Ringside Boxing Report: Gary Sykes vs. Andy Morris
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Friday night, at the Huddersfield Sports Centre in Huddersfield, England, Matchroom Sport promoted the vacant British Super-Featherweight Title clash between Gary Sykes of Dewsbury and former champion – Andy Morris of Manchester.
There was huge support for Sykes from the Huddersfield crowd.
This promised to be a close match-up between these two as both men relentlessly throw punches from the start.
Sykes lunges in low to target the mid torso of the ‘Wythenshawe Warrior’ but just seems a little short of the mark in the first few rounds. There is effort in abundance from both men who – looking confident – continue to throw head and body shots.
Morris – the tidier boxer- stands firm and focussed but it’s a good round six for Sykes, who sharpens up his punching. Sky Sports Statistics reveal that so far Morris has landed 80 punches in total as opposed to Sykes’ 72.
Morris starts to use the uppercut with success in the latter rounds, but ‘Sykesy’ is still ‘fired-up’ and continues the busy work-rate.
Both boxers work up close in the eleventh and the Huddersfield crowd are on their feet in appreciation of a thrilling, action-packed contest.
The final round sees the two men throw everything they’ve got – such a closely matched fight could be decided on the last round.
Final Sky Statistics show that Sykes landed 165 of 932 punches thrown (17% success) and Morris landed 158 of 959 (16% success).
Before the decision was announced, Referee Ian John-Lewis credited both boxers saying that he “never said ‘break’ once†during the 12 rounds.
Gary Sykes wins the British Title by Unanimous Points Decision (116-113; 115-114; 115-114).
His record now stands at 15 wins (4 by KO) no losses, while Morris – undeterred – drops to 18 wins (6 by KO) 3 losses (2 by KO).
After a six-month ’break’, Heavyweight -Tyson Fury (now under new trainers – Brian Hughes and Pat Barrett) made short work of German opponent Hans-Joerg Blasko.
A clubbing right to the head of the tattooed German sees him wobble just into the second minute of the first round. Backed in to the corner – a body shot followed by head shots sends Blasko to the canvas less than a minute later.
Referee Steve Gray completes the count but seconds later Blasko goes down again from a left to the head. Spitting out his gumshield – Blasko looked reluctant to continue. Referee Gray finishes the count but waves the fight off as Blasko turns away disinterested.
Fury wins by first round TKO and improves to 10 wins (8 by KO) no losses while Blasko drops to 9 wins (6 by KO) and 4 losses (4 by KO).
Fury now goes on to fight John McDermott in a re-match on the 22nd May.
Light-welterweight Tyrone Nurse endured a tough contest against Sheffield-boxer Adam ‘The Outlaw’ Kelly. Awkward Ingle-boxer Kelly took just 16 seconds to stop his last opponent but he was to go the distance this time out against local man Nurse.
Kelly lands a good right to the chin of Nurse at the end of round two and the popular man falls to the canvas. Sat upright – Nurse shakes his head in disbelief. Kelly gives Nurse some problems but in round four Nurse lands some decent upper-cuts and Kelly starts to look tired.
Nurse sustains a cut to the left brow during the fifth which distracts him. Both men wrestle up close and in the sixth and final round they give it everything they’ve got!
Sky Sports Stats reveal that Nurse landed 78 of 307 punches thrown (25% success) as opposed to Kelly’s 28 of 239 punches (11%)
Nurse gets the points win (58-55) and improves to 12 wins no losses. Kelly drops to 11 wins (1 by KO) 8 losses (3 by KO) and 1 draw.
Undercard Results:
Ryan Brawley (Irvine) v Sebastien Cornu (France)
6 x 3 Lightweight Contest
Scottish southpaw – Brawley wins on points over Frenchman Cornu ‘Le Scorpion’ (59-57). Brawley improves to 16 wins (1 by KO) and no losses while Cornu drops to 7 wins (4 by KO) 4 losses (1 by KO) and 2 draws.
Johnny ‘Rocco’ Hussey (Manchester) v Danny Parkinson (Bradford)
6 x 3 Light-Welterweight Contest
Rocco wins on points over Parkinson (59-56). He improves to 14 wins (2 by KO) and 2 losses, while Parkinson drops to 13 wins (4 by KO) 5 losses (3 by KO).
Alistair Warren (Huddersfield) v Matt Scriven (Nottingham)
4 x 3 Middleweight Contest
Scriven suffers a cut above the left eye and the contest is stopped in the second round. Warren improves to 4 wins (3 by KO) and 0 losses, while Scriven falls to 14 wins (2 by KO) and 64 losses (19 by KO).
Josh Warrington (Leeds) v Danny McDermid (Leeds)
4 x 3 Super Bantamweight Contest
Amazingly, Warrington landed 116 punches of 312 thrown (37% success)in this four-rounder as opposed to 27 of 218 (12%) for McDermid. Warrington gets the deserved points win (40-36) to notch up his third pro-win. McDermid gets his second loss of two bouts.
Danny Randell (Manchester) v Carl Allen (Wolverhampton)
4 x 3 Light-Welterweight Contest
Randell notched up his second pro-win against tough veteran Allen. A closely fought contest but Randell secured the points win (39-37). Allen drops to 18 wins (5 by KO) 87 losses (15 by KO) and 7 draws.
Carl Frampton (Belfast) v Istvan Szabo (Hungary)
6 Round Super-Bantamweight Contest
Frampton gets a first round KO over Hungarian Szabo. He improves to 5 wins (3 by KO) and no losses while Szabo drops to 1 win (1 by KO) and 1 loss (1 by KO).