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Friday night saw a cracking start to the New Year as Esham Pickering faced Sean Hughes in a Hennessy Promoted fight night for the British Super Bantamweight title, billed as “The Re-Match”, at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton-on-Trent, England.
Just 10 weeks ago, Sean Hughes, of Pontefract, shocked the British boxing scene by defeating Esham Pickering, of Newark, in spectacular form. Pickering had expected the fight to be an easy ride and paid the price – for he emerged beaten and bloodied after the battle with Hughes.
Pickering said before the rematch on Friday, “I’ve got to win this fight tonight to move on.”
There was huge support for both men. Sean ‘Short-fuse’ Hughes made his entrance to the sounds of ‘High-ho Silver lining’, while ‘Brown Sugar’ Esham Pickering entered the ring with his belt held aloft.
In the opening seconds of round one, Pickering is already caught by the southpaw jab of Hughes, but the champion lands a good right hand and Hughes feels the power of that as his head bobs backwards. Referee Howard Foster gestures to Pickering not to hold down.
Midway through the round and Pickering’s defence is sloppy as he is caught with a number of right handed jabs from Hughes. “Hughes-y, Hughes-y” the Midlands crowd are chanting.
It’s a terrible first round for Pickering as he goes back to his corner, nose bloodied already. Trainer Carl Greaves is not happy with Pickering and tells him to ‘sort yourself out!’.
Pickering is shaken again as he starts round two and suffers a barrage of shots from Hughes but keeps upright. In the last half minute of the round, Hughes is half-wrestled on to the canvas by Pickering and the fall is waved off by referee Foster, who then takes time to warn Pickering for ‘pulling down’ again.
Pickering comes out for round three with more confidence and lands a good right shot which seems to startle Hughes. It’s a much better round for Pickering, who seems to have settled in to the fight now and his punches are more accurate.
It’s a more evenly-matched first half of round four as both fighters pick-away at their opponent, but a peach of a right hand shot from Pickering in the last 20 seconds of the round sends Hughes crashing down to the canvas.
Hughes gathers himself for a couple of seconds on the canvas, then springs back up to his feet gesturing to referee Foster that he is ok, but he suffers another attack from Pickering and a final right hand sends him to the canvas just as the bell signals the end of the round. The count must still be administered despite the end of the round and Hughes quickly gets to his feet and back to his corner.
Pickering, spurred on by the success of the previous frame, continues the attack on Hughes in the fifth round. Both men are taking shots, although Pickering is the more accurate, as they stand toe-to-toe, slugging it out in this exciting re-match.
‘Step back when I tell you!’ Referee Foster warns Pickering after the first minute.
In the final minute, I wonder how Hughes is managing to keep upright; he takes some big shots and looks exhausted now but still manages to throw punches. In the last 20 seconds he is pushed down by Pickering and half-falls through the ropes on to the canvas. Pickering is warned again and Hughes gets a moment to recover. Hughes is lucky that it’s the closing seconds of the frame.
“Fight with your head, not your heart” trainer Michael Marsden urges Hughes as he sits in his corner.
Hughes seems to have recovered when he comes out for the sixth round. Midway through the frame he wobbles Pickering with a left and right. Moments later and again Hughes lands a good left followed by a right and Pickering is backed up on the ropes. Pickering’s face is bloody and his mouth looks badly swollen. It’s been a good round for Hughes.
It’s pretty evenly matched again in round seven, but Pickering’s shots were the more accurate of the two.
Round eight and blood pours from the nose of Esham Pickering. “Hughes-y, Hughes-y” the crowd chant again and Pickering is warned for holding down yet again as the bell sounds the end of the round.
With nearly a minute of round nine gone, Pickering lands some big punches on Hughes and his head lolls back after each shot. Referee Foster steps in to stop the contest and boos from the Midlands crowd ring round the Meadowside Leisure Centre.
Pickering retains the British Super Bantam title and improves to 33-6 (13) while Hughes drops to 14-7-1 (1).
The second main event was that of Nottingham boxer Adnan Amar, who faced Ian MacKillop of Canada in a 10 round welterweight contest. Amar, from the Ingle’s gym, dominated the slower’Canadian.
A big right hand from Amar in the opening seconds of round two sent MacKillop to the canvas. MacKillop continued but looked dazed and held on to Amar for a few seconds to recover. Moments later and MacKillop is sent off-balance again as Amar lands another left. Stumbling MacKillop holds on again.
The Canadian’s hands are very low and he takes a number of punches from Amar. After just 25 seconds of round three, the referee calls a halt to the contest, MacKillop having taken another couple of big punches from Amar.
The Nottingham man did a back-flip across the canvas in celebration. Amar wins by TKO in round three to go to 20-1 (5) and MacKillop heads to 25-10-3 (14).
Afterward, Amar said he’d been working on precision. He announced that he’d, “be looking at a British title this year” and thought he’d “be fighting Matthew Hatton soon for the English Welterweight title, if he’s up for it !“ he said.
Other fights on Friday night included:
Super middleweight Matthew Hainy, 1-0 (0), of Derby went against James Tucker, 0-2 (0), of Nottingham in a scheduled four rounder. Former kick-boxer Hainy had a good points win over Tucker who had only had one previous pro fight when he was defeated by Phill Goodwin. A confident Hainy enjoyed the big support from the crowd and was clearly delighted with the 39-38 points win.
Super middle Sam Horton, 7-0 (1), of Dudley defeated Lee Noble, 9-7 (2), of Barnsley on points 39-37 after four rounds.
Light middleweight Duane Parker, 2-0 (0), of Derbyshire defeated winless Lance Verallo, 0-21 (0), of Birmingham 40-47 in a four rounder.
Light welterweight Jack Perry, 6-0 (1), of Derby outpointed Kristian Laight, 5-41-5 (0), of Nuneaton in a four round bout via scores of 40-36.
Perry wins on points
Light middle Muhsen Adaney Nasser, 15-0-1 (2), of Sheffield defeated Tye Williams, 5-13-2 (4), of Dewsbury on points 40-36 after four.
