By Lee Collier

Hatton Promotions’ went back to their early promotional days by putting on a small hall show at the Fit City Sports centre in Broughton, Salford.  The show was promoted in association with Bridgewater Professional Boxing with a mix of Hatton fighters and some local youngsters making their debuts, alongside two female bouts, super-featherweight Anthony Crolla headlined the event.

Anthony Crolla (131lb) lived up to his ‘Million Dollar’ nickname with an impressive win over Birmingham’s Sid Razak (135lb).  Crolla, 23, has been looking for a rematch with Dewsbury’s Gary Sykes, the current British super-featherweight champion, who beat Crolla back in 2009 and the Manchester fighter would have done his chances no harm with a notable 60-54 win over six rounds on referee Michael Alexander’s scorecard.

Crolla opened up at a fast pace against the tough and defensive Razak attacking the body from the off.  Crolla was also working his way in with a triple jab to try and open up the gaps for his punches to land.  The Manchester fighter was busy throughout the opener and must have thrown every shot in the book to unlock Razak.

As the fight wore on Crolla’s volume of punches started to reveal gaps in Razak’s defence and the Manchester fighter started to have more success.  Crolla boxed from a southpaw stance for periods of the fight, which is a new tactic for the fighter, and it seemed to work as Crolla’s body attacks started to tire out his opponent.

In the second half of the fight, Crolla started to throw his punches in bunches of fives and sixes and during the fifth round during another big body assault it seemed that Razak may be stopped as he was gasping and seemed to be out of gas.  Somehow, Razak found his way to the end of the round and managed to survive a final round in which Crolla managed to throw over 130 punches.

With the win Crolla’s record improves to 17-2 (2) and the young fighter seems ready to step up to championship level after throwing what must have been in excess of 1000 punches during the contest.  Razak’s record slips to 4-44 (1), although the durable journeyman did the job he came to do and give Crolla some much needed rounds if he is to step up to championship level in his next fight.

Another Hatton fighter who impressed was Rhys Roberts (126lb) who beat Pavel Senkovs (127ls) over the four round distance in a featherweight encounter.  Roberts, hailing from Bury, showed no signs of ring rust having been inactive for seven months and won on Howard Foster’s scorecard by a score of 40-36, Foster scored the fight for trialist referee John Latham.

In the opening round both fighters seemed to be feeling each other out until Roberts opened up later in the round with some ferocious body punches.  Roberts was showing some good footwork to avoid getting hitting off his opponent and landed many combinations of his own in the process.

 

As the fight went into the second half, Roberts started having more success against a brave Senkovs who was struggling to find his elusive opponent.  During the last round Roberts landed a perfect right uppercut on the back foot avoiding another Senkovs attack before opening up with both left and right hands before the final bell rang.

Roberts, trained by Brian Hughes, now stands at 9-0 (1); whereas the Mansfield based Latvian’s record has slipped to 2-15-2 (2); Roberts should be happy with a top quality performance, particularly in defence.

Hattersley’s Kieran Maher (146lb) scored his first victory inside the distance when he stopped Tamworth’s Matt Seawright (152lb) in the first round of a scheduled four.  Maher came out behind a solid jab and was looking for the right hand. 

It didn’t take long to land the right hand and Seawright was in trouble and took the knee for the count.  The Tamworth based fighter was up on six but a Maher left to the body sent Seawright down shaking his head.  Seawright clearly in trouble refused to get up and the official time of the stoppage was 2:36 of the first round.  Trialist John Latham was refereeing.

Maher’s record now stands at 5-0 (1), whilst Seawright’s new record is 3-27-1 (0), and Maher can gain some confidence from his first stoppage.

The last Hatton fighter on the bill was Stephen Russell (128½lb) who lost his unbeaten record when he failed to beat Mo Khaled (126lb) over four rounds.  In the first round Russell seemed to be having difficulties with the switch hitting of the Dominic Ingle-trained fighter, with Khaled landing some nice shots including a right uppercut followed by a left hook. 

Russell seemed to have fathomed out Khaled in the second as he started having some success of his own.  Both fighters at times were throwing wild shots but Russell nicked the second by landing some solid right hand counters.

In the third round, with the fight level, the contest swung the way of Khaled when a right hand caused Russell to slip and his glove touch the canvas forcing an eight count.  Russell protested to referee John Latham to no avail meaning he would need to pick up the pace considerably to get any kind of result.

The final round was dominated by Russell with some right hooks and uppercuts but at the final bell the glove of Mo Khaled was raised with the knockout being the difference after Michael Alexander scored the bout 38-37 in the favour of Khaled.  Russell’s record slips to 7-1 (1) and Khaled carries on his recent good run and now stands at 4-7-3 (0).

The first of the debutants to fight was Salford’s Jamie Corkovic (162½lb) who faced Nottingham’s tough Matt Scriven (156lb).  Corkovic had never boxed until six months ago but as a troubled youth was looking to use boxing as a positive outlet and it seemed to have paid off after Corkovic beat Scriven by 40-35 over four two minute rounds.  Referee Howard Foster scored the fight.

The first round was close as Scriven used his experience to pick off the novice boxer but Corkovic managed to be aggressive and land some of his own punches.  Corkovic came out fast in the second and forced Scriven on the back foot for most off the round.  The Salford fighter lost his gumshield just before the bell and looked to the referee for help but with none coming took some shots off Scriven.

The third round all but finished a tired looking Scriven after he took a right hand that sent him to the canvas.  Scriven was up on three and Corkovic went for the finish but the bell came at the right time for Scriven.  The final round saw Scriven trying to tie up Corkovic and the fight became messy but Corkovic prevailed at the final bell.

Corkovic’s record is now 1-0 (0) and whilst he looked like a raw novice he can take many positive’s form beating a durable Matt Scriven, who drops to 14-65 (2).

The second debutant was former soldier Bret Murphy (166½lb) who faced a tricky Alex Spitko (164ls) over six two-minute rounds.  Murphy did not have the same success as Corkovic after his corner stopped the fight at the end of the second round after a nasty cut over the left eye, which required eight stitches.

The taller Murphy came out jabbing his opponent and was looking good until Spitko started to land with the right hand repeatedly.  Murphy started the second well landing a nice left-right combination through the guard of Spitko before another Spitko right hand landed causing a nasty looking cut to the left eye of the debutant.  Murphy fought on bravely but Spitko started to land more frequently and Murphy’s corner did the sensible thing and pulled their man out at the end of the second.

The final debutant was Salford featherweight Maxine McCarthy (126lb) who faced Hungary’s Zsofia Bedo (126lb) over four two-minute rounds.  The 30-year-old McCarthy, who had never boxed before, was so successful she won every round on Michael Alexander’s scorecard to send her vocal crowd home happy.

After a close first round McCarthy landed a solid right hand that sent Bedo reeling backwards.  The third round was close with both ladies giving as good as they got but another right hand just before the bell off McCarthy had Bedo reeling.  During the final round McCarthy, who did not look like a first time boxer, seemed to be enjoying herself and had some good success with both the left and right hands before being awarded the fight.

McCarthy is now 1-0 (0), whilst the Hungarian Bedo slips to 2-14-1 (0).

Former Big Brother contestant Angel McKenzie (142lb) had a successful evening over Daniela David (140lb) of Romania in a six two minute rounds contest.  McKenzie was awarded the fight by referee Michael Alexander by a score of 60-55 and McKenzie won ever round bar the second, which was even.  McKenzie landed more frequently throughout the fight and had David’s nose bleeding from the third round onwards.

McKenzie started to get flashier in the latter rounds knowing she was winning the fights but just lacked the power to finish David off.  McKenzie’s record rises to 4-18 (0); David slips to 4-19 (1).