Second Time The Charm As Choi Wins Prizefighter

The Mongolian Warrior Choi Tseveenpurev dominated the Prizefighter Featherweight tournament at York Hall, Bethnal Green to claim the title against Rhys Roberts.

The 40 year-old made up for his semi-final heartbreak against Derry Mathews in the Prizefighter Super-Featherweights last November, kicking off the night with a destructive win over Lee Glover and never looking back. He used every round of his experience to out-punch and out-think his younger foes George Jupp in the semi-final and Roberts in the final to claim victory in the 22nd edition of Matchroom Sport’s eight-man, one night shows.

In the final, a stiff left hook was probably enough to take the first round for Choi and his work rate and desire to take the fight to Roberts, disrupting the slick Mancunian’s stylish approach and taking every round to complete Choi Story II and take the trophy and the £32,000 winner’s cheque.

“I used my experience and just bullied him,” said Choi. “He tried to grab too much and that didn’t work against me. I want to thank my fans and my team for this.”

A big right hook inside the first 30 seconds from Choi set the tone for his performance and he floored Glover with another right before the end of the first round. Choi finished the Tipton Slasher off with that big right again doing the business with just a minute of the second round gone.

Choi’s semi-final opponent Jupp also had a bit of a breather going into their clash after his quarter-final with Lee Jennings was called off through the Liverpool man receiving a nasty cut above the left eye from a clash of heads, just as the fight was really warming up.

Choi and Jupp used the energy they conserved to serve up the fight of the night in the first semi-final. The Mongolian Warrior is twice the age of the 20 year-old Londoner and used all his experience to get past Jupp through a unanimous decision, but Jupp provided a real test for the eventual winner and looks a real prospect.

Roberts signalled his intent with a classy display in the third quarter-final against Ian Bailey, taking control of the fight in the opening round with slick work and continuing throughout the three rounds against the aggressive Slough man, and Roberts took all three rounds on all three judges’ scorecards.

Troy James had to withstand an early barrage from Barrington Brown in the fourth-quarter final, recovering well to settle into the fight and boss proceedings, reaching the semis with a unanimous decision.

With the carrot of Choi waiting in the final, Roberts unveiled the left as a real weapon and picked James off at will in the opening two rounds of their semi. James continued to hunt Roberts down but the Manchester man had too much for James and reached the night’s climax with Choi.

Prizefighter Featherweights results:

Quarter-finals
Choi beat Lee Glover – second round KO
George Jupp beat Lee Jennings – Jennings no longer able to continue after second round cut
Rhys Roberts beat Ian Bailey – unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27
Troy James beat Barrington Brown – unanimous decision 30-28, 29-28, 29-28

Semi-finals
Choi beat George Jupp – unanimous decision 30-28, 29-28, 29-28
Rhys Roberts beat Troy James – unanimous decision 30-28, 29-28, 29-28

Final
Choi beat Rhys Roberts – unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27