27 SECONDS TOO LONG?: REPORT

 

It was my first time back and the York Hall set up was not the same as before. They didn’t let the fans upstairs for a while for whatever reason, they didn’t have the big screens at the back, they didn’t have the normal ring walk or the smoke. It wasn’t like Goodwin Boxing used to do, but I get why now it's different.

Although it ended early, there’s a lot of interesting things that happened in the main event, Jumaane Camero against Billy Allington for the Southern Area Super Lightweight Title. 

It’s a shame that Jumaane Camero and Billy Allington’s Southern Area Super Lightweight Title fight got cut short. The fight was promising and building up towards more but got stopped in the fifth by an accidental head clash.

For me, the first was close but Jumaane landed a lot more clean and effective shots.The second round was again tight and Camero landed cleaner shots but Billy was busy and well in the fight so I can see why that is a call. It’s hard to decide that one either way if I’m honest. 

The third round was definitely Jumaane’s. No doubt. It looked like he hurt Billy a couple times. Then the fourth started and it all changed, it was a very, very good round for Billy, he found a home for the overhand right. He landed a lot of big shots which maybe never really troubled Jumaane because he’s got a good chin but they were eye-catching. Because of how both were coming together there was an accidental head clash and it opened a cut above Allington’s left eye.

At the end of the fourth round the Referee called the Doc over to have a look and obviously if the fight would have been stopped before the fifth it would have been a draw because over four is when it goes to the card. Or card in this case as only the Ref scores. Then he let it go into the fifth round and stopped it after 27 seconds or something which was really bizarre, almost like they wanted it to go to the cards.

You’ve had a minute to look at it, then after 27 seconds decide no? Very weird in such a close fight. It was turning out to be a real, real entertaining main event. Now I’d have had it a draw. Two clear rounds each I’d say. With Jumaane being the home fighter, experience says he might get the nod. When hearing the scorecards of 40-37 to Allington, all I could think was that boxing politics and so on, meant Billy gets given a title in order to set up a rematch with Jamie Robinson after their draw on an MtK show in March.

It got interesting when Tyler Marriott came out. He’s clearly a ticket seller, brought a big crowd with him and he looked really good on his debut. You could tell in sparring he does a lot of work on his movement and positioning; he was trying little tricks, feints and that to get welterweight journeyman Naseem Ali to open up. Ali is a solid opponent but Marriott looked good against a man who didn’t come to roll over. He let Tyler know he was there.

With a great crowd and a man in the away corner who fought back, Tyler Marriott looked impressive. You could tell he wanted the stoppage. It was fun. From this I think Tyler could be a Southern Area or English champion in a few years.

Super featherweight Krzysztof Zuraw’s debut was an interesting one. He must sell tickets too as he brought a big crowd. Lee Devine knows how to play the game though. Zuraw started well, he looked like he had a lot of tricks- using his head to get away on the inside and using his shoulder. Obviously those are illegal moves but we use them and if you can get away with it… I like a bit of dirty inside fighting. You could tell he learned his trade on the inside.

Krzysztof faded fast though I thought, and Lee came on strong and after the first which was clear, the second could have gone either way and Lee did enough to win the final two. I would have scored it to Lee or maybe a draw but we know the home fighter normally gets it. 39-37 to Zuraw.

Billy Stanbury, middleweight southpaw, started well. There was a lot that I could see that he could have done to dominate more. Robbie was circling onto his southpaw backhand but he didn’t throw it enough. He looked the more comfortable though, and the better boxer. Comfortable points win for Billy.

Super Welterweight Shafqat Khan did what he had to, throwing big shots wen he had the opportunity but I felt like his opponent Jordan Grannum was just there to give him the win. Apparently Jordan was a good amateur and I reckon he could have beat him if he’d wanted. It was a shutout win for Khan though.

Dennis Denikajev could have stepped it up and made his super lightweight four rounds more entertaining. 40-36 was right but it could have been more exciting, Matar Sambou wasn’t throwing much back.

Overall it was a good show. A shame some of the away guys didn’t have a go when they could have but the Camero and Allington fight was really entertaining with maybe some controversy in the scoring, something to talk about, and the debuts brought crowds. All in all it was a good show to be at, nice to be back. Apologies to  Amar Karanyi and Jordan Fisher, I had to leave after the Camero against Allington fight. A 7 out of 10 show.