Area title fights very rarely disappoint in Britain.
The fights themselves are usually well-matched local derbies with pride and bragging rights on the line and usually provide a boxer with his first opportunity to leave a professional ring with something more than a pat on the back to show for their efforts.
Central Area super middleweight champion Reece Farnhill is rarely in a dull fight. Last night in Oldham he met his heavy-handed Northern counterpart Adam Hepple on Kevin Maree’s show in Oldham.
Nobody at ringside could remember two reigning area champions meeting in the ring, let alone two undefeated ones. It was never going to disappoint.
Hepple looked set for a short night. He found his range immediately and hurt Farnhill throughout a frantic opening round with straight stiff punching. The man from Clitheroe didn’t attempt to clinch, move and ride out the storm. That isn’t how it’s done in an Area title fight. He kept trying to press forward, punching in combination. He made it through the round but sat down with wide, marked up eyes.
It was straight back to business in the second. They traded from the bell with Farnhill active but Hepple looking stronger. The fight suddenly changed when heads came together during one exchange and Hepple emerged with a bad cut over his left eye. The sight of blood seemed to fire up Farnhill and trouble Hepple who followed Farnhill’s lead and attempted to punch his way out of his own crisis.
From that point on the fight became a bloody, pitched battle with Farnhill steadily getting the upper hand and Hepple collecting more damage. Half way through the fourth round, Farnhill hurt Hepple with a right hand and floored him with a left hook. He got up but blood-spattered referee Darren Sarginson stopped the fight.
Twenty-six-year-old Farnhill (10-0, 4 KOs) will now target an English title fight whilst Hepple (4-1, 1 KO) will be back at this level soon.
Joe Gallagher had a busy night. The Manchester trainer was backwards and forwards between the dressing room and ring all evening as four of his fighters saw action.
Rather than waiting for televised opportunities, Macaulay McGowan likes to fight as often as possible these days. Putting into practice the things he spends his time working on in the gym may sound like a sensible thing for a professional fighter to do but not many choose to do it. This was McGowan’s sixth fight in a year and he got better throughout his four-round victory over Grenadij Krajevskij (1-69). McGowan (20-4-2, 5 KOs) lost a split decision to current European middleweight champion Tyler Denny last May and when his next big opportunity does come, he will be more than ready to take it.
The talented Clark Smith (5-0, 1 KO) returned from a year out with injury and outpointed the decent Andrei Antonov (3-2-2, 1 KO) over six rounds. The super welterweight was a quality amateur who won three consecutive national titles. The 22-year-old southpaw has been working with Gallagher for years and there are high hopes for him. The switch-hitting Estonian provided him with plenty of puzzles to solve but once Clarke got his feet close enough, he ran away with the fight. He warned a 59-55 decision.
Last July at this same venue, Perry Howe got himself disqualified from his fight with Billy Deniz for constantly fouling. He returned to the scene of the crime for last night’s rematch but although he made it to the end of the fight this time, he had no real answer for the 23-year-old ‘Turkish Tyson’.
Drolysden’s Deniz is an interesting fighter. Although he may well get down to 175lbs for the right opportunity, he appears caught between the light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions. He is explosive and aggressive when he relaxes and listens to his corner, he puts his punches together nicely and uses footwork and angles that you rarely see from fighters of his size and age. Towards the end of the six rounder, Deniz (10-0, 5 KOs) began to run through his repertoire of tricks and put Howe (5-11-1, 1 KO) down with a body shot but settled for a 60-53 decision victory.
Josh Holmes (14-0, 5 KOs) is one of the North West’s secret talents. The 28-year-old super featherweight was building momentum before two hand injuries and a further medical query derailed him. This was his fifth fight in a year and he should be ready to step up to title level soon. Holmes is a tidy, compact fighter who puts his punches together very well. He is accurate, quick and is as happy operating in the pocket as he is moving and making fighters miss. He chose to stay close to the game Brazilian Jonatas Oliviera (6-7, 5 KOs) and made the fight a little more entertaining than he needed to but deserved the 59-56 victory he was awarded.
After reeling off seven straight victories, St Helens’ Adam Carberry (7-0-1, 2 KOs) had to settle for a draw with Darryl Tapfuma (3-16-4, 3 KOs). The super featherweights put on an entertaining, hard-fought battle. At times, Tapfuma planted himself on the ropes and the two would engage in long spells of inside fighting. Carberry will be disappointed to have a slight blot on his record but ignore Tapfuma’s record – the Zimbabwean has shown time and time again that he is a good fighter.
Francis Kershaw (5-0, 1 KO) stepped up to six rounds and outpointed Dylan Courtney (2-10-2, 1 KO) at light heavyweight. Kershaw took a couple of right hooks but pressed forward throughout and Scott Attward (3-0) boxed his way to a four-round decision over Dale Arrowsmith (6-102-4, 1 KO).
Elsewhere, unbeaten switch hitter Aaron Hayden (5-0, 1 KO) returned from a near three-year absence to outpoint Naeem Ali (2-122-2) over four rounds at lightweight and Callum Davies (1-0-1) and Ryan Broten (0-5-1) drew after a wild, amateurish but entertaining four rounder.