FOSTER LOSES OUT AS QUICKFIRE CAIN STRIKES AGAIN

BRAD FOSTER WAS unsuccessful in his challenge for the WBC International super bantamweight title, coming up short on points against the rated Romanian Ionut Baluta.

All three judges awarded the fight to Baluta by a four-round margin after a fight where styles didn’t gel and it quickly became a messy affair.

Foster, later in the fight, was also clearly hampered by an injury to his right hand, which was rendered redundant and Baluta capitalised on the handicap.

The first half of the fight was high-paced, a little scrappy and close to call. Both fighters were guilty of falling into clinches whenever they got up close and there was lots of grabbing and holding.

Most of the telling shots came from Foster early on, but Baluta was not without success himself and the home fighter was in no way having it all his own way.

Quality work was at a premium and referee John Latham was a busy man, continually having to separate the combatants.

The scorecards read 98-94 and 97-93 twice.

Andrew Cain retained his WBC International Silver title at super bantamweight with yet another quickfire victory, this time over the usually tough Mexican Luis Moreno.

Moreno, who had promised a war beforehand, was poleaxed by a magnificent right uppercut that dumped him on the deck. Cain went on the attack and swarmed his opponent, forcing him down again and referee Victor Loughlin wanted to see no more and the fight was stopped after 2.02 of the first round.

Liverpool’s Cain, who actually started the fight in a controlled fashion, moves to 10-0, with nine of the wins coming via KO.

Micky Burke jr notched a third stoppage victory in reaching 6-0 in a strange encounter with erratic Croatian Ivica Gogosevic.

A left hook to the body ended the show after 1.04 of the fourth, waved off by referee Kieran McCann.

There was some mighty work to the body in the second and a neck-jolting right in the third that rocked Gogosevic, but served to make him even more unpredictable and ragged.

A knockdown was scored in the first round when a Burke right hand landed but it was a delayed reaction and Gogosevic appeared to stumble before falling.

Sean Noakes got his professional career underway with a 40-36 victory over Lee Hallett.

The 26-year-old was dominant from start to finish but was always unlikely to remove Hallett inside the distance and, therefore, was happy to work his way through and show off his punch variety against a moving target.

In a cracking six-rounder at super featherweight, former amateur star Charles Frankham made it six wins out of six with a career-best performance against the tough Sandeep Singh Bhatti.

Frankham opened the fight with a snappy punching display, keeping his opponent at distance and assessing the potential return fire.

The 22-year-old, by the third round, chose to engage and show the power he believes he has developed in the gym under new trainer Roger Lee. Bhatti did go on the attack in the third and Frankham always responded in kind with stylish counter punches.

The aggression level was upped in the fifth and, just before the bell, Frankham fired in a fierce combination ending in a brutal right hand that bust the defences of the Indian and put him to the canvas.

Frankham was enjoying himself and, probably for the first time as a pro, really let his hands go and put on a show for a packed York Hall. Referee Kieran McCann scored the contest 60-53.

Welterweight Josh Frankham clocked up a sixth straight win against late opponent Naeem Ali over four rounds, winning every round to record a 40-36 score on the card of referee Mark Bates.

Opening the BT Sport broadcast was Queensberry’s new First Lady Raven Chapman, who made an emphatic statement against Gabriella Mezei. Chapman unleashed a salvo of punches to the body and head of the Hungarian, who was felled and finished with just 58 seconds on the clock.

Chapman moved to 3-0 in the featherweight professional ranks.

In the first fight of the night, super bantamweight prospect Adan Mohamed eased to a fifth straight professional win via a 40-36 margin against Stefan Nicolae.