Ringside Boxing Report: Jack Arnfield vs. Paul Royston
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
There might have been a super-fight in Las Vegas last night – but here in the UK in our own ʽVegasʼ of the North, (albeit mainly slot-machines taking pennies and twenty pences!), Blackpool Tower played host to another action-packed bill from promoter Steve Wood of VIP Boxing.
Local-lad Brian Rose was to top the bill – aptly named ʽBobbyʼs Birthday Boxing Bashʼ because it was trainer Bobby Rimmers birthday – but he had to bow out of his bout with a troublesome rib muscle, so it was left to 19 year old stable-mate Jack Arnfield to take the reigns.
Arnfield himself suffered changes of opponent, with the scheduled Matt Scriven pulling out at the last minute and leaving experienced Paul Royston of Sheffield to step in.
ʽGlitteringʼ Arnfield stepped in to the ring to huge support from the home-crowd. The taller, rangey Blackpool boxer striking with the straight left to dominate the Sheffield man over four rounds to secure a unanimous points decision.
Light middleweight Arnfield improves to 8 wins and no losses.
Popular light middleweight Alex Mattvienko came out for his first fight since the title defeat to Lee Edwards in September. Looking a little nervous at first, the ʽOne Man Riotʼ started tentatively against experienced ʽwork-horseʼ David Kirk with little happening in the first round.
Mattvienko started to settle in towards the end of round two, securing a better round three. Kirk gave a tough performance but Mattvienko kept focussed to get the 40-37 points win.
Mattvienkoʼs record now stands at 12-1-2 (4).
Making his pro-debut last night was cruiserweight Mathew Askin of Blackpool as he faced ʽever-readyʼ Paul Bonson of Yorkshire. An impressive points win from ʽflashyʼ Askin, 40-36.
Other undercard results included:
Chris OʼBrien (Burnley) vs. Peter ʽDesperateʼ Dunn (Pontefract)
6 x 2 welterweight contest
O’Brien wins on points 60-55 and improves to 4-1.
Stuart McFadden (Colne) vs. Anthony Hanna (Birmingham)
4 x 3 super bantamweight contest
“Burnley-Banger” McFadyen wins on points 40-36 achieving his eleventh win against one loss.
Rick Godding (Bolton) vs. Daniel Thorpe (Sheffield)
4 x 3 light welterweight contest
Godding wins on points 40-35 and improves to 5-0.
Matthew Ellis (Blackpool) vs. Luke Simpkin (Swadlincote)
4 x 3 heavyweight contest
ʽCool Hand Lukeʼ was dropped right at the end of round two. ʽMagicʼ Matthew Ellis wins on points 40-36 and improves to 20-5-1 (9).
Jon Kays (Ashton-under-lyne) vs. Craig Johnson (Derbyshire)
4 x 3 featherweight contest
Popular Jon Kays aka ʽTwo Smokesʼ lost out to Johnson on points. Johnson improves to 9-3.