By Terence Dooley

Last Saturday, the undercard to Kevin Mitchell’s Upton Park challenge for Michael Katsidis’ WBO interim title saw Vinny Mitchell, Kevin’s younger brother, kick things off with a solid win over Daniel Thorpe. 

Thorpe, now 23-101-3 (9), tested Vinnie’s chin a few times, perhaps hoping that the 23-year-old would still be feeling the effects of his fourth-round TKO loss to Jon Baguley in February, only for the hometown fighter to respond with some nice right hand counters.  Mitchell mixed his boxing and banging to take a 40-36 verdict on referee Howard Foster’s card and now moves to 12-1 (2 early), a rematch with Baguley would go a long way to repairing Vinnie’s reputation, and should be on the cards for later this year.

Ryan Walsh went five and six rounds in his last two fights, against Michael O’Gara, a fifth-round TKO, and Ian Bailey, points, respectively, but the Cromer-based 24-year-old was in no mood for waiting about on Saturday night.  Walsh (9st exactly) went at opponent Eugene Heagney (9st 2lb) from the first bell, landing with a left uppercut that busted the 27-year-old Dubliner’s nose.  Walsh’s non-stop attack prompted referee Dave Parris to jump in at 0:49, deeming that Eugene was in no position to defend himself.  Walsh is now 10-0 (4); Heagney lost his second consecutive fight and drops to 8-5.

George Michael Carman was a man on a mission after garnering mixed reviews in his pro debut win over Matt Seawright back in February.  Carman (10st 7lb 12oz) looked noticeably bigger than Saturday’s opponent, Johnny Greaves (10st 6lb 8oz), and the size difference was apparent the moment Carman started working Greaves over with right uppercuts and hooks in the first round of their four-threes encounter.

Greaves was warned early in the fight for use of his head, referee Marcus McDonnell in no mood for extracurricular activity, as demonstrated when he warned Greaves a second time, this time for verbals, towards the end of the round.  Carman had to contend with a bit of blood by his right eye in the second session and some of his shots were of the cuffing variety; however, the 18-year-old started to mix in lateral movement as the rounds progressed. 

This move paid dividends in the third round only for Carman to blot his copybook a little in the fourth by switching off and allowing Greaves to land a straight left from his southpaw stance.  It was too little too late, though, and Greaves now drops to 2-49 (1); Carman is 2-0 (0).

Billy Joe Saunders has been on the sidelines since injuring his left hand in a win over Lee Noble in Newcastle last December.  Saunders (11st 8lb) took his frustration out on Andy Butlin (11st 6lb) for the first and second rounds of their scheduled six-threes contest only to lose momentum, and his way, during the middle passage of the fight.

Saunders, who won welterweight bronze at the Beijing Olympics, landed solid left hooks to the body and then switched his attack to the right-hand side of Bultin’s ribcage before ramming home straights lefts to the head.  By the second it seemed that Butlin, who was on a run of two wins, was going to have his mini-revival snapped within the distance only for Saunders to taper off during the third and fourth rounds, with referee Richie Davies warning Bradley for use of the head in the third and giving Butlin a share of round four.

After a messy, slow-paced fifth, Saunders showed his quality by book-ending the fight with a terrific sixth stanza: right uppercuts, right hooks and straight rights all landing on Butlin, causing a cut over the Huddersfield man’s left eyelid. 

Referee Richie Davies, who has dropped an amazing four stone in recent months and was gliding around the ring like Fred Astaire, scored the fight 60-55 for the Hatfield boxer; I had it 60-54, a clear win but there were one or two moments when Saunders looked jaded and frustrated, a man failing to live up to his amateur promise and falling behind the other Olympians.  Butlin drops to 6-4-1; Saunders maintained his unblemished slate 6-0 (3 early).

Saunders later revealed the reason behind his mid-rounds dip.  “It is always good to get a the rounds because I’ve been out for months and was shaking off rust.  I did my hand again at the beginning of the fifth and thought I’d broke it, I hope it is a minor injury and with the ring rust out of me, I can get busy again.

“The better the people I fight, the better I fight, and when I step up in class you’ll see a different side of me.  I think I’ll grow into a big middleweight but if there is a fight out there for me light-middle then I’ll take it – I can’t make welterweight, definitely.  Hopefully, I’ll be out on the next promotion and show the effects of these rounds.  I want an eight rounder and then maybe an English title.  I was a bit eager tonight but got that all out off me and will be working on taking people apart.” 

‘Funtime’ Frankie Gavin stopped just shy of admitting that he’s the best prospect in the UK at the moment but the Brummie boxer did tell me that, “It is fantastic when you think of the lads they are putting my name above, DeGale and Jeffries and them lot, but we are all learning at the moment and you can only rank us when we get to world titles.”  Gavin had just displayed both his toughness and talent by overcoming a cut, caused by a clash of heads, and a bit of needle to overwhelm Gavin Tait within a single round, referee Marcus McDonnell stepping in at 2:07 of the opener to save Tait, who had won his last three, from further punishment.

Birmingham’s Gavin (10st 4lb 6oz) landed a left hook to the body from his southpaw stance to open his account before following up with a nicely picked straight left to the head of his opponent.  A clash of heads caused a cut by Gavin’s right eye, this promoted a furious response from the 24-year-old, who hit Tait with a right hook to the body and a left hook to the head.  Tait’s defence was scattered and there was no reply to Gavin’s accuracy and speed, forcing the intervention of McDonnell, who called time on the Sheerness-based fighter’s ninth defeat, he is now 8-9 (3).

Gavin is now 7-0 (6) and he told me that he is going to make a real impact over the coming year.  “It was a head clash, I didn’t get hit once and my strength is coming on again,” smiled Gavin, who was nursing a couple of stitches. 

“I feel strong in there.  I could stand just out off range before and make people miss but can get in range now and make people miss, and then hit them hard.  I enjoy it - I like hurting people.  Frank [Warren] said it is a ten-rounder next and then a title.  I just do the work in the gym and make sure everything goes fine on fight night.  I will do my best, there is a lot of hard work and a long way to go but people think I can be a world champion, and hopefully I can be.”

Wales’ Craig Evans (129lb) is trained by Lee Beard, the trainer recently lost his mother and our condolences go out to him and his family; Lee put the pain behind him briefly in order to guide Craig to his first professional win, opponent Dan Carr (128½lb) was helpless in the face of Evans’ whirlwind assault and folded at 0:39 of the opening session. 

Beard was delighted with the result, Evans, though, found fault with himself when claiming that, “I thought it was good but I was a bit reckless, a bit wild, but this is a big stage and I got a bit carried away.  I stepped back when he came at me and gave him the one-two, then the rest came off.”

Though the stoppage was very early and unfair on Carr, now 0-3 (1), Evans looked a real firecracker and it will be interesting to see how his dynamic, if overly expressive, style fares when he meets a guy who can stand up to his assaults, though it should be pointed out that Carr had gone the distance in his previous two fights.

Ricky Burns is waiting on a date for his proposed WBO challenge to Roman Martinez and the Coatbridge boxer proved himself mentally strong in his eight rounder with Youssef Al Hamidi by denying the Dewsbury-based Syrian a sniff of the upset win.  Ricky (134lb) boxed beautifully, showing, as Andy Morris did in 2009, that the best way to avoid slipping up against the slippery 32-year-old is to box him at range from behind the orthodox jab.

Al Hamidi (135lb) threaded home the odd right hand only for Burns, 27, to reply in kind whenever Youssef tried to gain a foothold in the contest.  Referee Marcus McDonnell turned in a 80-73 scorecard; BoxingScene had it 80-72 for the 28-2 (7) boxer, who could have let things slide in this one and allowed Youssef, 6-27-2 (1) to make things difficult, that he didn’t is testament to Burns’ focus at this crucial time in his career.

Liam Walsh (132lb), brother of Ryan, ensured that the Walsh family bragging rights were evenly dispensed by dispatching Ibrar Riyaz (133½lb) with liberal use of left hand at 1:59 of the opening session, referee Richie Davies stopping the fight to save Riyaz from shipping any further punishment after the normally-durable Albanian had earlier been floored by a left to the ribs. 

Walsh, 24, is now on a run of five stoppages with an overall record of 8-0 (7 early); Riyaz falls to 4-10-1 (2 early).  Most impressively, Walsh switched to the southpaw stance after having success with the left early, showing a lot of ring savvy and bringing his left into play in the process.  Indeed, a left uppercut from the southpaw stance was the final clean blow of the contest.

With the main event and the other two title fights, Williams versus Chisora and DeGale against Horton, all ending in one-sided defeats it was left to Londoners Freddie Turner and Duncan Cottier to inject a bit of derby day-style excitement into the largely prospect versus journeyman undercard.

Turner, a southpaw, started messily and was manhandled by the experienced Cottier, who had former British light-welterweight champion Jason Rowland in his corner, early in the contest but soon found his boxing legs as this four-threes encounter wore on.  Cottier arguably won a bitter second stanza; therefore the fight was poised at 2-1 on my card going into the final session, which Turner carried with his smoother boxing.

“I am pleased with the boxing but not with the quantity of what I threw, I could have put more together and maybe the occasion got to me.  He is a tough guy.  I hit him with some good clean shots but should have done more behind the jab earlier on,” explained Turner when outlining the switch in approach during the final session.  The Canning Town-based 21-year-old moved to 2-0 on the back of some nice work; Cottier is now 3-61-3 (1).  BoxingScene.com had it 39-37 with referee Richie Davies posting a 40-36 shutout for the younger man.

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