Ringside Boxing Report: Lee Haskins – Zolile Mbityi
Click for larger image © Mike Taylor / Saddo Boxing
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On Friday night, Sanigar Promotions put on a feast of intriguing bouts for boxing fans at the Whitchurch Sports Centre in Bristol, England. The main attraction for the show is the ever impressive, exciting Lee Haskins, defending his Commonwealth Flyweight Title against former IBO Champion Zolile Mbityi, in front of his hometown fans on a show billed as “2 Fast 2 Furious”. As well as having an exciting main bout, the Sanigar’s undercard had more talent on offer, such as current British and Commonwealth Middleweight Champion Scott Dann who will be contesting a non title fight, Leigh ! Alliss, who will be gunning for a shot at the British Champion if he could come through his very tough Londoner opponent, Peter Haymer, the English Champion.
Scott Dann -Yuri Tsarenko
The matchup between Dann and Tsarenko was mainly a keep busy bout for Scott as he will be defending his British and Commonwealth titles later on in the year. Dann dominated his Belarusian opponent over the eight round distance with his rangy southpaw jabs and quality boxing skills. Dann floored his opponent in the first with a straight left and after that he outworked and outboxed his durable foe. It proved to be a good workout for Scott as he boxed to an eight round unanimous decision over the foreign visitor. With the victory, Scott Dann climbs to 25-2 (17), while Yuri Tsarenko heads to 24-17-1 (16).
Scott Dann – Yuri Tsarenko
Click for larger image © Mike Taylor / Saddo Boxing
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Peter Haymer – Leigh Alliss
As the undercard built up a great atmosphere, the Bristolian crowd were really buzzing awaiting the arrival of their own Leigh Alliss, who would be facing an ex-ABA Champion and current English Light Heavyweight Champion Peter Haymer. This bout was to be the eliminator for the British title. Alliss? music starts to play and the local enters the ring looking sharp and focused. Haymer enters the ring shortly after and has quite a presence with his menacing look and size. The crowd cheer for Alliss before the boxing even begins and he acknowledges the crowd with a raised arm.
Round one: Leigh begins the round with a fast start and forces his opponent onto the ropes, digging in hooks to the body of Haymer. Haymer tries to find his feet but Leigh keeps the pressure on and lands overhand rights, unsettling his opponent. The crowd cheers him on wildly but Alliss begins to slow a little. Haymer takes charge, using his size and reach to advantage. The Londoner lands a damaging right hand that cuts Alliss, but alas Leigh fires back in true spirit and much to the crowds delight, finishes the round with a small flurry.
Round: 10-9 Haymer
Round two: Alliss’ eye is tended to by his corner men between rounds and the second begins with the Bristol man starting fast, going to the body with straight blows. Both fighters box at range, landing hard straight rights and lefts. As the round begins to draw in, Haymer once again takes charge and begins to outbox his opponent with ! long range shots giving him the lead.
Round: 10-9 Haymer
Fight: 20-18 Haymer
Round three: Alliss starts the third round fast but his cut is starting to worsen, bleeding into his left eye. Haymer is landing the better combinations, uppercuts and hooks, smashing through Alliss? guard. The referee stops the action to look at the eye of Leigh, judges it okay and the boxing continues. This fires up Alliss and he comes back into the action throwing lots of hooks and right hands. He connects with a right, which appears to hurt Haymer, and the crowd again get behind him. Haymer jabs off of the back foot picking Leigh off, but gets caught at the end of the round as Leigh finishes strong.
Round: 10-9 Haymer
Fight: 30-27 Haymer
Round four: The eye of Alliss is really damaged now and he realises that he is going to have to force a fight. He throws rights and hooks, forcing Haymer to the ropes. Mid-round the pace drops and Haymer’s jab pokes through at range but Alliss is the one forcing the fight.
Round: 10- 9 Alliss
Fight: 39-37 Haymer
Round five: Alliss is finding the action more his level now as it turns into a close range fight, but Haymer again hurts the challenger with heavy shots. The English Champion is the stronger of the two with better skill and it is beginning to show. Both fighters hold as they tire but Alliss continues to force the fight and starts to land the meaningful shots.
Round: 10-9 Alliss
Fight: 48-47 Haymer
Round six: The sixth draws in and both fighters are beginning to show signs of tiredness from the fast pace. Alliss is the one digging deep and coming forward, but Haymer picks off the hometown man walking in, scoring with hard body shots. Alliss appears to be in trouble and makes an attempt to come back but misses with wild swings. Both men are very tired.
Round: 10-9 Haymer
Fight: 58-56 Haymer
Round seven: Haymer is now the one taking charge and starts strong, hammering Alliss with straight body shots. Alliss is not moving much now and is becoming easier to hit. When he does try to make an attack on the Londoner, his punches have no steam, and the champion is now beyond question the stronger of the two.
Round: 10-9 Haymer
Fight: 68-65 Haymer
Round eight: Again as the round begins, Haymer starts fast, with Alliss not doing much. Haymer is landing heavy shots; rights, hooks to the body and jabs which is dominating a very tired Alliss. As the pace slows the crowd start to roar for Leigh. Both combatants try to hit one another but are each inaccurate; this is a slow round.
Round: 10-10 even
Fight: 78-75 Haymer
Round nine: Haymer begins the ninth with big, heavy shots; lefts and rights with Alliss not punching back. At this point the referee stepped in as he felt the fight had become one sided and Alliss’ cut was worsening.
Peter Haymer, now 16-2-1 (4), retains his English Light Heavyweight title with boos from the crowd while Leigh Alliss, 11-3 (3), receives cheers for battling like a true warrior against a very tough opponent.
Leigh Alliss – Peter Haymer
Click for larger image © Mike Taylor / Saddo Boxing
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Lee Haskins – Zolile Mbityi
With the main bout of the evening now about to begin, the crowd is really starting to buzz for the arrival of their new Bristolian star, Lee Haskins. First off, Mbityi begins his ring walk to the tune of Simply The Best (made famous by Chris Eubank) and he looks calm, confident and unfazed by the crowd, who clearly do not support him. As he gets into the ring, the South African bounces around and looks focused.
Now it’s the champion’s turn, and before Haskins is even announced, the crowd have realised he is ready to walk to the ring and they are cheering loudly. As always, Lee is looking relaxed and lets off a few smiles to the crowd.
Round one: The round starts with Mbityi trying to attack Haskins, ! but Lee just moves and lands his unorthodox jabs and uppercuts to send the challenger off balance. They clash heads and Lee loses his temper, as it was down to Mbityi coming in, and tumbles the foreigner to the floor, much to the crowd’s delight. The first round ends as Mbityi finds it hard to tag Lee cleanly.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Round two: The second begins with Mbityi trying to tag Haskins cleanly but to no avail as Lee dances, ducks and bobs away from the South African’s shots. Mbityi goes down from a slip but the crowd cheer. Haskins is finding it hard to cleanly tag his opponent and the round becomes quite scrappy, but the Bristol man does have the edge.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 20-18 Haskins
Round three: The round starts fast with Haskins really trying to land hard shots on his opponent as they come in close and MBityi gets warned for using his elbows. Haskins starts to land the better blows from different angles and as the round pulls in, both fighters are really struggling to land cleanly, but Haskins is showing to be the cleaner of the two.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 30-27 Haskins
Round four: Haskins starts the fourth by attacking the body of the challenger. Mbityi tries to attack Haskins but is just made to miss with Haskins ducking, bobbing and weaving. The champion then lets off his right uppercuts and straights. Although both fighters are finding it hard to connect with one another, Haskins is the one landing the better punches.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 40-36 Haskins
Round five: As the fifth commences, Mbityi starts to make an impression in the fight and begins to have a good round. The ex-IBO titlist throws jabs and straight rights at Haskins, forcing the action. But Haskins is slippery, and very hard to catch. Suddenly Zolile hits Haskins in the hip and Lee decides to go down. There was no count due to it being a low shot but this spurs Haskins on and he finishes the round by pressing the action.
Round: 10-9 Mbityi
Fight: 49-46 Haskins
Round six: Haskins’ unorthodox shots start to land on his foe and the champion begins to regain control of the bout. Both boxers are inaccurate and because of the clash of styles, they lock up and hold. Haskins begins to land his uppercuts but due to his opponent being so tough and durable, Mbityi comes straight back.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 59-55 Haskins
Round seven: The seventh is a back and forth affair. Both boxers are trying to land shots on one another and each time Haskins does score, Mbityi comes back but Haskins’ uppercuts are working well. The style of the South African keeps bringing heads together and Haskins’ complains to the referee about this. The round belongs to Haskins but Mbityi does start to make headway by the end of the frame.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 69-64 Haskins
Round eight: Mbityi starts the round fast and Haskins is made to work. At the mid-way point Haskins land one of his corkscrew uppercuts and straight lefts from the ropes which Mbityi takes well. Haskins starts to land the more meaningful punches onto his opponent and begins to dig in and press the action with uppercuts and straights from all sorts of angles.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 79-73 Haskins
Round nine: Quite a scrappy round where both fighters are missing often but Haskins is finishing off his flurries and whips in a nice left hook which send Mbityi off balance and into a stumble. Haskins’ style when attacking gives his more experienced adversary problems, but Mbityi is very durable and takes everything Haskins has to offer.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 89-82 Haskins
Round ten: Mbityi looks very tired now and his hands have lowered a little. Haskins lands uppercuts and turns to score with overhand shots before moving away. Both fighters are tired but Haskins is the one digging in and pressing Zolile to take the round.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 99-91 Haskins
Round eleven: The pace has slowed now and both fighters are inaccurate, their punches having a little less sting to them. Haskins has brief spells where he lands nice jabs and uppercuts but goes onto the back foot to make his opponent miss.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 109-100 Haskins
Round twelve: This was the first time that Haskins has gone into the twelfth rounds and both fighters show great respect for each other by hugging before the bell. Haskins starts strong and forces the action. The two clash heads and both fighters fall over each other. Haskins lands some nice shots to the body and switches to the head but again Mbityi comes back at the end of the round. Haskins shakes his head in disappointment regarding his work when the bell goes.
Round: 10-9 Haskins
Fight: 119-109
When the official scorecards are read, Lee Haskins, 15-0 (9), takes the unanimous decision 19-110, 118-111 and 117-112, retaining his Commonwealth Title while Zolile Mbityi drops to 27-12-3 (10). Haskins fought a very difficult opponent and in a way, underestimated his challenger’s toughness. The Bristol man showed true grit coming through a twelve round clash with a very experienced fighter and winning almost all of the rounds. Haskins showed his class by doing so and it is all a learning curve right now in his career and with this fight has learned the knockout doesn’t always come.
Lee Haskins – Zolile Mbityi
Click for larger image © Mike Taylor / Saddo Boxing
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