Boxing News Boxing News
Two shows last night in the UK with the bigger bill taking place at the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.
Local hero Ricky Burns was in action as the Commonwealth Super Feather Champ put his title belt at risk against former British Champion Michael Gomez in what had turned into a grudge match complete with pre-fight scrums in the street during the media build up.
While Gomez was at his intimidating best before the fight, it was Burns who was in the driver’s seat once the bell rang, peppering the Mancunian with sharp counters off the jab.
At 31 years of age and four years past his prime, Gomez was a shadow of his former self but still managed to test Burns as the Scotsman lost a point for holding in the fifth while attempting to nullify Gomez’s inside aggression.
Gomez finally broke through in the sixth, drawing Burns into a slugfest until the champion wisely moved the action back outside. By the seventh, Gomez had nothing left in the tank and suffered a stoppage at 0:47 of the frame when he could not answer a Burns pummeling along the ropes.
Burns moves to 26-2 (7) and retains his Commonwealth Super Feather title for the second time while Gomez falls to 38-10 (25), announcing his retirement after the bout.
On the undercard, super middle prospect Kenny Anderson, 10-0 (7), continued his matriculation with a difficult 96-95 points verdict over iron-chinned Welshman Nathan King, 12-13 (1), to pick up the vacant Celtic title.
Also on the bill, former British Featherweight Champion Andy Morris, 16-2 (5), returned from an 18 month hiatus to outpoint spoiler Youssef Al Hamidi, 5-16-1 (1), after four rounds at lightweight.
At Kensington Town Hall in London, Wembley based Albanian Kreshnik Qato, 19-6 (3), survived a scare against well-traveled Latvian hard man Jurijs Boreiko, 15-17-1 (10), climbing off the canvas in the fifth to pull a 58-56 win out of the fire after six rounds at middleweight.
