Ringside Boxing Report: Jason Booth vs. Mark Moran
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Last night at the Indoor Sports Centre in Leigh, England, Frank Maloney hosted a fight night headlined by the British Super Bantamweight title clash between Jason Booth and Mark Moran.
Booth was scheduled to fight Lee Haskins for the British super flyweight belt and while Moran was to fight Mathew Marsh for the super bantam crown, but with less than two weeks notice Haskins and Marsh dropped out, leaving Booth to face Moran.
Booth already holds the Commonwealth bantam strap and now – having moved up in weight – had his eye on a third belt.
Moran gets off to a confident start against the experienced ‘2Smooth’ Booth, concentrating on body-shots mid-way through the round.
Booth launches lightning-fast uppercuts which just miss the target. Both men keep a good defence and it‘s a fairly even first round.
Round two and Booth dips low – charging in at Moran with left and right hooks. Referee Howard Foster warns them to ‘watch their heads’.
But as the closing seconds of the frame loom – both men’s foreheads rub together as they tuck in – exchanging uppercuts and short punches. It’s been another close round.
Mid-way through round three, Booth lands a good left hook to the body but Moran pulls away gesturing that they had clashed heads. It hasn’t caused an injury, so Moran walks around then resumes the fight.
With seconds of the third remaining – Moran slips on the canvas. Fighting continues with Booth dominating at the end of the round.
Booth has a good round four, but both men are applauded as they slug it out toe-for-toe in the closing seconds of the frame.
With a minute of the fifth to go – backed in to the corner, Moran drops his gloves twice as if ‘shaking off’ the effects of Booth’s punches. He tucks in to keep a tight defence, but doesn’t throw any shots for several seconds as Booth keeps up the pressure.
Sky Sports statistics reveal that Booth has landed 73 of 324 punches, a 22% success rate, as opposed to Moran’s 16% rate from 38 of 226.
Booth boxes superbly in round six – using a combination of punches to head and body, but with a minute and seven seconds remaining, Foster quickly ‘calls time’ seeing a bad cut to Moran’s left eye.
Taking Moran over to his corner – trainer Nigel Hardman immediately calls it off. It is a terrible gaping cut.
The injury appears to have been caused by an initial clash of heads followed up by a clubbing right hand from Booth.
Booth wins the British Super Bantamweight title by sixth round stoppage. A two-weight Champion – his record now stands at 32-5 (13).
Prizefighter winner Martin Murray of St.Helens, faced Kevin Concepcion of Leicester in a six round middleweight contest.
Murray dominates from the centre of the ring, sinking in a decent body shot on Concepcion, who winces from the blow in the second half of the opening round.
A right to the head followed by a left to the body and Concepcion falls to the canvas in the last half minute. Seconds later, he goes down again and is literally ‘saved by the bell’.
Concepcion is given time to recover from a low blow in the opening minute of the second frame, but just half a minute later he is on the canvas from a big left hook to the face.
An unsteady Concepcion continues, but goes straight into a barrage of punches. With heavy legs, he continues, but in the closing seconds, he also sustains a cut to the forehead.
As Concepcion comes out from his corner to start round three, referee Steve Grey takes him over to see the ringside doctor and the fight is stopped.
Martin Murray wins by stoppage and his record now stands at 14-0 (5).
Usman Ahmed (Derby) v Francis Croes (Middlesborough)
6 x 3 flyweight contest
Smiley ‘Uzzy’ kept fans entertained by dancing on the spot while he waited in the ring! A small awkward boxer – he spent much of the contest skipping his opponent around the edge of the canvas, securing a points win over Croes.
Ahmed improves to 5-1-1 (0).
Jack Arnfield (Blackpool) v Paul Morby (Portsmouth)
4 x 3 light middleweight contest
Rangey Arnfield looked flashy as he secured a points win over Morby. Arnfield’s record now stands at 10-0 (3).
Karl Place (Manchester) v Jamie Spence (Northampton)
4 x 3 light welterweight contest
Place won by stoppage over Spence, who had been on the canvas twice and – with unsteady legs – is stopped under a barrage of shots from Place in the second frame.
Place wins by TKO round two and improves to 5-0 (2).
Ovill McKenzie (Derby) v Bob Ajisafe (Darlington)
8 x 3 light heavyweight contest
Southpaw Ajisafe takes a number of heavy right punches in the first minute of the round, falling to the canvas from a huge clubbing right delivered by ‘The Upsetter‘, McKenzie.
Still unsteady – Ajisafe takes another shot then another right which sees his knees dip but somehow he remains upright and amazingly manages to see it out to the end of the round.
Ajisafe settles in to the bout, but by round four – fighting has become sloppy from both men with Ajisafe looking the more tired of the two.
Both men are told to ‘clean it up’ as the last round gets messy. But Ajisafe’s nose is bleeding profusely and the closing minute is a bloody one!
Sky Sports statistics show that McKenzie landed the most punches, 51 of 241, as opposed to 39 out of 299 for Ajisafe.
Surprisingly, Ajisafe’s hand is raised as the victor as he wins on points, 77-76, improving to 7-1 (2).
Carl Dilks (Liverpool) v James Tucker (Doncaster)
6 x 3 light heavyweight contest
Popular “Dynamite” Dilks won convincingly over last minute opponent Tucker. Dilks improves to 11-1 (4), with the lone loss coming during a Prizefighter tournament.
Nick Quigley (Liverpool) v Kristian Laight
4 x 3 light middleweight contest
Nick Quigley won on points over experienced Kristian Laight, who had stepped in at the last minute.
Quigley’s record now stands at 2-0.
Tyrone Nurse (Huddersfield) v John Greaves (East Ham)
4 x 3 light welterweight contest
Nurse did well to keep focussed against an ‘agitated’ John Greaves. Having already picked a fight with ringside advertising hoardings – Greaves had his usual ‘chatty’ fight. This didn’t faze Nurse, who secured a deserved points win, improving to 7-0.
Paul Edwards (Liverpool) v Itsko Vaseline (Bulgaria)
Paul ‘Eddy’ Edwards secured a second round stoppage over the Bulgarian Vaseline, who – despite having taken a number of head punches – still protested at the stoppage.
Edwards improves to 4-0 (1).