Ringside Boxing Report: Gary Woolcombe – Gilbert Eastman

Plus The Rest Of The Froch – Magee Undercard

On the undercard of Maloney Promotion’s Carl Froch – Brian Magee bill from York Hall this past Friday, undefeated prospect Gary “Hot Stuff” Woolcombe claimed the British Southern Area Light Middleweight title with a controversial seventh round stoppage of Gilbert Eastman. Woolcombe caught Eastman with a hard left hook which snapped the champion’s head back and quickly backed him up to the ropes where Woolcombe unleashed some hard punches but nowhere enough to warrant a stoppage from referee Ian John Lewis.

Eastman had his wits about him and seemed to be just riding the storm as he had his hands up well and chin down. Up until that point, the fight was a close one with a lot of the rounds very difficult to score. For me, Woolcombe shaded the first four rounds with the greater volume of punches and better use of the jab but if any of those rounds had been scored the other way, there would be no complaints.

Eastman didn’t really get going until the fifth when Woolcombe slowed a little and was caught with some hard right hands, but the challenger showed his grit. The work of both fighters was very scrappy in the sixth with very few clean punches scoring making for another difficult round to score.

Then came the seventh and the controversial stoppage.

Still it’s another good win for Woolcombe, who is very active and certainly improving. Maloney Promotions seem to bringing him along at just the right pace. Woolcombe moves to 21-0.

Hard hitting journeyman Gary Reid from Wolves put on the performance of the night when he upset rising light middleweight Leo O’Reilly, flooring him three times for a stoppage win in two rounds. Reid, despite only 12 wins in 28 fights, threw his punches with real class and has some serious power.

O’Reilly looked to start fast, landing a left hook flush but the difference in power was immense when Reid landed his bombs and a heavy right hand forced O’Reilly to touch down and take a count. He was up almost instantly and was allowed to box on, but seconds later was sent again from another right hand. Although hurt, O’Reilly knew where he was, took the 8 count and carried on but just as the bell rung to end the one-sided first, he was pummelled to the canvas, although no knockdown was officially registered.

It was just a matter of time in the second before Reid finished the job. Another booming right sent O’Reilly crashing again. He recovered well enough to carry on but Reid was taking no prisoners and battered O’Reilly into the ropes with right hands, finishing with a rib crunching body blow which took everything out of O’Reilly and the referee quite rightly ruled this massacre off.

For Reid, it was an impressive display of punch power and I’m not quite sure anyone will be in a hurry to fight him after this performance.

Another upset saw promising middleweight Jake Guntert lose his unbeaten record when he was blasted out in the second by hard punching Steve Ede, who was also unbeaten going in.

Ede looked so much bigger than Guntert and his power made all the difference. Guntert, who came into the ring in a cowboy hat, had big support but his punches were ineffective against the bulky Ede, who shook Guntert up in the first round courtesy of a massive right hand. Guntert tried to regroup in the second but was dragged into an exchange and ruthlessly smashed to the canvas.

Guntert beat the count but Ede was in no mood to let his man off the leash and piled it on until the referee had no choice but to wave it off. There were no complaints from Guntert, who drops to 4-1, or his corner, while Ede improves to 6-0.

A strange decision on the big bill saw light middleweight prospect Wayne Goddard collect a close 39-38 points win from the taller Omar Gummatti. Goddard took his record to 3-0 but looked lucky to get the nod from the referee. Omar certainly started the better, getting his shots off quicker landing a nice right uppercut. Goddard pressed forward but without much success and all the eye catching punches were from Gummatti.

Round two was a much closer session as both fighters matched each other punch for punch. Gummatti tried to get his jab off but Goddard was able to get inside and land lefts and rights to the head. Gummatti regained control again in the second, mixing up his shots well and just looking the classier against a very one paced Goddard. Again the uppercut from Gummatti was a good one, catching Goddard as he tried to get on the inside.

Goddard looked very tired in the fourth round and the body language of the two fighters showed that Gummatti was in control. Mixing up his shots well again to head and body, Gummatti just looked the better quality but somehow the referee disagreed and scored 39-38 to Goddard.

Kreshnick Qato, the well supported light heavyweight Albanian from Wembley, won an extremely dull four round points win over Simon Lucas in a very poor fight. Qato, who received a thunderous reception from his fans, deserved the 40-36 verdict but showed very little quality in a fight which had almost zero action.

To say that both fighters were cautious is understatement of the year as barely a punch was thrown in the first round.

Qato landed a couple of jabs in round two, which brought a roar from the crowd who cheered his every breath, but the fight was so slow it was like watching a chess match in slow motion.

By the third round Qato had slightly upped the pace and landed a couple of left hands, who in fairness to him was fighting an opponent who had no intention of winning instead just electing to smile as if he was going for a Sunday picnic.

Qato dominated the last round as he let his hands go much to the delight of his followers but I seriously doubt Qato can go beyond this level. However, he improves to 11-6 and will no doubt be in action again soon.

Show opener saw former European Super Feather Champion Tontcho Tontchev of Bulgaria win a fairly easy six round points win over against tricky southpaw Jon Honney.

Tontchev, who last month blasted out Dean Phillips inside a round, couldn’t seem to get out of first gear and with Honney trying just to survive the bout, this was not a great spectacle.

Tontchev began the fight by trying to land the big right hand over the top. One did shake Honney momentarily, but he recovered quickly.

Honney had his best round in the second, scoring with a quick flurry early on and landing a few long rights to the body. Tontchev raised his game in the third as Honney looked tired. The Bulgarian’s body punches were beginning to have an effect but his work was more methodical than classy.

Honney began to bleed from the mouth during the fourth. Tontchev continued to pressure him with body punches but the action by now was very scrappy. Tontchev continued to plod his way through the fifth but in the final round he decided to turn it on a bit, unleashing his shots in twos and threes rather than the single shots he had been using in the rounds before. A crunching left to the body really hurt Honney, but he gritted it out to the final bell.

Tontchev improves to an impressive 36-4 record and will no doubt be looking for a title shot in the very near future.