Ringside Boxing Report: Thomas McDonagh – Alexander Matviechuk
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Last night at the G.H.Carnall Leisure Centre in Davyhulme, Manchester, England, southpaw light middle Thomas McDonagh faced Alexander Matviechuk in a Wally Dixon promoted fightnight billed as “The Northern Invasionâ€.
“Stormboy’ McDonagh entered the ring with trainer, Brian Hughes, to big support from the local crowd. This was to be McDonagh’s second warm-up fight as he prepares to challenge for the British title, currently held by Manchester icon Jamie Moore.
McDonagh’s opponent was Ukranian Alexander Matviechuk, who took the fight on Tuesday.
Scheduled for six rounds as a light middleweight contest, the fight was action-packed but McDonagh looked frustrated from the start of round one and continued to appear agitated throughout the contest as he just missed on some big shots.
His efforts were unquestionable but he didn’t seem to relax in to the fight, and shook his head towards his corner as Brian Hughes looked on. Matviechuk sustained a nasty cut above his right brow during round five but was allowed to continue.
McDonagh wins on points 59-55 on the scorecard of referee Howard Foster.
Afterwards, McDonagh was clearly disappointed at his performance and apologised to reporters. He said he was glad to get the fight out of the way and was looking forward to getting married next weekend. The press suggested that he was perhaps worried at getting bruised-up before his big day!
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Other fights on the card included:
Light welter Amir “Unzy” Unsworth, of Warrington, wearing camouflage shorts, had the Latvian Sergey Rozhakmens pinned against the ropes for the entire first round. He continued to dominate the fight and as both boxers came out to touch gloves for the sixth and final round, Rozhakmens thanked Unsworth (much to the amusement of onlookers!).
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Unsworth wins on points 60-54 in his professional debut while Rozhakmens falls to 2-15-1 (1).
There was a good evenly matched fight between Rhys Roberts of Manchester and Walsall’s Delroy Spencer at bantamweight. Roberts was making his debut while Spencer has been in with just about every domestic lighter weight fighter of note during the last nine years.
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Roberts wins a close one on points 58-57, improving to 1-0 (0), while Spencer loses his ninth straight to fall to 10-51-3 (1).
There was huge support for Liverpool’s light middle Mick Jenno who had Scotsman Martin Gillick down three times in the first before the action was called at just 1:16 of the initial frame.
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Both fighters were making their professional debuts.
Scott Quigg of Manchester faced Shaun “Slasher†Walton of Telford at super bantamweight which saw referee Howard Foster controversially stop the contest after just 1 minute and 40 seconds of the first round. Walton protested and onlookers mumbled that it was a stoppage too soon.
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Quigg climbs to 2-0 (1) while Walton picks up yet another loss, dropping to 3-21-3 (1).
Light heavy Mark Nilsen of Manchester faced Nicky Taylor of Doncaster in a contest which saw Taylor knocked down twice in the fourth and final round. He got up after the count and Nilsen (of Shannons Gym) won by knockout.
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Nilsen stays perfect at 6-0 (2) and Taylor loses the eighth out his last nine to fall to 2-11-1 (1).
Super middle Paulino DaSilva of Manchester faced new opponent Lee Jones (a last minute substitute for Hamid Jamali), winning on points 60-56.
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DaSilva sees his record to 4-2 (1) as Jones loses his first bout and goes to 2-1 (0).