Mansfield Tavern, Mansfield, Queensland, Australia - In a terrific end to a night of boxing - New Zealand’s, Robert Berridge knocked out favorite Trent Broadhurst who was returning from injury at 2:59 of round 5 in their trans-Tasman clash. Both came into the fight undefeated and the Kiwi was the one to leave still with the ’0′.

Berridge caught Broadhurst with a good right hand midway through the opening round. It was a scrappy opening with both boxers coming together numerous times due to the right hander and left hander combination.

Broadhurst was fighting smart from a distance only coming in when he had to. He seemed to be in control of the 5th round before being knocked down with 30 seconds remaining and was able to beat the count. He was looking wobbly on his feet and was tagged with 10 seconds left and hit the canvas and was unable to beat the referee’s count of 10.

It was a suprising win for the Kiwi, Berridge who improves to 12-0-0, while Broadhurst who recently signed a deal with Ace Boxing Promotion in conjunction with Gary Shaw Productions, slips to 7-1-0.

Julie Gaston Retains Australian Women’s Title

In what was meant to be an off telecast bout, Julie Gaston returning from knee surgery retained her Australian Women’s Bantamweight title with a tough 8 round split decision win over Sarah George.

The fight was a rematch from 2010 when Gaston claimed the Queensland Women’s Bantamweight title over George.

Gaston looked in control in the opening round before the fight started to open up in round 2 with George happy to box on the inside while the current champion, Julie Gaston was trying to shake up her opponent on the inside.

Gaston opened the 3rd round with a big right hand before throwing her punches freely in round 4 troubling George.

Both girls were looking fatigued in round 6 after the early rounds were fought at such a high intensity. Both fighters were cut displaying claret but continued to give their all continually throwing their punches.

A massive head clash 30 seconds into the final round opened a bad cut over the eye of the challenger, Sarah George which was spilling blood. The doctor judged it was ok to continue and it was declared an accidental head clash. Time was called again with 25 seconds left but the ref and doctor both agreed to let it continue due to the little time remaining. Both went toe to toe to the end with the judges scoring it (77-76, 75-77, 77-75).

Carroll Wins In Bloody War

In the co-feature bout Leroy “Narooma Booma” Brown and Nathan Carroll put on a war over 6 rounds at Middleweight.

Carroll was late to the ring and unprepared due to early stoppages. It was an evenly matched round 1 with both displaying heavy hands.

Brown tagged Carroll early in round 2 trying to cut off the room and landed some good punches to end the round. It was a fast paced fight with Carroll in trouble briefly early in round 4 but rebounded well to take the round.

Brown went up and down with his combinations midway through round 5 before being cut over his right eye. The doctor ruled the cut ok with Steve Maxwell announcing it was caused by a punch and not a head clash.

Carroll sensing times had changed went hard in the final round with his punches starting to find the target. Brown held on to send the result to the judges who scored it to Nathan Carroll  (59-56, 57-57, 58-56).