British RBR - Amir Khan v Graham Earl - Saturday - Duddy v Eastman

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Originally Posted by El Gamo

What time and channel is this on please?

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The undercard is just about to begin on ITV4, with the action moving on to ITV1 for the Khan v Earl fight at 9.55pm UK time. Next up we have the "contender's" Paul Smith v Francis Cheka.

OK, so Paul Smith is making is homecoming to rapturous applause here in the Bolton arena, and he really should be far better than the Tanzanian Francis Cheka, who holds a 13-3-1 record.

Round1:

Cheka throwing jabs that fall short early on. Smith throwing a jab or two, and looking to close the gap well. Fairly cagey opening round from both fighters. Smith ducking under a jab and digging a left hook into the body. Smith misses with a jab, but gets out of range before Cheka gets on him. Cheka comes in, and Smith gets in a decent right hook up top, and a short left hand. Cheka's jabs are constantly falling short. Smith with a body shot and a straight right hand. LEft hook as Cheka comes in.

Smith's in cruise control so far.

Round 2:

Cheka opens up well with some decent straight shots, but Smith comes back with some good shots. Cheka comes forward with a great flurry of direct hooks towards the head, and Cheka has Smith on the ropes and in a bit of bother. Smith returns fire though, and comes back with some straight shots of his own. Smith looking to jab his way in against the slightly taller cheka. Cheka ploughs forward in straight lines and lands a decent right hand. Smith looks to be cut or at least grazed.

Cheka showing some spirit there.

19-19

Round 3:

Buddy McGirt is urging Smith to keep the pace up. Cheka is pawing out with jabs, but gets a left hand on the way in from Smith. Smith gets in a right hand to the body. Cheka puts in a body shot of his own, who is fairly simple striaght fighter, but a southpaw. Cheka with a left hook. Smith is just staying away from the jab of Cheka, and not finding many chances to get in. Cheka with a gentle body shot. Smith with a body shot, and some sideways movement to get out of the way. Smith lands a right hook as they split from a rare clinch. Straight right from Smith dodged by Cheka, who puts in a body shot.

Pretty dull affair so far.

Smith 29-28

Round 4:

Smith with a couple of jabs early on. Cheka closes the distance and pings in a body shot. Cheka warned for dragging Smith behind the head. Cheka with a some hard shots, and a good flurry of jabs and straight rights, with Smith giving very little back. Smith now cut again, and Cheka is putting the Contender in a bit of a quandary. Smith looks to jab and then goes into a clinch. Smith watnd for using his head. Straight right narrowly misses from Smith. Two decent left hooks from Smith on the bell.

Cheka edges that one.

38-38

Round 3:

Buddy McGirt is urging Smith to keep the pace up. Cheka is pawing out with jabs, but gets a left hand on the way in from Smith. Smith gets in a right hand to the body. Cheka puts in a body shot of his own, who is fairly simple striaght fighter, but a southpaw. Cheka with a left hook. Smith is just staying away from the jab of Cheka, and not finding many chances to get in. Cheka with a gentle body shot. Smith with a body shot, and some sideways movement to get out of the way. Smith lands a right hook as they split from a rare clinch. Straight right from Smith dodged by Cheka, who puts in a body shot.

Pretty dull affair so far.

Smith 29-28

Round 4:

Smith with a couple of jabs early on. Cheka closes the distance and pings in a body shot. Cheka warned for dragging Smith behind the head. Cheka with a some hard shots, and a good flurry of jabs and straight rights, with Smith giving very little back. Smith now cut again, and Cheka is putting the Contender in a bit of a quandary. Smith looks to jab and then goes into a clinch. Smith watnd for using his head. Straight right narrowly misses from Smith. Two decent left hooks from Smith on the bell.

Cheka edges that one.

38-38

Round 5:

Cheka coming forward and putting Smith in the corner with direct flurries of jabs and straight left hands. Smith ties them up, and wrestles Cheka a little. Jabs land from Smith. Smith really not looking good here. SMith with a decent right. SMith looks to step forward, but Cheka clinches. Jab then two good left hooks from Smith. Cheka looking to shove im into the corner. Good left hook and a right from Smith.

Smith edges that round.

48-47 Smith

Round 6:

Cheka with a hook to the body. Smith is circling Cheka, and not letting himself get put into the corner. Left hook from Smith, then a right counter narrowly misses. Left hook from Smith. Cheka stillthrowing jabs that fall inches short each time. They have a bit of a wrestle. Cheka seems to have visibly tired this round. Straight right from Smith finds the target. He's just biding his time then looking to lunge in.

Smith again. 58-56

Round 7:

This one has a Smith points win all over it. Cheka's doing very little except enough to stay in the fight. Right hand from Smith lands OK. Then a Smith jab. Right hook, then a jab pushes Cheka back. Smith is not being overly impressive here, but it looks as though he's douing enough. Cheka musters a flurry of 10 or more straight shots in straight lines, and pushes Smith back on the ropes to cover up. Smith with a good left hook, then another to the body. Smith's cuts seem to have settled ok now. Cheka taunt Smith with an Ali shuffle, but comes forward in the same straight lines and lands nothing. Left hook on the bell from Smith.

Smith's round.

68-65

Round 8:

Smith with a left hook, then a double jab, but takes a straight right to the face which shakes him a little. Smith puts Cheka back on the ropes. LEft to the body from SMith. GNice straight right from Smith, but Cheka looks unflustered. Uppercut from CHeka, and a left hook from Smith. Smith with a body shot, but another clinch. Left hook from Smith to the body. SMith with a body shot then two big left hooks land in quick succession. Smith has finally claimed the centre-ring. Smith with a striaght right, then a left hook, but takes a left straight as he comes in. They grind heads in a clinch on the bell.

Mickey Vann holds up Smith's hand in victory. For me, he had it by 78-74. Mickey Vann has it 79-74, looks like he scored the second round a tie.

Not very impressive at all from Smith, but Cheka was awkward and a fair boxer.

Ive never really thought Smith was much cop but that was poor.

Bad accuracy for someone with such a low output.

Paul Smith said: "I went in and fought like a mug. I've got the best trainer in the world and I didn't do it. We'll go back to the gym."
"I wanted to put up a good performance and show them that I can listen, I do learn, and that my head isn't just a bit of wood. At times I just saw the red mist and got back into trouble. Ive got the contender experience behind me and I can go on."

Buddy McGirt added: "Paul hits a guy with one punch and wants to get a guy out of there straight away. It'll take a while to get him out of that habit."

OK, so next up we have Dean Hickman defending his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title against Nigerian Michael Gbenga. Gbenga is actually stepping up from Middleweight for this challenge on a light heavyweight title. Hickman will certainly be the bigger, and in his debut on the Sports Network card, he's been given a guy who's 5-2. Gbenga has never been stopped, but if Hickman loses we can all but rule Hickman's career over.

Although boxrec has him at 5-2, the ringside announcer gives him 16-2. Hard to say which way to believe.

Round 1:

Gbenga is holding his hands high early on here. Francis looking to establish his jab, and Gbenga is backing off. Gbenga lunges in and gets a left hook for his trouble. Francis is looking ripped, whilst Gbenga looking the fleshier of the pair. Antoher Francis jab lands in a slow first round. Gbenga has a good reach, but his jabs are landing nowhere near Francis at the moment. Gbenga lunges in, and Francis punch misses, but they wrestle and Gbenga slips to the floor. Gbenga looking to punch from feet away...ineffectual so far.

Francis 10-9

Round 2:

Sorry if I'm a little slow, but the server isn't doing too well so far tonight. Gbenga with an overhand right that looks strong, but not exactly subtle. Gbenga does look strong. Francis gets in a jab. Gbenga misses with a right, then slaps Francis with it. Francis gets on his bike as Gbenga comes forward. Gbenga pins him for a seconds, and puts in a hard right hand. Another jab from Francis, in another slow round. Gbenga ploughs forward swinging wildly, and lands an overhand right.

Gbenga's period.
19-19

Round 3:

Gbenga stands throughout the break. Gbenga opens up with a jab falling short. Francis is keeping his right hand up over his head. Gbenga looking to throw the big overhand rights again, and one of four thrown actually makes contact with the guard. Francis is just using the jab, but although he's a boxer has done absoultely nothing here so far. Francis comes forward with a jab, right to the body, then a left hook, but not much behind them. Gbenga lunges and misses, this looks like being another snoozer if it continues like this. Gbenga with a right hook. Jab from Francis, then he steps back out of range. Gbenga misses an overhand, then ships a right from Francis.

Francis edges this one.
29-28

Round 4:

Francis with a jab and straight right. They both push pawing jabs out that don't come close to landing. Gbenga lunges and misses with that overhand right. Francis with an ok left hook. Left to the body from Francis as he sidesteps a right hand from Gbenga. Straight right and a jab from Francis, who is stepping forward a little more now. Gbenga comes forward and Francis ducks under and scarpers a little. Jab from Francis lands. Gbenga looks to be a one punch man so far.

Francis 39-37