Graham Earl Defeats Yuri Romanov To Win The Boxing Battle Of Britain

British and Commonwealth Lightweight Champion Graham Earl pulled off a striking upset Friday night on a Maloney Promotions fight card in the London suburb of Dagenham, England when the hard nosed Luton boxer simply refused to back down from Belasrussian Brit killer Yuri “The Czar” Romanov over the course of twelve magnificent rounds. Whereas quality domestic lightweights such as Bobby Vanzie and Steve Murray had previously fallen victim to the Eastern European’s bracingly accurate artillery, Earl steadfastly pressured his adversary despite fielding some stunning right hands to the head during his sustained assault. After shaking off the rust of fifteen months away from the ring, Romanov began to dial in his efforts with remarkable venom but the man from Minsk couldn’t thwart the huge heart of Earl who captured the referee’s scorecard 116-114. The victor plans to test the European waters before the year is out. The highly successful bill represented longtime UK fight manager Frank Maloney’s reentry into the promotional ranks after a five year consultancy with Sports Network, joining his younger brother Eugene in the family business. But there were other exciting fights on this cracking card.

Chiefly among them, British Light Middle Champion Jamie Moore power punched his way through Ukrainian journeyman Vladimir Borovski over three rounds and the hardened Mancunian southpaw will now prepare for a bid at the currently vacant European crown within six to nine months. British Masters Light Middle titlist Gary Woolcombe continued to show improvement as the London area 23 year old handled seasoned campaigner Lee Murtaugh without difficulty, flattening the Leeds southpaw before the fourth round was out.

South London cruiserweight Junior MacDonald continued his winning ways, needing just two sessions to stop Belarussian import Sergey Voron and returning from several years away from the field of play, welterweight Leo O’Reilly turned back durable trooper Jon Honney over six rounds.

Multi-weight Belfast battler James Gorman gave Wayne Goddard all he could handle at welter but the hard luck Ulsterman dropped a 39-37 decision to Goddard on the referee’s scorecard. London crowd favorite Sam Webb banged on for all he was worth but in the end had to settle for sweeping the cards on a four round bout versus granite jawed Easter European Alexei Zhuk and lastly, Camden Town super feather prospect Ian Wilson shone in just his third professional outing, putting 66 bout veteran Daniel Thorpe on notice 40-35
over four frames.