By Alexey Sukachev

Newport Leisure Centre in Newport, Wales - A fighter is determined, to a considerable degree, by his ability to react (or not to react) to adversity during his most important contests. Former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees of Wales (presently ranked at #14 by the WBO in the very same weight class) reacted well in his thriller versus previously undefeated John Watson (13-0, 5 KOs at the time of the fight). Overcoming a bad nosal injury in the seventh round, Rees knocked Watson down in the tenth round and eventually stopped him at 2:13 of the eleventh. With this spirited victory, Rees (now 34-1, with 16 KOs) captured a vacant British lightweight title (former champion John Murray seeking bigger challenges at world scene), his biggest success since becoming the world champion one division higher.

Shorter but physically stronger Rees, 30, pressed the weaker Watson in the very first stanza. Three years younger, the Liverpool native was unable to cope with Rees' power and determination, and was chased from pillar to post by the local favorite (who was fighting in the city of his birth in front of a roaring Welsh crowd) in the first three rounds. He tried to use his lazy jab to keep the Welshman off of him in the third but failed to realize his plan. The situation changed slightly in Watson's favour in the fourth, when he started firing some power shots in return but that wasn't enough to stop Rees in his tracks. Rounds five and six were rather even but the guest boxer was using his back gear too much to get nods in these stanzas.

Round seven saw a considerable turnaround as Watson gradually became more and more positive and started firing at Rees; possibly with a feeling of despair inside him as the first part of this clash was definitely in the Welshman's favor. However, Watson was not going anywhere. More to this, he landed a couple of uppercuts to presumably break Rees' nose. Bleeding heavily without any breathe to catch, the former champion was forced to clinch through the seventh and the biggest part of the eighth round just to survive. Round nine was all-out brawl, as both fighters connected with a variety of different punches.

In the tenth, Rees has finally got back to his previous form and started to deliver even more than in the first half. Finally, he landed a short but powerful right hook to send Mr. Watson down with twenty seconds remaining in the tenth. Watson beat the count, but in the eleventh Rees went in for kill. Watson's legs were gone, he was able to make it into the final minute of the round but referee Victor Loughlin saw enough and waved the action off as Rees was mercilessly pounding Watson against the ropes.

-----------------------------------------

For whatever it is worth, sometimes experience means something in boxing. Former European and IBO lightweight champion Jason Cook (27-3-1, 14 KOs), 35, proved this axiom once again with the thrilling come-from-behind sixth round stoppage of determined challenger Barrie Jones (16-6, 7 KOs) to become the new Welsh light welterweight champion.

Southpaw Jones, 25, was a better fighter for a majority of fought rounds but he was exposed by the veteran boxer when the victory was seemingly within the reach. In round six, Cook suddenly started firing off major-league hooks to the body. Jones was soon doubled over and then went down for the first time. Immediately after that Cook went right at Jones, when he got up from the first knockdown, and started to deliver terrific shots to the mid-section. His foe went down soon, beat the cound but chose to surrender to a better and more durable fighter in Jason Cook, who can be back to a rematch with Lenny Daws (British champion) pretty soon. Jones suffered his sixth defeat in last seven fights. Time of stoppage was 2:59.