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Ex-European Super Featherweight Titlist Tontcho Tontchev came roaring back to life this afternoon at London’s historic York Hall, knocking out Welshman “Dynamite” Dean Phillips in the first frame of their scheduled eight round lightweight affair on a Maloney Promotions bill. This was supposed to be another step on the comeback trail for Phillips, who had been outclassed by Kevin Bennett a year and a half ago in a failed Commonwealth title bid, but it all ended in a heap for the southpaw from Llanelli.
Phillip’s downfall came when he attempted to throw a left to the body but was countered perfectly by a left from Tontchev that crashed square on the chin and had the Welshman out before he hit the canvas. There was cause for concern as Phillips lay on the floor for quite sometime but happily he regained his feet and appeared to be unhurt as he left the ring.
Although he’s appeared to be on the downside of his career for quite sometime now, the 34 year old Bulgarian Tontchev, 35-4 (20), brought a far deeper resume to the bout, mixing with the likes of Janos Nagy, Daniel Attah, Luis Villalta, Anatoly Alexandrov and Luis Lizarraga among others. Phillips, 15-7 (8), by contrast had traded with former WBO Featherweight Champion Colin McMillan in an eight round loss eleven years ago but aside from facing Bennett in 2004 had not been tested against a fighter of Tontchev’s standing. Ironically, Tontchev was based in the UK for the first three years of his career, racking up an impressive unbeaten record before winning the European belt in 2001, in the same venue, York Hall.
