By John Evans
David Price continued his march towards the top of the domestic heavyweight rankings with an emphatic second round knockout of previously unbeaten Tom Dallas on Saturday night.
Fighting in front of his home crowd at the atmospheric Liverpool Olympia, Price, 17st6lb, showed himself to be a class above Dallas, 16st5lb, who deserves a great amount of credit for taking the bout on late notice after original opponent John McDermott withdrew with a throat infection.
The 6ft 8in tall Price, now 11-0 (9KOs), displayed the boxing skills that earned him an Olympic bronze medal as he instantly established his solid jab. Dallas came to fight but was unable to land anything of note as Price looked defensively sound and cool under pressure when the Kent man was able to bull him onto the ropes. Price had success with the jab and right hand throughout the fight and a right uppercut seemed to sicken Dallas and bought blood from his nose just a few seconds before the end came at 2.45 of the second round. Price touched Dallas with a left hook to the body before unleashing a perfectly timed one two. The second punch landed perfectly and pole axed the 6ft6in tall Dallas. Referee Victor Loughlin dispensed with the count at seven and waved the fight off.
It was an impressive performance by Price. He can now sit back and watch Dereck Chisora and Tyson Fury settle their grudge for the British belt and look forward to finally taking on McDermott before the end of October. 2012 could be a big year for Price.
Whilst the big men topped the bill, the real heavyweight action came from the flyweights as local favourite Paul Edwards, 7st 11lb, made the first defence of his British title against the veteran former champion Chris Edwards 7st 9lb.
Entering just his ninth professional fight and never having been beyond six rounds, the obvious question marks hung above Paul; did he possess the stamina and experience to keep the hard charging Chris off for the twelve rounds? After 12 thrilling rounds, two of the judges decided he had come up just short and, via a split decision, 35 year old Chris regained his British title and became the oldest man to hold the prized belt. Again.
The first couple of rounds saw Paul boxing beautifully off the back foot, giving himself just enough room to land his shots and slide away out of range. Chris, as always, refused to take a backwards step but was unable to set himself as Paul landed crisp jabs and right hands to keep him off balance. On the odd occasion he did manage to evade Pauls jab, the local man did a good job of tying Chris up and preventing him working inside. It looked like being a long night for the Stoke trier but the third gave him his first signs of hope. Although Paul began to find a home for his right uppercut, Chris’ aggression was beginning to pay dividends, as he was able to get closer far more often and work away inside.
Paul came out for the fourth and began to re-establish his grip on the fight. Although having to work hard to keep Chris at bay, the champion was landing the higher quality punches. Chris was forced to eat another uppercut after the pair exchanged left hooks and a beautiful right hand, left hook, right hand combination also landed cleanly.
The pattern continued for the next three rounds with Paul looking to keep his distance and land shots before quickly moving out of range and Chris looking to get close and force the younger man into a close quarters brawl. The fifth round saw Paul land another huge right uppercut but Chris took it without blinking. It would prove to be an ominous sign for “Eddie”. Although the sixth saw him continuing to pick off Chris, he had to work far harder to do it. He had proven he had the skill, now did he have the stamina and experience?
The tide really began to turn in the seventh. Behind on the cards but unconcerned, Chris began to land his right hand with more regularity and with Pauls jab far less evident Chris took advantage, forcing Paul to fight his fight and stand and trade far more than he or his corner would have liked.
Both landed hard shots as the pair exchanged leather throughout the eighth and ninth rounds but Paul look disorganised as Chris began to swarm over him. He appeared badly tired and sagged between the ropes in the eight but bit down on his gumshield and answered Chris’ attacks blow for blow. The pair both landed flurries of hooks in a thrilling end to the round and although landing more, Chris returned to his corner sporting a cut over his right eye. The cut wouldn’t hinder him at all and he opened the ninth by landing a hard left hook to the body that hurt the champion. Realising the effect of the punch, Chris tried to repeat the feat by winging in hooks to the body and outworking Paul inside. On the odd occasion Paul was able to give himself room, his jab was still a useful weapon but it was becoming less and less of a deterrent as the fight went on.
Paul answered a lot of questions in the tenth. Finding himself in a situation he had never previously been in, he showed the heart of a champion to tap into his reserves and dominate the round. A beautifully picked right uppercut stopped Chris in his tracks and the 24 year old even found time for a touch of showboating as he was finally able to get his punches off first and force Chris onto the backfoot.
With the general feeling at ringside that Paul may be slightly ahead, Chris knew a big finish was required to give himself a chance on the scorecards and came out for the eleventh in aggressive fashion. Pauls punch output dropped as he allowed the Chris to outwork him. Chris capitalised by landing with a series of hooks, one particular left hook catching the eye. The stage was set for a thrilling finale and the pair didn’t disappoint. Both poured everything they had left into the final three minutes and Paul dispensed with his tactics and decided to grant Chris his wish and fight the final round in the proverbial phone booth. The pair both had success during a series of wild exchanges but Paul dug deep and always seemed to land the higher quality punches. The bell sounded and the pair received a well earned standing ovation from the enthusiastic Liverpool crowd.
The vast majority of that crowd was silenced moments later though as MC Gary Logan announced a hard earned split decision in favour of the winner and new champion, Chris Edwards. Scores read as follows;
Victor Loughlin – 115-114 Paul Edwards
Mark Green – 115-113 Chris Edwards
Howard Foster – 115-113 Chris Edwards
It was an excellent advertisement for the British flyweight division and we are sure to see a rematch. With former champion Shinny Bayaar due a shot at the new champion, whether that rematch will happen straight away is open to debate but either way, it is a bout to look forward to. Chris moves his record to a deceiving 16-14-3 while Paul suffered his first bout in 9 outings.
Derry Mathews continued his recent excellent run of form with a first round stoppage of George Watson. Now competing at lightweight, Matthews found his range straight away and had already hurt the South Shields man with a left hook and straight right hand before the end came via a perfectly delivered jab, straight right hand after just 1.10 of the first round. Watson wasn’t ‘out’ but seemed to have suffered a facial injury and was in no position to continue.
‘Dirty’ Derry, now 28-5, moves on to a bout with Stephen Jennings on July 30th and mentioned British champion Anthony Crolla and new European champion Gavin Rees in post fight interviews. Both would be entertaining clashes.
In undercard action, light welterweight Karl Place took his record to 14-0 with a hard fought six round victory over the talented but light hitting Michael Grant. As always, Grant boxed beautifully in patches and displayed some touches of real class. Sadly, he lacks the power to make a real impression against the higher ranked domestic opposition and he once again found himself outgunned here. Place patiently stalked him, applying steady pressure and in the early rounds displayed a quick jab. By the midway point, Place stopped making use of this valuable weapon and allowed Grant to gain a foothold in the fight. The bout ended with Grant being rocked by a big right hand from Place and displaying a badly swollen right eye.
Referee John Foster scored the bout 58-56 in the Manchester fighters favour and he will have learnt a lot from this outing.
Liam Vaughan moved to 3-0 with a 4 round points victory over Andrew Patterson. Despite starting in impressive fashion, displaying good head movement and good body work, Vaughan seemed reasonably easy to catch with the jab throughout and finished with a badly bruised right eye. Patterson always comes to fight and played his part in an entertaining bout. Welterweight Vaughan looks to have all the tools – they just need sharpening. Referee John Latham scored the bout 40-36.
John Quigley also moved to 3-0 with a points victory over Steve Gethin. With his hands low, switch-hitting style Quigley was unable to find the shots to force a stoppage but was in control throughout. The fourth round saw Quigley find his range and run through his full repertoire of shots. He displayed a good variety of punches, and once he had his eye in, good accuracy. Obviously though, tougher tests await. Referee Joh Latham scored the bout 40-36.
In other action, Flyweight Anthony Smith made a winning professional debut when stopping Kevin Colgan with a left hook at 0.47 of the second round.
