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There was a good card at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England last night that saw a big upset on the domestic heavyweight scene along with a Commonwealth title fight, an English title scrap and the professional debut of three Olympic boxers.
At the rather advanced age of 42 years, Bedford brawler Matt Skelton, 22-3 (19), had risen through the ranks to stand atop the heavyweight division in England and came into his Commonwealth title defense with Belfast’s Martin Rogan, 12-0 (6), on the strength of a European title winning effort against Italy’s Paolo Vidoz in December.
Rogan, no spring chicken himself at 37, came into his bout with Skelton as the far less experienced man and despite a good 2008 that saw him win the heavyweight “Prizefighter” tournament and narrowly outpoint Audley Harrison, was not expected to defeat Skelton.
But the Irishman proved to not only be able to take the punishment and bullying of Skelton but had the ability to give it back like no one else at domestic level has done so to date.
The two went at it with very little art or defense from the start of the first round. Despite giving up 22 pounds in weight to Skelton, Rogan pressed the Commonwealth Champion unceasingly, soaking up all of Skelton’s big shots and pounding back with both hands.
It was an inspired effort from Rogan and by the eighth frame, Skelton seemed to have little left in this torrid back alley slugfest. Skelton came through the trouble and the shelling resumed from both combatants but by the 11th, Skelton finally went down from all the punishment.
The brave Bedford man got back up in time but wasn’t able to defend himself from Rogan’s followup assault and the contest was waved off at 1:21 of the frame.
Another Commonwealth Champion, super flyweight Don Broadhurst, 10-0 (2), was far more fortunate in his title defense, stopping Ghanian southpaw novice Isaac Owusu, 2-1 (0), in the 11th.
The African, from the legendary boxing town of Accra, mounted a very stern challenge that far outweighted his relative lack of professional experience.
Middleweight Darren McDermott, 15-1-1 (9), bounced back from a failed bid to unseat British Champion Wayne Elcock last June by taking the English title from southpaw Steve Bendall, 29-5 (3), after ten rounds by a score of 97-94.
A trio of former Olympians made their professional debuts and to a man, were pitched in with much more experienced opponents than is usual to see in thse situations.
2008 Olympic Gold Medal winner James DeGale faced rugged 17 bout veteran Vepkhia Tchilaia, 9-9 (5), of Georgia in his four round super middleweight contest and aside from landing one good shot in the opening seconds, was happy to box safely from the outside.
DeGale’s refusal to engage Tchilaia earned him the displeasure of the audience, who booed his safety first approach with great vigor as the Hammersmith 23 year old won easily, 40-36.
19 year old Olympian Billy Joe Saunders at middleweight was also in with a real seasoned opponent in the form of chinny 30 bout Hungarian light middleweight veteran Attila Molnar, 12-13-6 (5).
In stark contrast to DeGale’s Audley Harrison-like approach, Saunders went at his foe with gusto, putting Molnar on his heels in the first and trading punches with the Hungarian in the second.
In opening up his own offense, Molnar fell prey to the far sharper skills of the Briton and the bout was stopped at 1:47 of the second round.
The only Amateur World Champion in British boxing history, 23 year old Birmingham light welter Frankie Gavin, was put in with the least experienced opponent, eight bout Georgian novice George Kadaria, 5-4 (0), who had no wins by KO coming into the bout.
Gavin also attacked his rival in front of him, employing the aggressive body-punching of Manchester, where he trains, and saw little coming back from Kadaria.
Fighting through a bad cut from an accidental head butt, Gavin stepped it up to stop Kadaria at 1:39 of the fourth and final round.
