Jamie Smith mowed down Daniel Mendes with a hail of concussive punches last night at York Hall, stopping the Southern Area cruiserweight champion in the second round to claim his belt. That was the last of three title bouts on an eventful 10-fight Goodwin Boxing card, but it wasn’t the best – that accolade went to Jack Hughes vs Paul Roberts who entertained a vocal crowd of fight fans.
Hughes and Roberts contested the vacant Southern Area super-flyweight title for a second time, having fought to a draw at the same venue in March. This time around, Roberts came out fast, looking the sharper fighter in the opening rounds. Blistering hand speed and an accurate jab saw the Watford man forge an early lead, arguably taking all of the first three rounds.
Then Hughes seemed to warm to his task. After falling short with his jab in those opening stanzas, “The Punk Kid” found his range and timing, landing an eye-catching left hook in the fourth round alongside some accurate work with his lead.
Similarly in the fifth and sixth rounds, Hughes seemed to come out on top as the pair exchanged. However, a clash of heads in the sixth left Hughes with a nasty cut over his left eye that worsened as the bout wore on.
The fight was tit-for-tat and Hughes seemed to do best when he remained mobile, boxing on the back foot, picking Roberts off and interrupting his rhythm. Conversely Roberts seemed to do better when the pair stood in centre-ring and traded blows. Throughout the fight he attempted to land the right hand straight down the pipe, but his accuracy waned the longer the fight went on and the more Hughes found his rhythm.
A spectacular last round saw “The Punk Kid” dig deep and find another gear. Marked up and bleeding badly, he set about Hughes with a new-found aggression after struggling in the ninth and being forced to hold. He found a home for his right hand on Roberts’ chin, as the Watford man reliably continued to plough forward with his hands low and was picked off, with repeated hard right hands. To his credit Roberts wore them well, but Hughes certainly left an impression with the judges in that final stanza.
An ecstatic Hughes took the decision 96-94 but, at ringside, I spoke to others reporting on the fight who had scored the fight for Roberts. My scorecard suggested a draw, five rounds each. There was little to split the two men throughout the fight until that spectacular 10th session. Both fighters can be proud of their performances though and the fight will live long in the memory for York Hall regulars.
The third title bout on the card saw Idris “ID” Hill take on Denis Denikajev. “ID” worked well behind an accurate jab but lacked the dynamic movement and punch selection of his opposite number – unsurprisingly perhaps, given that Hill is 11 years his elder.
In the fourth round Denikajev threw a crisp three-shot combination while marching forward and sent “ID” to the canvas. It was unclear exactly how much damage had been done as Hill lost his footing during the attack, as well as absorbing those punches.
He seemed to recover well and saw the round out but the fifth saw Denikajev land a huge left hook high on the side of Hill’s head, scrambling his senses. There was some concern as Hill collapsed to the ground in his own corner and the referee ended the fight immediately, without administering a count. Medical staff were quickly into the ring and thankfully Hill made a full recovery.
Denikajev claimed the vacant Southern Area super-lightweight title in style and it will be interesting to see how he progresses.
Elsewhere on the card a rematch between Jack Owen and Jordan Grannum turned into an unexpected barn-burner, with the former taking a 58-56 win.
Liam Dillon produced one of the most impressive performances of the night. The English super-featherweight Champion dismantled Marcus Hodgson, clinically landing hard shots to head and body, with good combination work. The referee stopped the bout at 2-45 of the first round and an outclassed Hodgson had no complaints; his corner was about to throw in the towel also.
Well-supported Romanian Andrei Descalu stopped Derby-based centurion Elvis Dube in the fourth and final round of their contest.
Sher Khan took a 40-36 win in his debut against Michael “Mad Man” Mooney and Shafqat “Shocki” Khan took the same result in his third outing, getting the best of Luke Middleton.
In his second outing, Joshua Gustave took on an unusual and unorthodox opponent in Sheffield-born Justin Menzie, who repeatedly turned his back and held his chin high. It was a surprise to most at ringside that Menzie managed to survive the four rounds, as Gustave piled on the pressure from start to finish and looked by far the larger, stronger and better-schooled fighter. He took a 40-35 decision, with Menzie having had one point docked by the referee for holding.
Oliver Duffy boxed with fluidity to take every round of his six against Alexander Zeledon, taking the 60-54 win.
