Ringside Boxing Report: Scott Lawton – Baz Carey
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It was a lively crowd that packed the Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent, England last night for a night at the fights put on by promoters Impact Boxing. entitled Mayhem. There were two main events, one featuring local Stoke man Scott Lawton looking to defend his Midlands Lightweight title against Coventry’s Baz Carey while another Stoke boxer, Gary Reid, was fighting for the British Masters Light Welter title against Scotland’s Kevin McIntyre.
First on the card was Ian Clyde from Stoke making his professional debut in a 6 x 2 minute light welterweight bout against Birmingham’s amazingly durable double centurion, Peter Buckley. It was noticeable right away that debutante Clyde with the leaner physique appeared much lighter on his feet against the more thickset, solidly-stanced Buckley. The better workrate came from Clyde, who despite being caught up on the ropes a couple of times in the first half of the contest, cracked Buckley with a good punch in round three. Buckley wasn’t toppled but the crowd appreciated it and gave applause.
The older veteran seemed to have saved himself for the last round with the final two minutes coming fast and furious with Buckley catching Clyde a couple of times mid way through the sixth. Clyde won on points, 59-56, but Buckley looked surprised to have lost. The referee commented that Buckley had only taken the fight at lunchtime that day. Clyde wins his debut to go to 1-0 (0) while the unbelievably experienced Peter Buckley loses another to fall to 31-224-11 (8).
Next up was Gary Sheil of Chester against Chris Edwards of Stoke in a 6 x 3 minute flyweight bout. Edwards simply flew out of his corner in the first round, getting straight to work on a surprised Sheil. It was a bit of a messy scrap in the first, but by round three, the two boxers still looked pretty evenly matched, although Edwards was coming forward more than Sheil.
Round five saw a little cut above the right brow of Sheil and in the final round, he looked the more tired of the two. It was a fast and exciting fight, very entertaining, with Chris Edwards winning on points, 59-57, to go to 8-12-2 (2). Gary Sheil falls to 0-3 (0).
Next up, the very popular local hero Jimmy “The Whirlwind” Doherty was pitched against Birmingham’s Jason Nesbitt for a 6 x 2 minute welterweight bout. Nesbitt took a stumble inside the first half minute of Round one; he seemed to overstretch his leg stance and early on looked like he was too far away from his opponent.
Doherty dips and comes up for a punch in a sort of coiling action that the crowd just loved.
Nesbitt went over in the fourth, but it was no knockdown, athough the crowd cheered anyway. The last round was a bit sloppy and Doherty did a lot of running around, but he had tremendous support from the crowd and won on points, 59-55, to move to 3-0 (0) while hard luck Jason Nesbitt drops to 5-64 (3).
The first main event of the evening was Scott Lawton against Baz Carey for a ten round lightweight contest for the British Midlands Area title.
Lawton entered the ring wearing white shorts bearing “The Saint” logo while Baz “The Bulldog” Carey came into the ring wearing his blue and white Coventry FC shirt. As his nickname suggests, Carey is a shorter, stockier boxer who moves forward with the stature of a Bulldog!
It was obvious that there was no love lost between the two fighters and they both came out fired up and ready to go. It was a fast, busy first round with Carey being a little cocky, always looking for the big punch, doing a lot of swinging, over the top shots that kept missing the mark. At times Carey stumbled off balance or against the ropes as his efforts went off target. He did catch Lawton with a couple of good shots in the first two rounds and despite the animosity between the fighters, they still touched gloves at the end of each round in appreciation.
In round three, there was a bit of showboating from both boxers as they taunted each other. Half a minute before the end of the third, Lawton did a half turn, coming back with a great uppercut, much to the delight of his fans who cheered loudly. There was no glove touching at the end of round four.
By the end of the sixth, Carey looked frustrated and in the eighth, he tried for a few more over the top punches but again they went off target. Both laughed near the end of the round as they exchanged a bit of cheeky banter. Round nine saw a couple of wrestling type grapples and Lawton let go a barrage of punches as Carey was stuck in the opponent’s corner.
A hug and exchange of words as they came out for the tenth and final round. The crowd chanted “Scottie! Scottie!” and then “Easy! Easy!” as Lawton’s corner egged them on.
It was a cracker of a fight, full of excitement and very entertaining. Scott Lawton won on points, 99-94 to move to 17-2-1 (3) and will now be looking for the chance to challenge for the vacant English Lightweight title. A chance to face superstar novice Amir Khan has also been mentioned. Baz Carey drops to 11-16-3 (3).
Next up was Blackburn’s Derek Greave against Stoke’s Danny Johnston for a six round middleweight bout.
Greave was down in the first half minute of round one and he sustained a barrage of punches while pinned against the neutral corner before pulling himself together and coming back to the middle of the ring a little more composed. The referee shouted “Do that again and I’ll chuck you out!” to Johnston, who was punching the back of Greave’s head.
In the third, Greave touched down and Johnston continued to box on, so he was sent to the neutral corner with another warning. Greave was given a standing eight count before his corner threw in the towel midway through the second. Greave was clearly upset, protesting at his corner for some time as he wanted to carry on but he was never in the fight. Danny Johnston wins to go to W 2 L 2 D0 while Derek Greave loses his to begin his career at 0-1 (0).
At this point the ring announcer introduced Joey Singleton, former Lightweight Champion of Crewe ABC who was ringside to support Ian Clyde, who Singleton trained at amateur level.
The last bout of the evening was the ten round light welterweight bout between Stoke’s Gary Reid and Scotland’s Kevin McIntyre for the British Masters title. Gary Reid, looking very fit and with Scott Lawton working his corner, was led in to the ring by a blue clad MC who was rapping “Reidy, Reidy”, much to the delight of fans.
McIntyre sustained a cut on the left brow in the first but it didn’t seem to bother him too much. He slipped during the second round, then got up to receive a big body punch to the kidney region from Reid. The Scotsman knelt for a few seconds to recover. In the last few seconds of the round, there were more body blows from Reid, causing McIntyre’s corner to protested that the punches were landing on their fighter’s back.
There was a big onslaught at the start of the third from Reid, causing McIntyre to drop for a count. He got back up but then he was sent down again, visibly hurt by the punches, causing the referee to stop the fight at 0:46 of the third round.
The win will undoubtedly be another confidence booster for Gary Reid, now 11-15-1 (6), as he prepares for an upcoming appearance on the Brian Magee v Carl Froch Bill on May 26 in London for Sky Sports. Kevin McIntyre goes to 22-5 (8).
