RING EXIT RECORD? REPORT

Two fights of this Mo Prior show had me excited; watching my friend Ryan Lukeman make his debut against a 1-0 prospect and also that I finally got to see the “Ginger Rocket” Jamie Robinson in action live. I’ve been a fan of Robinson for years since he had an eight round war with Atif Shafiq on Sky Sports in 2015. That was a great fight.

The main event was Jamie Robinson facing Evgenii Vazem. This weigh in genuinely took place in someone’s living room as Robinson's original opponent didn’t turn up. Madness! Vazem was a good and lively opponent who I think any lightweight looking to make a step up should take on. Robinson was straight on the front foot, holding the centre ring and throwing shape and confident combination. The Ginger Rocket boxed very well, against a very good opponent. Vazem had a good fifth round but Robinson came out strong, won the sixth and the ref scored the fight 60-55 in his favour.

The ideal next move for Robinson in my opinion should be a rematch against Billy Allington which ended in a draw in March, which I thought Robinson won. It’s be great if that was for the Southern Area Title.

Inder Bassi Singh must be a massive ticket seller as it felt like the whole place was there to see him and when the fight was over York Hall seemed to empty. It was an interesting and unusual fight to say the least, as when the fight started Bartosz Glowacki and Bassi both came centre circle and Glowacki threw a straight right to the body which found the target, Singh seemed to lose his footing and fell to the floor. A punch landed and it was also a slip, I thought it should have been a knock down but was ruled a slip. I don’t know what was up with Singh’s shoes but he slipped another three times in the round just randomly.

The fight got very scrappy. Singh hit Bartosz with a couple of low blows and as the two came together in the clinch and Bartosz tried to throw a cheeky little headbutt, the Ref gave both of them a big telling off as you could imagine. Tempers were high and as Bartosz kept storming in, Singh kept turning him and throwing him out the ring. In the third Singh got deducted a point for another low blow. The fight was messy, scrappy and dirty but also pretty entertaining fight. It was scored 39-36, on losing an angry Bartosz wasn’t happy and stormed out the ring.

With all the ring exits it was almost so bad it was good.

Louis Greene against Octavian Gratii could have taken place in a phonebooth as the two came head to head and didn’t take a backward step the whole fight. Green landed some big shots throughout and they seemed to hurt Gratii as his gum shield came out twice and he complained about getting hit on the back. That showed a bit of weakness to me. In the fifth round Green landed the best shot of the fight, a right uppercut, but still Gratii never took a backwards step and kept coming forward. The fight was scored 60-54 to Louis, Gratii didn’t seem to agree with it but I couldn’t see it going any other way.

Kicking off the show was my good friend Ryan Lukeman. Unlike most debutantes Ryan took on undefeated prospect Michael Watson. On the day that my girlfriend's Grandad's funeral was meant to take place (but got moved back) coincidentally Ryan just happened to come out to Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight- which was her Grandad’s song. As the bell went Ryan was on the front foot from the off. The 5’11 featherweight kept it long with his jab and used his height and awkward movement to control the pace from the off.

In the second round Ryan was growing in confidence and started to let his hands go. About midway through the third the pace started to slow from Ryan and I was wondering why? After the fight he told me that he broke his left hand so couldn’t keep Walton off with his jab. Micheal Walton came out and gave it a go in the fourth, but the one handed lighting Lukeman still was able to win the round, maybe we should start calling him the one armed bandit. It was scored 40-36 to Ryan and I have to say I was very proud of him. To take on a 1-0 fighter on your debut in a week’s notice and fight two rounds with a broken hand takes massive balls- well done sir. 

 

Two men who have away fighter records took centre stage together as Viktoras Ramza fought Gary Stables. Razmoa must have gotten bored of life on the road after his last fight when he beat 7-0 prospect Ryan Charles to calm his first win and take his record to 1-3. As the bell went Ramza looked sharp and not like your average road warrior, but I have to say I was very impressed with the head movement and defence of Gary Stables, nothing was getting through his tight guard.

That all changed in the second round where both men traded left hooks and Stables seemed hurt. As he backed up onto the ropes, Ramza came forward and started throwing hands like there was no tomorrow, after about twenty unanswered punches the Ref jumped in the stop the fight to give Ramza his second win in a row and taking his record to 2-3. The wins seem to be piling up for this road warrior, who might not be a road warrior for long.

 

Watching James Heneghan’s ring walk was really cute- he had the biggest smile on his face, it’s beautiful to see someone happy and enjoying what they are doing. As the bell rang to start his fight against Gennady Krajevsky James’s boxing skills were exceptional. He looked so comfortable in the ring and just looked like he belonged there. Throwing lovely punches, slipping shots... it was a joy to watch. Gennady was looking at the ground throwing wild hooks hoping one would land on the chin but Heneghan was way too skilled for that to take place. At one point James looked at his coach and was told, “that was beautiful” and I couldn’t help but agree with him. The same beautiful boxing continue and it was scored 40-36 to James 

 

The show itself unfortunately wasn’t one to remember, as there wasn’t many stand out fights or moments, but it was great to see a good friend win and Robinson fight.