By John Hargate
Mickey Helliet is better known as a boxing manager than a promoter but at the Coronet Theatre in South London on a chilly night he showed the kind of judgement for putting the right two men together in the ring that saw him rise to prominence as the house match-maker for the Marylebone Sporting Club.
The bill featured a large number of prospects - all who brought with them a bevy of raucous and enthusiastic fans to pack out the intimate venue - and a good proportion were matched in fights that carried a real risk of an upset.
Lloyd Ellet made a successful debut against resilient Bheki Moyo - a man who comes to survive and nothing more - and in the opening round looked dangerous with long, straight punches. Ellet seemed to take the wind out of Moyo in the second with a long left to the body but gradually became a little scrappier as the fight progressed. Some positive signs were there for welterweight Lloyd who won 40-36 over four three minute rounds.
Another fighter who looked fairly comfortable was Mordon’s Craig Whyatt making his debut against crafty ‘Rockin’’ Robin Deakin. Roared on by a sizable contingent, light-welter Whyatt was aggressive and brought the fight to Deakin, who spoiled and messed the debutant around. Craig couldn’t find the stoppage against perennial survivor Deakin but was busy with good punch variety winning 40-36 over the four round distance. Craig was cut over the right eye during the bout, but the damage looked to be fairly minor.
The Peckham ‘Pexican’ Johnny Garton met late sub James Nesbitt in his second fight and seemed to struggle against the Birmingham journeyman. After a rousing reception to the strains of ‘Nobody Likes Us But We Don’t Care’ by his Millwall supporters, twenty-four year old Garton looked to take the fight to Moore but seemed like he tried too hard to please the excited crowd. Looking a little sluggish and finding Nesbitt an elusive target, Garton struggled to change pace and the fight fizzled out with only Garton’s better workrate separating the two fighters. Welterweight Garton won a shutout on the cards over four rounds but suffered a gash over his right eye for his troubles.
Marcin Marczak, a twenty-nine year old Pole fighting out of Finchley, managed to stop durable Bulgarian Danny Dontchev in the 4th and final round of their meeting. The Pole, in his second fight and heavier by a stone at 11st 12 1/12 lbs, took his time to try and figure out journeyman Dontchev in a quiet opening round that could have gone either way. An innocuous looking shot put Dontchev down in the second but looked like it should have been ruled a slip. Referee Jeff Hinds called the knockdown in an otherwise uneventful three minutes. In the third Marczak was cut to his left eye in an altogether scrappy round. The fourth saw the Pole begin to find his rhythm and start to time his Bulgarian opponent, culminating in a beautiful right hook that looked like it belonged in another fight. Donchev hit the canvas but made it to his feet only to stagger and cause the ref to wave the bout off.
Popular Ben Day, thirty-three and also in his second fight, met canny Kris Laight in a fun four rounder. Both men showed their boxing brains but neither looked to have the power to hurt the other. The rounds were close but Day marginally outworked his game opponent - who drops to 6(4)-107 - winning 40-37.
Thamesmead’s Ryan Barrett, 25(5)-9-2, ground Dan Stewart, now 8(1)-4, down over the eight round distance to set up a January match-up with former Oscar De La Hoya opponent Steve Forbes in Liverpool. Barrett who weighed in at 10st 3lbs gave away the first two rounds to Bristol’s Stewart who was much the more accurate and a little busier early doors. Twenty-eight year old Barrett soon settled into a rhythm however and began to impose his will and bullied Stewart with hard right hand hooks from his southpaw stance. Barrett won the remaining six on my card and worked well to body and head. Towards the end of the fight Stewart looked exhausted but Barrett couldn’t close the show. Ref Robert Williams gave it to the Londoner 77-75 which - although a little close - saw the right man win.
‘Pretty’ Ricky Boylan looked on his way to an upset loss to Bulgarian Radoslav Mitev over 4x3s after being dropped in the first. Both men loaded up with every punch and Boylan didn’t seen to be able to time the Bulgarian early - or slip or duck or block. Mitev looked a lively underdog and came to win - well, to be more accurate, he came to separate Ricky’s head from his shoulders! Mitev looked to have dropped Boylan in the second as well with a winging hook but ref Jeff Hinds harshly ruled it a slip in Boylan’s favour.
Boylan showed a lot of grit and heart to fight his way back in to the fight and gradually began to dominate. He worked a tired Mitev over, mixing nicely to body and head and his greater accuracy and control began to pay dividends. Boylan, now 3(1)-0, landed a succession of punishing shots mid-way through the fourth and final round that had Mitev in desperate trouble. And over-enthusiastic Boylan was lucky not to have been pulled up by Jeff Hinds for his final shot which caught Mitev while down on one knee but the writing was on the wall for the Bulgarian and Boylan recorded his first stoppage win.
Twenty-Eight year old Kent Cruiserweight Dan Woodgate took his time in sizing up opponent Paul Davis and was being outworked early when out of nowhere he exploded in a moment of unrestrained aggression and fury that separated Davis from his senses and left the watching crowd stunned. Woodgate, now 5(1)-1, launched a five punch combo punctuated with a couple of deadly straight right hands to Davis’ chin and dropped him like a stone. Women gasped and covered their mouths at ringside. I kid you not, they really did. After several anxious moments in which Davis lay prone - out cold - he began to recover and after a while made it to his feet to warm applause from a sympathetic crowd. I saw him mouth the words “good shot, good shot” to Woodgate as the victor came over to offer his commiserations.
In the main bout of the evening for the British Southern Area Lightweight Title, ‘Pocket Dynamo’ Ben Murphy brutalised unbeaten Tony Owen over four largely one sided rounds of non-stop two fisted aggression. The stocky, heavily muscled Hove fighter, 8(4)-4-1, holds a win over British super-feather champion Gary Buckland and has sparred with some of the best in Britain in and around his weight. He has also recently moved to the TRAD TKO gym in Canning Town and started to train under the expert guidance of Johnny Eames and Barry Smith.
Murphy burrowed in with a low centre of gravity and put all of his 9st 9lb frame behind each and every punch he threw - and nearly every one of those were wide, weighty hooks from both hands thrown with just about every ounce of power he possessed. Owen desperately tried to keep the rampaging Murphy off with jabs and fought bravely and gamely but with just the lone stoppage on his (now) 12(1)-1 ledger he didn’t have sufficient pop to keep the Murphy at bay. In the brief moments of respite from Murphy’s whirlwind attack, Owen showed good boxing ability and whilst under fire he proved his chin and his heart. He passed his gut-check and despite losing the fight can come back stronger.
Murphy ended proceedings at 2.03 of the fourth round when referee Jeff Hinds stepped in to save Owen from further punishment. The stoppage was a good one, bucking the alarming recent trend of high profile premature stoppages in British rings. Hinds gave Owen every chance to continue while he was throwing back but as Murphy connected with a series of concussive right hooks flush to the temple Hinds had no option but to wave the fight off.
Murphy is on the march and could be looking at an English title shot sometime soon after Derry Matthews vacates the belt to take an IBO title fight. I spoke to him in the dressing room after the bout with trainers Johnny Eames, Barry Smith and Jimmy Tibbs.
I started by asking Ben how much he had seen of Owen before the fight. “Not a lot,” he told me. “I only knew what his record was and that he’s a tall southpaw. I’d seen him fight once but I didn’t watch him intensely or anything.”
“I knew I’d be too strong for him,” Murphy continued, “but I thought I could outbox him as well. The first round I was a bit all over the place and I got a bit over excited I think. It was my first round back in over a year.” (Murphy had been out of the ring since losing to Mongolian Choi Tseveenpurev in Prizefighter last November).
“As the time went by, I started to move my head and then started making him miss a bit more but I feel like I could have done better.”
Watching the early going at ringside I thought that Murphy might have been on the verge of punching himself out, such was the force he put into every punch. Johnny Eames smiled at my naivety and told me earnestly that Ben could punch like that all night. Murphy concurred. “I could do that for twelve rounds. Definitely. Take a couple of steps round, recover and come straight back in.”
“I could just feel he was fading,” Murphy explained. “As each round went by, I started to work him out a bit more.”
In the night's other action, Floyd Moore beat Mark Callaghan, the Fareham man winning by stoppage in the second after Mark’s corner ended a one sided fight.
