Ringside Boxing Report: Chris Edwards vs. Wayne Bloy
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Last night at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Frank Maloney and Impact Boxing hosted a fight night which saw local boxer Chris Edwards face Grimsby’s Wayne Bloy for the British and Commonwealth Flyweight titles.
Bloy had plenty of support from the Grimsby fans who’d made the trip while experienced Edwards was looking to become a double-weight champion having moved down from super flyweight.
Edwards goes out ‘all guns blazing’ as the bell sounds the start of round one. Exploding like a ‘bottle of pop’, he goes after Bloy and it’s difficult for the ringside photographers to keep up with the two men as they nip around the canvas on fast feet!
Edwards throws various shots – both to head and body – driving forward to back up Bloy. Mid-way through the first frame, the Grimsby man is already under pressure and stumbles backward as Edwards lands a big right hook to the face.
Edwards keeps up the pressure and seconds later another head shot sees Bloy on unsteady legs. The home-crowd erupts as Bloy takes further punches to the head.
Trying to get away from further punishment, Bloy skips out of the way and with a minute of the round still remaining, all he can do is try to escape Edwards’ advances while he waits for his head to clear.
Edwards is relentless; throwing punch after punch. Bloy takes a barrage of shots and walks on to Edwards’ right hand, which sees him wobble again. Bloy is literally ‘saved by the bell’and looks ‘stunned’ as he sits in his corner.
Edwards gets straight to work as round two begins. Bloy’s shots go unnoticed by the Stoke man, who lands a big right followed by a left hook to Bloy’s face.
Bloy desperately tries to cover up but the shots get through. Edwards keeps driving forward with Bloy managing to land a left to the homeboy’s face.
Holding on during the closing seconds of the second round, Bloy regains some composure as he goes back to his corner and manages to ‘slip’ more of Edwards’ shots during round three.
In the opening half minute of round four, Bloy takes a body-shot which causes him to hold on momentarily, but he ducks away from another of Edwards’ hooks.
Edwards backs his opponent up against the ropes and Bloy does his best to get away from him. In the last minute of the round, Bloy starts to shake his right glove by his side and Edwards goes in to pile on the pressure.
Bloy takes a number of punches to the face in the closing seconds of the round and referee Mark Greene looks carefully at him. We were surprised to see the Grimsby man still on his feet by the end of the round, but his corner retired him and Chris Edwards celebrates the British and Commonwealth title victory.
An excited Edwards jumps out of the ring to see family and friends before being presented with the belts.
Afterward, Edwards confirmed that it meant a lot to win the belts for Stoke, while fighting in Stoke! He also gave credit to Impact Boxing and his trainer, Lindon Newbon.
The undercard featured nine bouts.
It was an action-packed night of boxing which saw some ʽqualityʼ undercard fights.
Larry Olubamiwo, a large, but very toned, heavyweight from Hackney faced a less-athletic looking Mihai Iftode of Romania in a contest scheduled for four rounds.
Olubamiwo gets straight to work at the start of round one while southpaw Iftode seems to be looking for one shot. In the first minute, Olubamiwo has thrown left and rights to head, body-shots and uppercuts already!
With a minute remaining, Iftode ʽruns awayʼ from Olubamiwo in a bid to escape his punches but the Londoner chases after him and lands a hefty right hook to the rather fleshy torso of his opponent, followed up by two uppercuts, Iftode now holds round the waist of Olubamiwo.
In the first minute of round two, Olubamiwo subjects Iftode to a variety of punches and the Romanian looks ʽsappedʼ of energy. His nose bleeding, he finally sinks to his knee in the corner and has no intention of getting up for the count.
Olubamiwo wins by KO round two, improving to 3-0 (3).
Afterward, a ʽmodestʼ Olubamiwo spoke of his mistakes in the ring and told Sky Presenter Ed Robinson that his ʽaim was to continue to improve his technique and staminaʼ.
Promoter Frank Maloney said that Olubamiwo was going to be the most exciting boxer in the heavyweight division.
It was a fast-paced contest between Stoke’s Scott Miller and Polish-born Mancunian Tomasz Mazurkiewicz as they fought in a six round welterweight contest. A ʽfired-upʼ Miller looked to be enjoying the support from the home-crowd.
It was a fairly evenly matched first round as both men score shots. Miller uses combinations but gets caught by Mazurkiewicz with countering punches to the head. Miller looks to be throwing more punches while Mazurkiewicz waits to pick his shots.
Miller puts Mazurkiewicz under pressure, backing him into the corner as they begin round three. Miller lands a big right mid-way through the frame then a big left hook lands to the face of Mazurkiewicz in the closing seconds and the Polish-born boxer looks tired. A big right then snaps back the head of Mazurkiewicz just as the bell signals the end of the round.
Miller keeps up the work-pace in round four, relentlessly throwing punch after punch. Mazurkiewicz lands with some cleaner shots in round five but Miller is undeterred. Miller sustains a small cut on the right brow during the frame.
In the first minute of the sixth and final round, Miller lands a big right to the face of Mazurkiewicz, who goes down on the canvas. Getting up for the count, the Manchester fighter continues but looks deflated as Miller goes to work.
Another big right lands to the face of Mazurkiewicz in the closing seconds and the Pole – sporting a visibly damaged left ear – has done well to see it through to the end of the frame.
Miller wins on points 59-54. His record now stands at 7-0 (3).
Ashley Sexton of Cheshunt faced Fikret Remziev of Bulgaria in an eight round flyweight contest.
ʽFlash-Ashʼ gets off to a good start – dominating from the centre of the ring – landing a snappy straight right which rocks back the head of the Bulgarian in the opening half minute.
Keeping focussed, Sexton persists with the left and right jabs to keep Remziev on the back foot landing a number of shots to the head of his Bulgarian opponent. Time stops briefly while Remziev gets his boot-lace retied then the bell signals the end of the first frame.
Round two and Sexton continues with the straight punches right in to the face of Remziev, who waits to counter. A big left hook lands to Remziev’s now bloodied face and referee John Keane steps in to end the contest with half a minute of round two remaining.
Accurate punching from an impressive Sexton sees him win by second round TKO, improving to 4-0 (2).
Kevin Hammond of Lincoln dropped down to light middleweight to face Stoke’s Jimmy Doherty.
Hammond lands a big left hook in the opening round which sees Doherty on the canvas. Doherty has a hard time settling after the first round knockdown but keeps a determined Hammond at bay to complete the eight rounder.
Hammond wins the bout 78-74 to go to 5-0-1 (1).
English Lightweight Champion Scott Lawton of Stoke faced Johnny Greaves of Eastham, who stepped in after Henry Castle pulled out of the bout with the flu, during a six round non-title bout at light welter.
A low blow from Lawton warrants Greaves a brief recovery time in round two, but the Eastham boxer doesnʼt seem to be taking the fight too seriously!
Shouting out in frustration with himself in round three, Greaves jokingly talks to his corner during round four, which raises a smile from the Stoke fighter.
Lawton makes use of his long-reaching straight right and remains his usual quiet and focussed-self to win on points, 60-54, and his record now stands at 26-4-1 (5).
Bantamweight Paul Edwards of Liverpool posted a 40-36 points verdict over Slovakian super bantam Elemir Rafael after four frames and sees his record to 3-0.
Heavyweight Alex Ibbs of Stoke saw off opponent Steve Bodger of Blackburn 40-36 to go to 4-2 (2), while Hull super featherweight Samir Mouneimne was held to a draw during his professional debut by Walsall veteran Steve Gethin, who’s record now stands at 11-41-3 (6).
Newcastle-on-Tyne cruiserweight Jon-Lewis Dickinson outpointed Doncaster man John Anthony 40-36 after four to see his record to 2-0.