By Chris LaBate and Alexey Sukachev
At the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, WBO super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (30-2, 7KOs) retained his title with unanimous twelve round decision in a tougher than expected challenge from Andreas Evensen (13-2, 5KOs). The scores were 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109. Not since the times of Pete Sanstolm has Norway produced such a proud and determined little fighter as the WBO #3 super featherweight Evensen.
Evensen, a Norse of Colombian heritage, was thought to be a soft challenge for the champion in his initial home defense of the belt. He was a prohibitive underdog, and was given almost no chance to get an upset and he, being a natural featherweight, was also considerably smaller than the Scotsman.
Fears proved right with the first punch of the night, as Burns landed a telling right hand to the temple bringing Evensen down in opening seconds of the first. It was at that point when the Norse boxer suddenly found the rhythm and started to fight back with vengeance. He was eating many punches but constantly pressured Burns, applied a busy-punching approach and used smart footwork to circle around the champion.
The rounds were pretty close as time went by. Burns connected with the more sparse but more powerful punches while Evensen used quantity over quality and was also landing some flush bombs as well. Burns worked off Evensen's body very well down the stretch but a determined challenger continued to use his legs all the time.
There were signs of a slight disappointment among Scottish fans as they thought the Norse boxer was there to be taken out. He wasn't. Even when the fight was dangerous to him, the Norwegian always preserved self-composure to produce a very proud performance. All in all, it wasn't enough to discourage and to defeat the champion but Evensen could see more opportunities in a future to come... If he continues to develop in style.
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Joseph Laryea (14-4, 11KOs) pulled off a major upset with a twelve round split decision victory over Paul Appleby (16-2, 11KOs) to capture the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title. One judge handed down a horrible final verdict by having Appleby the winner by two points. Lucky for Laryea, the other two judges saw him as the winner because he dominated the action and even the British broadcasters had him well ahead at the end. The scores were 115-113 for Appleby and 116-112 and 117-111 for the boxer from Ghana.
The first round was very strong for Appleby, but Laryea began to work his way into the fight with a stiff, long left jab that pushed Appleby back and caused all sort of problems. In the fourth, Laryea began to double-up on his jab and started landing combinations off the jab. Laryea was very defensive and made Appleby miss often.
Appleby tried to change the strategy in the fifth, but still couldn't figure out how to get past the long jab of Laryea. By the seventh round, Appleby was on the move and his nose was busted open. The jab from Laryea, and the right hand, was doing a lot of damage.
Appley began to take more chances in the ninth as he appeared to realize that he might need a knockout to win. In the tenth, a very bad cut opened up around the left eye of Appleby. It woke him up and he tried to really go after Laryea. By the final minute of the round, Laryea was back to the jab and backing Appleby up. The boxer from Ghana continued to do damage until the final minute of the twelfth round.
Undercard Results Courtesy of Frank Warren
Cheered on by former world champion Naseem Hamed, Callum Johnson got his professional career off to a perfect start with a second round win over Phillip Townley in Glasgow. Before the fight, Hamed had highlighted the power that 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Johnson carries in his left hand.
The right didn't look too bad in the fight, but it was the left that did most of the damage, including a rare standing eight count in the first round after a grimace-inducing body shot. By the second Northern Irishman Townley looked out of his depth, and he was soon rescued before Johnson inflicted lasting damage.
With shorts nodding to his mixed Scottish and English heritage, and an ever-clourful Hamed generating plenty of publicity, Johnson could be one to watch. After the fight, Hamed predicted that the light-heavyweight would win his first 10 fights by stoppage, something even his mentor couldn't acheive.
Punch of the night was delivered by Steven Ormond, who produced a cracking shot in the last round of his clash with Sebastian Cornu. The Frenchman was almost knocked unconscious by the blow, before somehow staggering to his feet. Fortunately the referee was not as brave as Cornu, waving things off almost as soon as the uppercut had landed. Next up for Ormond could be a clash with Commonwealth super-featherweight champion Liam Walsh.
John Thain was given a tough debut earlier this year against Kevin McCauley, coming through something of a firestorm. He had a far easier night's work this evening, stopping Iain Eldridge in the first. Eldridge was dropped early on, and then seemingly refused to get to his feet for more punishment. Perhaps he knew the game was up - Thain moves to 3-0 with the win.
Former world champion Alex Arthur is seeking fresh challenges - and more belts - up at lightweight. He had far too much for journeyman Jay Morris over eight, but still seems to lack the spark which swept him to British, Commonwealth, European and WBO titles at super-featherweight.
Always a slow starter, Arthur didn't impress in the opening exchanges, but did look better as the fight wore on. Morris suffered flash knockdowns in the sixth and seventh rounds, but must have shared two of the early sessions for referee Victor Loughlin, who scored it 80-72. Arthur has fought less than a dozen times in six years, and must have a far busier 2011 if he's to ever shed the ring rust which is threatening to become a terminal blight on his career.
George Michael Carmen opened the big Braehead show with a points win over Wayne Downing, while Tobias Webb got home comfortably over four against Dean Walker.
Ex ABA champion Craig Evans was in blistering form back in May when he made his debut at West Ham as Dann Carr was overwhelmed in a matter of seconds. He made a similarly brisk start against unbeaten Paddy McGarrity. But the Northern Irishman was made of sterner stuff, standing up to the best that Evans offered.
He eventually had to settle for a points win - 40-36 - but his all action style will prove a crowd-pleaser, even if his occasionally over-exposed chin will cause the Welshman's corner palpitations.
Another debutant, Michael Roberts, was also a points winner, defeating Dan Carr over four.
