Boxing Result: Amir Khan vs. Gairy St. Clair

Last night at the 02 Arena in London, Sports Network in association with Frank Warren staged some exciting boxing in the shape of Derry Matthews, Michael Jennings and Amir Khan.

Liverpudlian Derry Matthews, the British Boxing Writers “Young Boxer of the Year”, defended his WBU Featherweight title in impressive fashion against Nikoloz Berkatsashvili. Matthews, who dominated from the start, made light work of Berkatsashvili, a 22 year old Georgian import who had lost two of his last three but to quality opposition.

A couple of big body-shots sent Berkatsashvili doubled up on the canvas after just a minute and a half of the first round. The Georgian continues the fight and throws some wildly swinging punches which are no where near their mark.

And with just 45 seconds to go, Matthews lands another body-punch and Berkatsashvili is down again. He fails to get up after the count and Matthews is delighted with his first round win.

The tall 24 year old improves his slate to 20-0 (11) and is almost certainly nearing another important title opportunity. Berkatsashvili drops to 14-3 (5).

WBU Welterweight Champion Michael “The Lurcher” Jennings of Chorley had his first defence of the WBU title when he faced Ross “The Boss” Minter of Crawley. Minter has been out of action for a while having sustained injuries since the Contender series last year.

After just 30 seconds, Minter is caught by a right from Jennings and although he doesn’t fall completely to the canvas – he does dip down off balance. Referee Mickey Vann does not count the fall.

Jennings continues to box at range and Minter recovers to get into the fight. In the closing seconds of the round, Minter lands a good left followed by a right hook which forces Jennings to cover up briefly.

Round two and Jennings allows Minter back in the fight. But he continues to keep “The Boss” at arms length – dodging in and out with jabs and again, Minter finishes rounds two and three strongly. Minter has sustained a nasty cut to the head, believed to be as a result of a head clash.

In the last 10 seconds of round four, Jennings lands a great right punch and Minter does well to take it – he dips down but doesn’t touch the canvas, but a slip of an undercut just knocks him off balance and Minter falls to the canvas, quickly jumping back up as Mickey Vann administers the count. Minter smiling, gestures it was nothing, to his corner as the bell signals the end of the round.

In the first minute of round five, Mickey Vann calls time to warn both boxers about watching the heads but Minter’s left ear is now bleeding. Moments later, Minter catches Jennings – forcing him into the corner briefly and it instills some confidence into Minter, who must be distracted by the blood flowing around his ear.

Seconds later, Minter lands the same right hook which finds it’s target. Minter again finishes the round more strongly, but the corner have to work hard on Minter’s ear during the intermission as there is a cut inside the ear lobe.

Round six and Jennings has let his hands drop, which is allowing Minter to steal a few shots. Jennings has sustained a small cut to the left brow. A left hook from Minter in the first minute of round eight seems to stun Jennings momentarily.

It had been a good round for Minter, then with just 12 seconds of the round to go, Jennings lands a left hook which lands cleanly on the face of Minter, then a couple of uppercuts and Minter, looking sapped by the blows, hangs on to Jennings. He looks like he is about to fall, but is literally saved by the bell.

With 18 seconds of the ninth round to go, Jennings lands a solid left and Minter goes down, urged by his corner to stay down and take the eight count. Getting back up to continue the fight, as the bell signals the end of the round, the towel is thrown and Mickey Vann catches it in his right hand and waves the fight off.

Jennings moves to 32-1 (15), and has now won four straight since losing his British title to Young Mutley by split decision two years ago. Minter drops to 17-3-1 (8) and has now lost two on the bounce.

Commonwealth Lightweight Champion Amir Khan had his third defense of his title when he shared the ring with Australia’s former IBF and IBO Super Feather titlist Gairy St. Clair. Khan had made steady improvement since getting canvassed by Willie Limond last summer but many felt that St. Clair could be the one to upset the applecart.

Khan started out slow and just threw a few jabs to keep the shorter St. Clair at bay but mainly was cautious in the first two rounds. St. Clair looked to have difficulty with the much taller Khan’s reach and quickness.

Round three and Khan steps it up but St. Clair avoids the punches or blocks them. Round five and St. Clair tries to test Amir but the Bolton lad is too tidy on defense and dances away from trouble.

Into round six, St. Clair hits Khan with a good right punch but Amir takes it well and his confidence level shoots up so the seventh and eighth see him batter St. Clair with both hands.

Round nine and Khan kept up his good work, but St. Clair refused to go quietly and hit back with power. Khan won the next three rounds by outboxing the Australian and staying away from St. Clair’s desperate punches.

Khan retained his Commonwealth Lightweight title for the third time after winning a unanimous decision 120-108 on all three scorecards and improves to 16-0 (12) while St. Clair drops 39-6-2 (17), losing the third of his last four bouts.

It’s the first time that Khan has gone twelve rounds and he won each of them in an impressive performance.