Flyweight Mikie Tallon kicked off tonight’s seven fight card at Liverpool’s Echo Arena and notched up his fourth professional win in just three months against Tanzanian visitor Adam Yahaya (23-12-2, 12 KO’s). 19 year old Tallon (4-0) is managed by Natasha Jonas – whose IBF welterweight fight with Mikaela Mayer headlines the card later on – and ‘The Omen’ has already built a loud local following.
Yahaya’s jerky southpaw style didn’t pose Tallon too many problems. Working with a nice rhythm, he patiently stalked Yahaha, letting his hands go when the opportunity presented itself and landed some clean right hands to head and body. Feeling little threat, Tallon stepped things up in the second round. He cut the ring off nicely and kept Yahaya under pressure, forcing him to throw by using plenty of feints.
Yahaya was out of ideas as the third round started. he wasn’t hurt or shaken but just had no answer for Tallon’s quality. One particular combination showed Tallon’s level of comfort and willingness to experiment, a straight right hand to the body and left hook to the head landing perfectly.
Tallon ramped up the pressure in the fourth as he looked for his first professional stoppage. Yahaya survived but the 40-36 decision in Tallon’s favour was a formality.
The English super middleweight title fight between Mark Jeffers and Germaine Brown was surprisingly moved to the YouTube section of the broadcast. Jeffers impressively outpointed Zak Chelli to win the title last July and appears to be a fighter on the rise.
Despite having just four knockouts on his record and a relaxed, hands down style, Jeffers can be an explosive and aggressive fighter and started quickly, looking to get his right hand working from the opening bell. Brown – who held the belt early in 2022 before losing it to Chelli – stayed on the back foot and looking to just ride out the storm.
Brown landed a good right hand of his own to open the second but Jeffers looked extremely comfortable in the pocket, defensively aware and confident that his punches were straighter and faster. Maybe realizing that Brown wasn’t going to be easily moved, the 25 year old focused on countering the Londoner, the right hand still his best weapon. Brown began to find a little confidence in the third and although he wasn’t putting his punches together – mainly concentrating on singles – Jeffers now had something to think about. He spent the fourth round waiting too long, looking for hard single punches himself. Brown kept popping away with his jab.
Jeffers was giving the impression of boxing within himself but he upped the tempo in the fifth, using his right uppercut when the two came together inside and appearing to be the stronger fighter.
Jeffers opened the sixth round looking to work Brown’s body, he loaded up on two big left hooks but rather than putting Brown in his shell, they roused him into his best 90 seconds of the fight. brown didn’t cut loose and hurt Jeffers but he kept his hands going and took advantage of Jeffers’ inactivity.
Between rounds, Jeffers was clearly told to up his output and the pair opened the seventh with maybe the first real exchange of the contest. He followed that up with a couple of solid jabs and a nice right uppercut but again reverted back to his comfort zone, stepping back and making Brown miss but not letting his hands go enough.
Jeffers was in control of the fight but there was a lack of urgency about this work. Brown didn’t possess the power to hurt him and seemed to have mentally allowed the fight to slip away but Jeffers was content to make Brown miss, pick away with the jab and look for hard counter right hands.
A left hook forced Brown to the ropes in the tenth. To Brown’s credit, he tried to meet fire with fire and the pair traded to the final bell, but Jeffers was just too defensively aware, too powerful and Brown was unable to put any kind of dent in him. Jeffers punctuated his performance with a clean left hook that seemed to stun Brown.
Victor Loughlin had it 99-92, Mark Lyson scored the fight 98-93 and Marcus Alexander scored it 98-93 and Jeffers keeps his English title and also collected the Commonwealth silver title which has crept into British boxing recently.
Jack Massey (21-2, 12 KO’s) has been stuck in no mans land since putting in a creditable performance when losing a decision to Joseph Parker last January. Although the former IBO cruiserweight champion impressed as a heavyweight, his immediate ambitions remain at 200lbs and Belgian cruiserweight champion Steve Ntere (8-2, 2 KO’s) stepped up to welcome him back to the division.
It didn’t last long. Taller than the study Ntere, Massey took a few seconds to figure out the squat Ntere and probing away with the jab. Suddenly he exploded, badly stunning Ntere with a hard one two and pursuing him to the corner where he let his hands go, finally finding a huge right hand that dropped Ntere heavily. Referee John Latham halted the fight immediately. The time was 1.57 of the very first round.
Massey’s only defeats are to Parker and world ranked Richard Riakporhe and he will be looking to get straight into Britain’s lively cruiserweight mix.