By Terence Dooley
What a difference a fight makes, Birmingham’s Max Maxwell was staring down the barrel of obscurity after losing on points to Prince Arron on the 7th of May – his fifth loss in eight fights, albeit against decent opposition. The Richie Woodhall-trained boxer reversed the hearse at the Huddersfield Leisure Centre on Friday night when handing Brian Rose his first defeat via a brutal sixth round KO. A huge right hand sent Rose down and out leaving experienced referee Steve Gray no choice but to dispense with the count at 0:44 of the session.
Maxwell, 30, posted his first win for two months; ‘Mad Max’ believes that he should now take Rose’s ranking and be immediately installed as the mandatory contender for a fight against British 154lb champion Sam Webb.
“Richie [Woodhall] told me that Rose was open to the right-hand over the top and it was there in the sixth round. I knew this fight could open doors for me and hopefully that will happen,” enthused Maxwell, who is now 12-9-2 (3 early).
Rose was coming off a seven-month layoff, his last fight was another dramatic one with ‘The Lion’ defeating Jason Rushton at 2:59 of the tenth and final round. Rushton collapsed after the fight and underwent post-fight surgery. Rose was distraught but had vowed to win a title for Rushton. That quest has now been derailed by Maxwell’s Oliver McCall-esque right hand. Rose drops to 14-1-1 (4 KOs); the 25-year-old insists that he will learn from this loss.
Please send news and views to neckodeemus@hotmail.co.uk
