by Andrew Paterson

Liverpool, England, Echo Arena - Chris Eubank Jnr (18-0, 13KOs) made early work of his German opponent Omar Siala which will not only please the hardcore boxing fans but will probably make Billy Joe Saunders and promoter Frank Warren sleep easier tonight.

Eubank Jnr is already slated in to face Billy Joe Saunders on November 29th in London and the big concern was that Eubank Jnr might be forced to pull out of the Saunders fight with an injury after deciding to go ahead with his scheduled 8 round fight this evening.

Eubank Jnr stood posing at the opening bell but soon started throwing some left hooks and uppercuts.  The end was almost near after a huge barrage of punches from Eubank Jnr had Siala staggering backwards but then decided to go off for a walk before deciding to re-engage.

A brutal right uppercut at 1 minute 10 seconds in the 2nd round, after another exhibition by Eubank Jnr, saw the referee wave the fight off.

After the fight Eubank Jnr stated, "Like I said I wasn't looking to get injured, I'm not injured.  Tonight this guy didn't deserve to be in the ring with me.  I took the fight because I'm a fighter...that's what I do.  Even if I did get injured I would still get in and fight Saunders.  I also wanted to make sure I could make the middleweight limit and you saw I made it easily.  Me against Saunders is bigger than Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora.  Saunders isn't even worthy of being called a British champion, I saw him outside a club in Manchester drinking a beer, that's the type of man he is.  This guy is in serious trouble on November 29th"

Former World Amateur Bronze and Commonwealth Gold medallist and British Olympian Thomas Stalker faced off against Jack Catterall in an eagerly anticipated showdown that has seen a lot of verbal exchanges in the build up to the fight.  Pre-fight Stalker responded to Catterall’s taunts about knocking him out, “I’m going to give him a boxing lesson, he thinks he is a big puncher, I’ve sparred him and not once did I think he was a big puncher.”

Catterall though claims that the “spar had to be stopped” after catching Stalker with a left hook.

The Battle of the Unbeaten southpaws started with Stalker boxing, attempting to use his longer reach with Catterall waiting to counter over the jab with his own lead left hand and with a minute left in the round Stalker was dropped with a left hand. Catterall’s jab was more accurate which was setting up all his success to land his left hand in behind.

Stalker was hurt early in the 2nd round by another jab and straight left hand from Catterall.  Stalker, for all his amateur experience, kept his hands low which enabled Catterall to be successful.  That success saw Catterall drop Stalker again with a minute left in the round.  Every time Stalker missed Catterall punished him for it.  Catterall though was lucky not to be deducted points for punching Stalker whilst on the canvas.

The 3rd round was relatively uneventful though Catterall was showing patience and his ability to outbox a former highly respected amateur boxer in Stalker.

Stalker found his first real success in the 4th round with a straight left hand but again Stalker was hesitating obviously concerned with the power that was evident in the left hand of Catterall.

In the 5th round Stalker starting circling to keep Catterall off balance and was definitely the busier of the two but the fight was now losing the drama that unfolded in the first two rounds.  Stalker kept the same game plan in the 6th round until half way through the round Catterall landed a solid shot that almost dropped Stalker and started severe swelling under Stalker’s right eye.

In between rounds Stalker’s corner threatened to stop the fight if he didn’t step it up in the 7th.  Catterall kept walking forward and landing his vaunted left hand which saw Stalker having to clinch and move with his hands up.  Stalker was now showing visible signs of damage but managed to cut Catterall with a small flurry and was able to land a couple of more punches late in the round but not enough to discourage Catterall.

Stalker started bleeding from the nose in the 8th round and had to bite down on the gum shield showing heart and resolve as he thought himself around the ring attempting to find openings, perhaps knowing that Catterall could turn the tide at any time.  The tide did turn moments later when Catterall landed a brutal left hand that had Stalker stumbling across the ring and back into the ropes that prompted the referee to stop the fight whilst simultaneously Stalker’s corner threw in the towel.

It was an impressive performance from Jack Catterall who now collected the fringe WBO European Light Welterweight title.

"I knew I had to keep pressing, he [Stalker] took some great shots, he has a very good chin.  We had a few words before the fight but that's boxing.  I was looking to hurt him." Catterall stated after the fight, who now gains a top 15 ranking with the WBO.

The reigning British & Commonwealth Flyweight champion Kevin Satchell, 111lbs, stepped up a level to challenge Spanish based European Flyweight champion Valery Yanchy, 111lbs, of Belarus.  Satchell looked focused as he opened the fight attempting to establish his jab early, though Yanchy showed that he was no slouch as he showed decent hand speed but the much better combinations came from Satchell in the opening frame.

Early in the 2nd round Yanchy was cut on the corner of the left by an accidental clash of heads.  As the action resumed Satchell continued to be busy whilst Yanchy looked to step in and land, throwing only two or three punches at a time from the southpaw stance, however Satchell responded each time with better combinations.  Yanchy showed that he could be dangerous with his lead left hand and also getting Satchell to the ropes.

Yanchy swapped his punches in the 3rd by targeting Satchell’s body with left uppercuts and did look to be getting the better of the round as Satchell attempted to pick up the pace and outwork his opponent midway through the round.  After throwing his punches though Satchell would stay in front of Yanchy at times instead of spinning off to the side.

After four rounds two things were apparent, Yanchy was going to be in Satchell’s grill all night and the fight could end up being tight on the cards as the first four rounds were nip and tuck.

In the 5th round there wasn’t much clean punches landing though Satchell probably shaded it by being the busier of the two whilst Yanchy was showing that he could land sneaky shots.

Satchell began pushing the 37 year old Yanchy back more in the 6th round as he started slipping and moving his head on the way in to land his shots, whilst also getting his shots off first whilst also moving out from the infighting; it was clearly Satchell’s best round of the fight.

Satchell’s confidence was clearly evident in the 7th round as he slipped and used good upper body and head movement to get his punches off as he began to take control of the fight and started to build up a small lead on the scorecards.

In the 8th round Satchell was having his own way until he got slightly over-confident and turned southpaw and then immediately got tagged by Yanchy with 40 seconds left.  In the 9th round Satchell again turned southpaw as he attempted to bully the champion inside however he was having far more success staying orthodox and boxing at range.

Entering the championship rounds Yanchy came out trying to turn the tide but as the round ticked down to the last minute Satchell started to put the foot down though Yanchy wasn’t discouraged as he gamely again tried to press forward until a right hook in the dying seconds of the round pushed Yanchy back into his own corner but the champion perhaps done enough to shade the round.

Satchell started the 11th round strongly and attempted to out man Yanchy as the challenger worked the angles, used lateral movement though once again in the last 30 seconds Yanchy started to go to work as he landed a thudding left hook as Satchell attempted to hook with him.

Both fighters stood in front of each other at the start of the 12th round and threw shots until Satchell started using his feet and body movement to create openings, though once again Yanchy showed his dogged determination as he landed a two punch combination forcing Satchell back which seen him ending the fight like a champion by winning the round.

The three judges score it the fight as a majority decision for Kevin Satchell; Erikki Meronen 117-112 , Philippe Verbeke 116-112 and Giuseppe Quartarone 114-114.

Satchell stated after the fight, "I'm buzzing now that I've got all three [British, Commonwealth & European] belts, I only need to add the World title now."

Promoter Francis Warren spoke afterwards about a possible local derby bewteen Paul Butler and Satchell if Satchell fancied the move up to Super Flyweight.  "We know we will fight one day," Satchell added, "its just a matter of the right time."

Opening up the live broadcast was the ever improving Welsh light middleweight Liam Williams, 156 ½, who faced Stepan Horvath, 157lbs, from the Czech Republic.  Williams, who received a great reception, started off pumping out a solid jab and attempted to land overhand rights behind it.  Horvath though was able to land some straight right hands which spurred Williams to let his hands go more as he dipped Horvath’s legs with a vicious body assault but Horvath managed to get himself off the ropes.

Early in the 2nd round Williams landed a solid straight right hand that had a delayed reaction before Horvath fell to the canvas and was counted out.

Williams now improves his record to 11-0-1 with 6 stoppages and become the first British fighter to stop Horvath quicker than Chris Eubank Jnr and Frank Buglioni.

Speaking directly after the fight Williams stated, “I wasn’t trying to stop him quicker than them [Eubank & Buglioni], I’m getting better with the more experience I get.  I would like to fight Liam Smith but I’m fighting for the Commonwealth title in December so maybe a couple of fights down the line, but I'm not calling out anyone just now.”

Former British title challenger James “Jazza” Dickens (18-1, 6KOs) looked sharp in his scheduled 8 round bout against Georgian import George Gachechiladze.  Dickens opened up the fight with heavy, thudding shots and stopped his challenger in the 2nd round after dropping him in the 1st round.

Debutants Michael Joynson of Liverpool and Mason Cartwright of Chester opened up their professional ledgers by scoring victories.  Joynson didn’t waste much time as he opened the show by stopping Alex Bazza in just 34 seconds, whilst Cartwright, who brought a sizeable fan base with him and outpointed Duane Green 40-36.