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Hatton Promotions’ light-middleweight prospect Pauly Upton took his unbeaten run to eight fights with a deserved points victory over the experienced Chris Jenkinson on Saturday night.
The oldest of the Upton siblings had to keep a cool head against a foe determined on making things difficult and was rewarded with a 60-53 win on the card of referee John Latham.
Jenkinson bit down on his gum shield and tried to force Upton onto the back foot early on, but Pauly’s superior shot selection and switch hitting often had the rugged Bolton-native bamboozled.
In the later rounds, Jenkinson’s frustration was showing and, after a number of fouls, he had a point deducted. For Upton, it was a chance to get rounds under his belt against a well-drilled opponent and the experience will serve him well in the future.
“It was a good and tricky six rounds,” he said. “It was a bit like chess because I wasn’t rushing into anything as I’ve seen him fight before and he does give people tough fights. It was nice to get the full six rounds out. I was due to do six in my last fight but it got stopped in the fourth so doing the full distance this time was good.
“I’ve been in tough fights before and I know the roughness is part of the game. I just had to be clever and not fall into his traps.”
Trainer Ricky Hatton said: “Chris Jenkinson is always a very tough opponent and is always in shape so it was a very good win for Pauly. It was very important for him to get six rounds under his belt. We’ve been working on a few things in the gym, such as working on the southpaw stance, and he did it well.
“His girlfriend [Jaydeana] is expecting, so Pauly will take some time off with her and the baby and then when he comes back we’ll look to get him another three fights before the end of the year.
“I think we’ll look at maybe doing a couple of eight rounders and then something like an Area title or the Celtic title.”
