brophy by a point over six two-minute sessions at middleweight. Churcher, beaten in two in July by Costa Osben, was shaven skulled and donned camouflage shorts as he entered the ring. Over the first two sessions, Lee appeared far too hyped up and tense. He landed some hard straight right hands and a sprinkling of left hooks but nothing to trouble the experienced Brophy who appeared calm and to have seen it all before. Although Lee start to put his boxing together better in the middle of the contest, his work fell short often and worryingly Chris’ counters were getting closer and closer. However, Churcher seemed to have the edge throughout and took a razor thin 58-57 point verdict from Grant Wallis at the close.
Finally, Witney debutant Marvin Mullins got off to a successful start as he shut out Walsall southpaw Bobby Wood over four-threes at super-middle. Mullins, who once faced Olympian James Degale in an ABA final, really didn’t show his class except in the third round when he seemed to demonstrate his potential. He clattered Wood with straight rights, left hooks and solid body shots that really were a purist's delight. Wood put in a decent effort, but was really a step behind Mullins over the four round course.
