By Lee Collier
Professional boxing returned to Huddersfield for the first time since October 2005 with a bill labelled as Fright Night Boxing by Steve Wood’s VIP Promotions. The bill’s headline fight was originally a British Masters Super Featherweight title fight involving Manchester’s Jon Kays before a last minute change in opponent, as well as local unbeaten prospect Tyrone Nurse, fighting in front of his home town fans for the first time in his pro career.
In his first six-round fight, Tyrone Nurse (10st) moved to 10-0 with a convincing win over Jason Nesbitt (also 10st) from Birmingham but is still looking for that elusive first stoppage victory. Nesbitt, a journeyman with over 100 fights, could not handle the slick-moving Nurse.
In the first round, Nurse came out behind a solid jab. Nesbitt set out by holding a tight defence and did not offer much back. Towards the end of the first round Nurse had started to open up and was varying his attack with combinations to the head and body.
The next couple of rounds saw Nurse moving around the ring smoothly and throwing some nice combinations. Nesbitt continued to cover up, meaning a lot of Nurse’s punches landed on the gloves, although he did have more success to the body.
During the fourth and fifth rounds Nesbitt started to open up more, which give Nurse a little more success, although Nurse did get caught with a couple of left hooks but was untroubled by them. The sixth round saw Nurse get back on top by throwing some nice attractive combinations and then moving out of Nesbitt’s range. Referee Michael Alexander scored the bout 60-55 to Nurse who can now look forward to a possible title fight in 2010.
Manchester’s Jon Kays (9st 8lb) should have been fighting in his first title fight, but instead faced the durable Sid Razak (9st 9lb). Kays had been due to fight the only man to have beaten him, Craig Johnson, until his opponent retired last week. Ibrar Riyaz was drafted in to compete for the British Masters title until he was pulled out 48 hours before the bout suffering with flu. Kays was left fighting Razak for the second time in his career, after first defeating him on points 12 months ago.
The early rounds saw Razak covering up and not testing Kays. The young Manchester fighter threw some nice combinations; though they were mainly landing on Razak’s gloves. Kays did have some success, particularly on the inside, where he forced some uppercuts through Razak’s defence.
As the fight progressed, Kays started to land more and was pushing Razak to the ropes. Kays showed no signs of tiring and was working some nice combinations and openings on the inside without actually troubling the durable Razak.
During the final round, Razak decided to open up and try and make a fight of it. This allowed Kays the opportunity to land some good combinations, including a five punch combination ending with a good right hand that landed flush. Razak, as usual, made it to the final bell before referee Phil Edwards awarded Kays the bout by a 60-54 scoreline. Kays showed an improvement on his last fight with Razak and was happy with his performance, he moves to 10-1 (2 KO’s).
Two other Manchester fighters had a successful Halloween. Terry Flannigan (9st 1lb) improved to 4-0 (0 KO’S) by winning a four round contest over Mansfield’s Latvian Pavels Senkovs (9st 3lb). Flannigan, a southpaw, used some nice combinations to outbox Senkovs and in the fourth he got stronger, landing two quality left hands, but Senkovs survived to the final bell. Referee Michael Alexander raised Flannigan’s hand - awarding him the fight by a 40-36 margin.
Warren Tansey (11st 13lb), from Middleton, entered the ring looking for his first win after losing his debut to Paddy Ryan. He faced Peter Cannon (12 5lb) of Bradford in a four-twos contest. Tansey sent Cannon to the canvas in every round before referee Michael Alexander decided Cannon could not continue with 42-seconds gone in the third.
Huddersfield’s Jason Thompson (9st 11lb) is still looking for his first win after drawing for the second time with Jason Carr (9st 13lb). Thompson looked to have done enough over six two-minute rounds but referee Phil Edwards scored the contest 57-57. Thompson is 0-2-2; Carr is 1-1-2, with his sole win coming on points against Craig Dyer.
Alastair Warren (11st 7lb) improved to 3-0 (2 KO’s) after stopping Drew Campbell (11st 2lb) in the third round. Warren practically landed at will and sent the Scotsman down with a right hook to the head. Campbell beat the count but referee Phil Edwards deemed Campbell to have taken enough punishment and waved it off at 2:37 of the round.
Huddersfield-based Irishman Eugene Heagney (9st 4lb) defeated veteran Anthony Hanna (9st 7lb) over four three-minute rounds. Heagney won by 39-37 on referee Michael Alexander’s scorecard with Hanna taking the final round.
Finally, Josh Warrington (8st 12lb) of Leeds, a junior ABA finalist, defeated the veteran Delroy Spencer (8st 7lb) in a four-round contest. Warrington was the busier fighter landing many big shots to the body of Spencer. Spencer pushed Warrington, giving him some highly valuable experience on his first professional appearance before referee Phil Edwards awarded the bout to the debutant by a score of 40-36.