Sykes Bags British Belt

By Andrew Wake at ringside: Dewsbury’s Gary Sykes picked up the vacant British super-featherweight crown with a close but unanimous decision over Manchester’s Andy Morris at the Huddersfield Sports Complex on Friday night (March 5).

26-year-old Sykes didn’t even know who his opponent would be until a week earlier. He was originally slated to face Commonwealth holder Ricky Burns but that was scrapped after it was announced that the Scot would be getting a shot at WBO champion Roman Martinez.

In stepped former Commonwealth Bronze medallist and one-time domestic nine stone ruler Morris and the Wythenshaw puncher gave it a real go but was ultimately outworked by Sykes’ determined burst of punches.

The opening round was a pick ‘em affair. Morris looked the more composed of the two and doubled his jab to good effect, but Sykes shook off an initially slow period to fire in quality right hands.

Rounds two to four belonged to the Yorkshire man on this reporter’s card. Morris continued to double his left hand and hit well to the body, but Sykes’ flashy two and three punch salvos to the head were far more eye catching.

The shorter and more compact Morris, who trains out of the Hatton gym in Hyde, Manchester, used his boxing skills to better effect in the fifth. He moved around on the back foot, avoiding the Dewsbury man’s lunges and peppered him with short blows before moving out of harms way.

With things still hanging in the balance, Sykes, now 15 – 0 (4 KOs), turned on the pressure in the seventh but the tactic backfired for him a round later when Morris detonated an uppercut to the jaw.

By the ninth both fighters were looking to score with clusters of shots but Sykes was the one having the final say in the majority of the exchanges.

The so-called championship rounds were good for a determined Morris, 18 – 3 (as he again turned his attention to targeting his foe’s body but Sykes had built up enough of a lead in the earlier rounds to see him home on the judge’s cards.

Phil Edwards and Dave Parris had it 115 – 114, while Victor Loughlin saw it a round wider at 116 – 113.

Unbeaten Sykes is now targeting an all-West Yorkshire derby with Leeds’ former British champion Carl Johanneson but Anthony Crolla, who Sykes beat over 10 rounds in an eliminator last May, has also been mentioned as possible opponent for his maiden defence.

6ft 7in Manchester giant Tyson Fury had fairly easy time in dealing with German import Hans-Joerg Blasko.

Fury, in his first fight under the stewardship of veteran trainer Brian Hughes MBE, did have to take a left hand from Blasko early on but soon landed telling blows of his own.

After a knockdown close to the corner, Tyson moved in to finish and a right to the head had the German buckling. Referee Steve Gray correctly waved it after just 2.14 of the opening in a bout scheduled for eight.

21-year-old Fury now has a record of 10 – 0 (8 KOs) and is set to once again lock horns with John McDermott, the man he beat contentiously last year, on May 22.

Huddersfield’s lightweight prospect Tyrone Nurse got a shock in the second session of his six rounder with Sheffield’s Ingle trained Adam Kelly when an unexpected right hand to the jaw dropped him for the first time in his career.

However, it turned out to be the only joy for Kelly as Nurse, who later joked that he “slipped”, rose to his feet unhurt and proceeded to dominate the remainder of the fight.

Kelly did have a solid period in the fifth round but was always second best as Nurse, now 10 – 0 (0 KOs), get off classy hooks and uppercuts.

Manchester welter Danny Randell took his pro ledger to 2 – 0 (0 KOs) but found Wolverhampton veteran Carl Allen a tough nut to crack.

Randall started promisingly and connected well to 40-year-old Allen’s torso but he laboured in the rounds three and four and allowed Allen to get off from close range.

A left hook that rocked Randall’s head back in the fourth session was probably the best shot of the fight and the Mancunian appeared quite fortunate to get his 39 – 37 verdict from ringside scorer Phil Edwards. Trialist Mark Lyson officiated.

Exciting young featherweight prospect Josh Warrington won Leeds bragging rights by pitching a four round shut out over cross-city rival Danny McDermid.

19-year-old Warrington from Osmondthorpe met McDermid head on in the centre of the ring and engaged in a toe-to-toe battle but Warrington’s punches were always the cleaner and more solid looking.

And Warrington almost scored a stoppage in the second round as he fired out a quickfire one-two that had McDermid’s head shaking. Unfortunately he couldn’t find the correct shots to finish it but cruised to a 40 – 36 margin on Steve Gray’s card.

“He (McDermid) came for a fight and he was a tough kid,” Warrington, now 3 – 0 (0 KOs), conceded afterwards. “I hit him with a lot of shots but he just carried on coming forward. It was a good little test.”

Belfast super-bantamweight Carl Frampton yet again showed why he’s got people from the Emerald Isle raving when he blasted Hungarian Istvan Szabo in just 48 seconds.

A right hand had Szabo touching down within the opening half minute. When the action resumed after the mandatory eight count, a left hook upstairs from Frampton forced Szabo’s legs to buckle and Phil Edwards stepped in.

Hometown middleweight Alastair “Burt” Warren pulled a rare trick by stopping Nottingham’s Matt Scriven but he wasn’t happy.

Warren, now 4 – 0 (3 KOs), landed series after series of spiteful punches, opening up a cut above “Scriv’s” left eye, and at 2.35 of the second referee Mark Lyson had seen enough and intervened.

But Warren told his stable mates in the dressing room afterwards that he was disappointed because he didn’t get the chance to “knock Scriven out properly”!

Lightweight Prizefighter champion Ryan Brawley marked time with a 59 – 57 points win over France’s Sebastien Cornu.

Bolton’s Jon “Rocco” Hussey took his ledger to 14 – 2 (2 KOs) by seeing off Bradford’s Danny Parkinson by 59 points to 56.