Boxing In Britain: Booth Stops Marsh In Nottingham

The resurgence of Jason Booth continued last night as the British super bantam champion stopped former titleholder Matthew Marsh last night at Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre in Nottingham, England, adding the vacant Commonwealth crown to an already impressive trophy cabinet.

It was Marsh leading the way in the early rounds as the Londoner expertly kept Booth at a distance and countered well, surprisingly outboxing the champion.

Things came to a head in the fifth when Booth was canvased but easily beat the count and continued on. Booth began to get his bearings by the sixth as he got closer to Marsh and began to boss the younger man.

Booth targeted the challenger’s midsection and was controlling the action in the later rounds, beating Marsh to the punch, when the bout was stopped in the 11th frame when a cut above the eye was deemed to severe for Marsh to continue.

Booth improves to 35-5 (15) while Marsh drops to 13-2 (1).

In a great light middleweight scrap, Martin Concepcion, 16-6 (10), went to war with Kevin Hammond, 8-2-1 (4), and pulled out a narrow 97-96 victory after ten rounds for the Midlands Area title.

Former British super feather kingpin Carl Johanneson, 28-4 (19), returned after a two year hiatus to post a six round points verdict over tough Youseff Al Hamidi, 6-24-2 (1), while light heavyweight Ovil McKenzie, 18-9 (7), stopped Billy Boyle, 13-5 (7), in the first frame.

Ex-British welter champ Young Mutley, 28-5 (14), ended his bout with Scott Woolford, 10-5 (3), in the third and Scott Haywood, 19-5-1 (4), fought to a six round draw with fellow former hot prospect John Fewkes, 18-1-1 (2), also at welterweight.

Speaking of hot prospects, undefeated Gary Sykes, 14-0 (4), had a tough six rounder, having to climb off the canvas to outpoint Dean Mills, 3-3-2 (2), while super fly Paul Edwards, 6-0 (1), stepped up to win against former British champion Andy Bell, 11-5 (3), by a single point.