Click for larger image © Matthew Voyle / Saddo Boxing
Undefeated Welsh heavyweight Scott Gammer claimed the BBBofC Heavyweight Title on Friday night with an exciting nine-round stoppage over Yorkshire’s Mark Krence. ‘The Hammer’ improved to 16-0-1 with the victory, and called out Britain’s best afterwards, with Audley Harrison, Danny Williams and Matt Skelton touted as possible opponents for the next bout. Having already stopped Krence (now 21-6) in May last year, a partisan Welsh crowd at the Carmarthen Showground were buoyant, and the playing of both English and Welsh national anthems further raised the atmosphere. Krence, ‘The Butcher’ from Chesterfield began quickly, after a pep talk from IBF Light Heavyweight Champ Clinton Woods in the corner, looking to throw combinations behind his jab, and set a high tempo against the Welshman, who was carrying a 7lb advantage. Despite Krence’s higher workrate, it was the Welshman who had the best of the opening riound, with a hard three-punch combination to Krence’s ribs. After a good opening round, Gammer changed tack in the second, throwing his jab, but paid the price against his taller, quicker adversary, who countered well each time, and twice opening into four-punch flurries catching Gammer.
Going into the third both had enjoyed a share of the fight, but looking to dictate the pace, Krence came forward, but was caught out with a number of clubbing punches to the body taking the wind from him. With the Welshman gaining the upper hand, ‘The Butcher’ started off the fourth at a lightning pace, throwing a left-right-left and catching Gammer full in the face, and even when put in the corner, as Gammer tried to boss the fight, Krence came out with a flurry of punches. As the fight moved on ‘The Hammer’ started to push forward more, sensing
Krence had thrown a lot of his energy early in the fight, and a lot of that had been spent on missed punches and Gammer’s guard. Getting on top, the Welshman’s punches flowed more naturally, and despite being caught pushing forward, he landed some heavy blows on Krence’s torso, and ducking a straight right from Krence, he got under the guard with a strong uppercut.
Before the sixth, Krence’s corner were forced to use the cold compress on a slightly swollen right eye, and despite protecting the eye, he did get Gammer on the ropes, but was starting to push his opponent, and Gammer’s increasing fluency saw more of his punches pierce the Chesterfield man’s guard. Sensing his opponent was spent, Gammer took his foot off the gas in the 7th, and was caught with a couple of flurries and an uppercut, but although making contact, the Welshman shrugged off the hits without any problem. Going into the eighth, the tide was certainly flowing in Gammer’s favour, and the jubiliant crowd were enjoying watching their fighter take a firmer grasp of the title, and each punch was greeted with cheers, and it seemed almost inevitable that the end was coming. Leaping to his feet, with seconds to spare, the ‘The Hammer’ succumbed to the crowd and went out looking to end the fight, throwing strong combinations, and the Chesterfield man’s legs showed signs of giving way. Pinned on the ropes, Krence tried to throw a right to escape the clutches of his opponent, but Gammer dodged to the right and a plum left hook caught the undefended face of the Englishman, and he crashed to the floor. Taking the count on his knees, Krence rose to his feet, and the official
let the one way traffic from the Welshman continue for a further minute before he stepped in to make the the British Heavyweight Champion. As his manager and promoter Paul Voyce leaped into the ring to embrace the new champion, the crowd was erupting in whoops and cheers, and hundreds of people flocked to the ringside to congratulate the new champion, including Cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli, and Commonwealth Games silver medal Heavyweight Kevin Evans.
After accepting the congratulations of many of those in the arena, and posing for pictures with his new belt, Gammer reflected on his triumph. “I suppose that I did start quite slowly, but with the crowd as good as this one it is easy to get carried away, and I didn’t want to let myself be
forced to go forward too early in the fight and get caught out. “Fair play to Mark, he showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight in there, as I knew he would from the last time we fought, and even after I knocked him down, he was still throwing punches and hanging in there.” Paul Voyce praised his fighter, saying: “It was a great victory there for him, but there is an awful lot more in the tank there, and people haven’t seen the best of Scott Gammer yet. “He is as good as his imagination, and he can certainly beat any heavyweight in Britain at the moment.”
After Voyce confirmed that there were a number of names in the pot, Gammer said: “Well, I feel great, and as far as I’m concerned then the better the opponent that I fight, then the better I’ll fight. “It’s up to Paul to find the opponent, but whoever it is I know that I will
be up for it and able to match anyone in the country.”
Click for larger image © Matthew Voyle / Saddo Boxing
Scott Gammer – Mark Krence
UNDERCARD
Loughor Light Welterweight Ceri Hall put in another competent performance, improving his record to (9-3-1) with an emphatic points win over journeyman Billy Smith (3-38), who lost each round against his speedier adversary. Cardiff-based Polish Welterweight David Kowalski (18-6-1) posted a first-round knockout over David Kehoe (9-36-3) with strong punches putting
Kehoe on his back three times before he failed to return to his feet. Haverfordwest Lightweight southpaw Henry Jones (8-16-1) also took an emphatic points win over the rangier Furhan Rafiq (2-2), who was down in the fifth round, but returned to complete the distance.
Click for larger image © Matthew Voyle / Saddo Boxing
Ceri Hall – Billy Smith
Henry Jones – Furhan Rafiq
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