Ringside Boxing Report: Ali Nuumbembe – Sergey Starkov
 Click for larger image © Jane Warburton Saddo Boxing |
The GH Carnall Centre in Manchester was host to a great boxing on Sunday when Steve Woods and Maloney Promotions teamed up to produce a cracking fight card headlined by one of Britain’s rising stars, undefeated welterweight Ali Nuumbembe. Not only was the promotion a first class affair but the big stars came out as well to watch all the action with such fistic luminaries as |
Amir Khan, Ray and Matthew Hatton, Jamie Moore, Anthony Farnell and Michael “Elvis” Pass. The party atmosphere held sway over the entire afternoon and was helped by the impressive live band that provided musical accompaniment.
The main event featured the fast handed welterweight Ali Nuumbembe who was originally scheduled to challenge Ghanian hardman Joshua Okine for the Commonwealth crown until the African injured an ankle leading up to the fight. As a replacement opponent, durable Eastern European veteran Sergey Starkov stepped into the breach but Nuumbembe’s ringwalk to the soundtrack of “Hot! Hot! Hot!” was definitely foreshadowing. The rising star virtually ran rings round Starkov in the fifth and Sergey took a lot of punches in the sixth.
The referee had to be convinced by Starkov’s corner that he was all right to continue at the start of round seven but Nuumbembe put a stop to that notion with a barrage that had his opponent covering up to survive. But survive he did to see Nuumbembe take a clear cut points victory, 80-72. Ali Nuumbembe moves to 15-1 (6) while Sergey Starkov plunges to14-34-2 (2).
The show started with lightweights Danny Harding and Gavin Deacon giving their all in the six two minute rounds. Harding made his professional debut a happy one as he won on points, much to the protestations of London based Deacon, now 0-2 (0).
Cruiserweight Lee Kellett wasn’t so lucky in his pro debut, as Doncaster’s John Anthony stopped the debutante in the very first round to move to 3-1 (2).
Manchester welter John “Roco” Hussey prevailed over Tye Williams, despite suffering a cut above the eye in the fourth, with a points victory. Hussey improves to 4-0 (0) while Williams of Dewsbarry drops to 3-3-1 (2).
Light middle Gary O’Connor from Manchester faced late substitute Lance Verallo, who stepped in for Kyle Taylor, but was stopped by O’Connor, now 4-0 (1), in the fourth. Birmingham’s Verallo continues a winless streak to move to 0-13 (0).
Walsall light middle Darren Gethin took the fight against Mark Thompson on the night before the fight as original opponent Geraint Harvey was off the bill. Gethin kept grinning throughout the bout and it was a good fight. The second round saw Gethin catching Thompson with a shot that did make the light middle grimace but Thompson, 4-0 (2), didn’t falter and came back with a vengeance. Gethin. 3-6-3 (1), lost on points and sustained a nick under his right eye
Mancunian Craig Bunn faced super middle veteran Howard Clarke, who was on his 102nd outing! Clarke looks a bit of an odd boxer, a bit jerky in his movements and eyes like ‘a bunny in the headlamps. In just his second pro fight, Bunn seemed a bit distracted by his mates shouting instructions as he kept looking over to them. In the fifth, Clarke did a bit of showboating with a jokey sort of wiggle, which was all taken in good spirits but it didn’t go down so well when he did it again in the sixth and final round. Bunn, now 2-0 (0), won the bout on points. Howard Clarke loses his 44th bout in a row and now stands at 27-72-2 (7).
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