By Shaun Brown
Bristol, England – At eight days’ notice Jack Arnfield (19-2, 4 KOs) more than held his own against Nick Blackwell (19-3-1, 8 KOs) but couldn’t do enough to take the British middleweight title from the champion tonight in Bristol.
Blackwell, who retained his belt after a 12-round unanimous decision verdict (117-111, 117-110, 115-112) had been due to face Elliott Matthews tonight but the 34-year-old had to withdraw due to injury.
Blackpool's Arnfield, now trained by Michael Jennings, stepped up and took on the task of trying to dethrone one of British boxing’s Duracell bunnies.
From the outset, the champion set the pace with a snapping jab followed by a burst of shots that would become a round-winning formula for the remainder of the fight.
Arnfield, whose lack of power, probably more than hindered his chances showed lovely boxing behind the jab and excellent composure under pressure but too often found himself on the ropes allowing Blackwell to wail away.
An uppercut on the inside, a double left hook to head and body were constant scoring shots for Arnfield who had to withstand onslaughts of pressure but when in the middle of the ring looked happier and in more control.
In the fifth round Blackwell’s relentless pressure paid dividends, when after another burst of leather forced Arnfield back and a whipping right hand found the challenger’s body who was down on the canvas but gamely got back to his feet.
Prior to that, in the fourth round, Arnfield had been cut from a counter long right hand which Blackwell had success with but probably didn’t use enough.
Arnfield, now cut and behind on points, would not go anywhere and chose to fight fire with fire whenever asked to and even found the time and confidence to occasionally move to the southpaw stance in an attempt to ruffle Blackwell.
As the rounds wore on a pattern emerged of Arnfield doing tidy work from range and Blackwell always doing his best starting his attacks from the centre of the ring pushing his man back to the ropes. Only once did Arnfield try a clinch and only a handful of times was he able to move out of harm’s way.
In the final three minutes, Arnfield who looked spent of energy, got back to boxing and even decided to go toe-to-toe with the champion to take the final round on my scorecard. It was a spirited effort from a challenger who will most likely challenge for a Lonsdale belt once again.
As for Blackwell, one more title defence and the British title is his for keeps. This week the British boxing board ordered the winner of tonight’s clash to face Chris Eubank Jr before the end of March 2016. A fight between Blackwell and Eubank Jr is one that would fascinate, appeal and entertain many.
Local lad Tim Cutler pleased the Bristol crowd with a win on his professional debut over the still winless Alec Bazza (0-14-1 2 KOs).
Bazza may have a 0 in his win column but he was more than competitive throughout to give Cutler plenty to think about in their four round light welterweight contest.
Scrappy in the exchanges in the early stages, Cutler eventually settled down by the third round finding success with his jab despite the consistent danger of Bazza’s right hand.
Cutler was awarded a 39-38 verdict from referee Marcus McDonnell.
Slowly but surely Craig Kennedy punched the fight out of Tamas Bajzath to force a sixth round stoppage to record his thirteenth win and move to (13-0, 7 KOs).
The cruiserweight contest, a stop-gap for Kennedy before he fights Tony Conquest in a final British title eliminator early next year, was a good exercise for the Welshman who arguably could have got his man out of there earlier.
Bajzath, (11-17-1, 5 KOs) was game enough for large moments of the contest but spent most of it moving backwards trying to fend off Kennedy who barely took a step back all fight.
In the third round Bajzath began to see his head snapped back after jolting shots from Kennedy. The fleshy looking Hungarian showed fleeting moments of excellent movement to present momentary problems for his 30-year-old opponent but in truth never looked like winning the fight.
As Bajzath looked for uppercuts that pointed skywards Kennedy’s left punches to the body were opening the winning door more and more. And in the final 40 seconds of the fifth Kennedy landed a big right uppercut that saw Bajzath go into retreat mode and stagger to his right. The end was nigh.
An eye catching short left hook come uppercut ended matters in round six which saw Bajzath bounce off the ropes and on to the canvas. The 32-year-old rose to his feet but as Kennedy stepped in to end matters Bajzath dropped to one knee to give referee Ian John Lewis no choice but to end matters.
Hughie Fury (17-0, 8 KOs) warmed up for his appearance on the November 28 Wladimir Klitschko-Tyson Fury undercard with an impressive looking second round stoppage over Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (18-15, 9 KOs)
The 21-year-old moved around the ring elegantly from the first bell and his confidence translated itself into his punches displaying accuracy and variety which proved far too much for Zarate who offered next to nothing for the duration of the contest.
After a dominant opening three minutes Fury kept the momentum going in the second and didn’t need any invitation to go on the offence once more with some real thudding and quality head shots proving too hot to handle. A right hand round the side of Zarate’s head ended matters with the Argentinian complaining of being punched round the back of the head. Zarate received medical attention but, thankfully, rose to his feet with the assistance of his opponent.
Hughie, who was recently offered a short notice opportunity against WBC champion Deontay Wilder, now travels to Germany for what should be a much contest against Nicolai Firtha in two weeks’ time.
Yusuf Safa’s work to the body was too much for Jiri Jaros in a six round super featherweight contest tonight in Bristol.
Safa (5-0, 3 KOs), who hadn’t fought since April due to “personal problems and injuries” dictated most of the fight despite being dropped in round two after a clash of heads combined with a forearm from the Czech (5-10, 3 KOs) was deemed a knockdown by referee Ian John Lewis.
Safa levelled things in the next session when a crunching right hand landed to Jaros’ mid-section who did well to recover and survive the rest of the round.
It was all she wrote after 1.45 of round four when Safa picked up the pace and showed why he is highly regarded in some quarters. The 21-year-old stepped in with more body shots which was quickly followed by an onslaught upstairs and downstairs which forced referee Lewis to step in and end the bout.
Heavyweight prospect Young Fury moved to (6-1, 3 KOs) with a four round points decision over Lithuania’s Imantas Davidaitis tonight in Bristol.
Fury, 19, and younger brother to Tyson was awarded a 39-37 verdict after just doing enough to defeat his 6ft 8 ½ ins opponent. Fury, using a low stance, looked to double up on the jab to head or body throughout before aiming looping overhand rights which produced occasional success.
Davidaitis, giving away a two stone weight advantage at 14st 3lbs, did little in the opening six minutes but caught Fury with shots that showed a bit more variety and the experience of having 11 more fights at (4-13-1, 4 KOs).
Young Fury didn’t overly impress but thankfully has time on his side given his tender age.
