By Oli Smith

On a sweltering night at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, Jason Booth looked to continue the great run of form by defending his newly acquired BBBofC Super Bantamweight title for the first time against Rocky Dean. Having conquered his demons outside the ring – including overcoming potentially career threatening injuries after being mugged – Jason Booth needed to put on an impressive display, having previously fell short when challenging for titles. At this late stage in his career, Booth has to prove he can make the transition to European level, where he has twice failed before, and beyond.

The opening bell saw both men move to the centre of the ring and begin trading. Booth started brightly, doubling and tripling his jab effectively, forcing Dean to reset, step back and start again. It would the template for the rounds to follow, using superb lateral movement and throwing from every conceivable angle, Booth began to dissect his man. Dean held all the physical advantages over the champion, being a career Super Bantamweight, his game plan seemed based around making the most of these attributes – height, reach, natural weight all played to Dean’s advantage, but in order to utilise these he would first have to catch Booth. You can’t hurt what you can’t hit.  
And hit Booth he did, only it would be unintentional and with his forehead, whilst both were boaring and bullying on the inside. Luckily for Booth, the cut that resulted was high and bled away from his eyes.

The impossibly high tempo that was set in the first continued through into the second and third rounds, seemingly impervious to the searing heat at the centre of the ring, both men stuck to their game plans. Booth stuck and moved, darting in and out, all whilst out landing his challenger two to one. Dean on the other hand seemed doomed no matter how he altered his plan of attack. Whilst bullying his man back against the ropes he would be turned and countered. If he were to stand and trade, Booth would use footwork and superior hand speed to neutralise the onslaught, then turn it to his advantage. This left battling on the inside, another area where Booth settled in, right at home, leaving Dean wanting.

From the early stages of the fight through to the middle rounds, everything went Booth’s way. Dean had no chance of out boxing, what must be one of the most underrated British talents of the last 10 years. When Dean threw two punches, Booth would throw five or six. When Dean began to work on the inside, he’d be strafed by straight rights and hooks, alternating between his head and vulnerable body. The gulf in class was evident for all to see, Booth was simply too fast and too sharp; and it began to overwhelm Rocky Dean, who, to his credit, dug his heels in and refused to be moved. The eighth round saw Rocky Dean produce his best work of the night, Booth’s work rate had slowed for the first time, which allowed Dean to boss the action and make his best case for winning a round thus far. A resurgence that seemed so promising in the eighth stanza was not to be, complicating matters further for Dean, another clash of heads opened up a nasty little gash above his eye towards the end of the ninth.

The Championship rounds saw Booth once again turn on the class, having found yet another gear he set about throwing flurries of five and six punches, by the end of round 10, Booth had sent nearly 1000 punches in the direction of Rocky Dean. Booth’s corner urged him to use his right more, believing it may hold the key to finishing the night early. That wouldn’t happen; the one element Booth lacks from his repertoire is knockout power. Being quick on his feet may not be conducive to planting said feet and blasting an opponent out, it is conducive to chipping away and slowing overwhelming an opponent or breaking his will. All credit to Rocky Dean, he wouldn’t let that happen either. Although outmatched for speed and boxing ability, he kept his head down and didn’t get crazy, he seized opportunities as and when they arose, unfortunately they didn’t present themselves often enough for him to gain a foothold in the fight and the scores reflect the close but ultimately one-sided action. 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108 to Jason Booth by unanimous decision. 

At 31, Jason Booth is clearly enjoying the twilight of his inconsistent career. Whereas before he didn’t seize opportunities when they presented themselves – twice losing out on EBU honours and once for the IBO Super Flyweight title - Booth will need to carry all the momentum he has forward in order to secure another shot at a European title. Currently rated number two on the domestic scene, and having dismantled Rocky Dean (number three), Jason Booth has demonstrated a wealth of talent far beyond the domestic scene, if he can overcome his inconsistency on the big stages, very little will be beyond the diminutive man from Nottingham.

In the undercard action, Beijing Bronze medallist Darren Sutherland faced a stern test in once beaten Gennadiy Rasalev of the Ukraine.  Sutherland took the first round relatively easily, showing why many believe him to be the best of the British and Irish Olympic talents that made the transition into the paid ranks. Showing off his full repertoire, Sutherland landed with hooks and uppercuts; he forced the action and countered when necessary. It would be the last time he had an easy time tonight. Through the second and third rounds, Rasalev found the target with relative ease, giving Sutherland problems and resistance which he has yet to encounter in his career.

The fourth and final round was fought in trenches as the previous two had been, towards the end of the round, the bout was called off due to a bad cut above Rasalev’s eye – caused by a clash of heads. Whilst the end of the fight was disappointing, certainly so for Rasalev who had been growing in confidence, it was an unexpected but very welcome test for Sutherland, who would have learned more in these three and a bit rounds, than he would have in his first three fights. With the win Sutherland moves to 4-0 (4KO’s), the Super Middleweight prospect is being hurried along in his career, at 27 he is in his prime and needs to strike whilst the iron his hot. Both men can take a lot away from their performance tonight, especially Rasalev, who having been clearly overlooked was very unlucky not to hear the final bell. Darren Sutherland on the other hand will look beyond tonight, he will have learned valuable lessons – time will tell if he is able to put what he has learned into practise.