Mark Little drops shock decision to Daniel Mendes in gruelling title bout

Daniel Mendes and Mark Little traded punches under the lights at York Hall on Saturday night, with Mendes looking to regain the Southern Area cruiserweight title he lost in 2019. For Little, in the opposite corner, it was a first title tilt and the first time he’d been more than six rounds. 

On paper, before the first bell, the fight for the vacant title was an appetising one. “D Servant” Mendes had a slightly higher calibre of opposition on his 12-2 ledger, more seasoning and amateur pedigree, but well-supported West Ham fanatic Little – known as “The Boleyn Boy” – has demonstrated more knockout power, with four stoppages to his name, compared to Mendes’ one. 

At 36 and 33 respectively, there was every chance that this title bout could be a career highlight and Mendes set off like a man keen to make it one. In the first round, he moved well and employed effective sharp-shooting. Little was left chasing shadows.

It seemed he’d found an effective blueprint, but that was the last we saw of it. Moving into the second, Little’s consistent front-foot aggression started to find its mark. He forced Mendes to the ropes for long periods of the round, working away to head and body. However, in moving forward, Little often left a slightly frustrating pause on the edge of range – which either man could have punctuated with a jab to begin the exchange. Instead, he was consistently keen to get close and impose his strength on Mendes. Despite Mendes’ well-muscled physique, it did seem that Little was the stronger man when the two began to push, clinch and work in close.

In the third, Little predictably continued his march forward, but Mendes found a few more answers. He dipped low and used fast footwork to evade most of Little’s attacks, but offered too little in return. In many ways the pattern of the fight was set – Little rolled forward, looking to pin down his opponent and was by far the more active fighter, out-doing Mendes for punch volume in every round. 

In the fourth and fifth rounds, Mendes looked badly fatigued. Little continued his assault but with mauling, aggressive work. It wasn’t precise, but it was effective and Mendes began to look badly weathered. He was very slow out of his corner for the sixth, as he and his team seemed to undertake some soul-searching between rounds. Mendes shelled up for the round after one opening combination and Little attempted to navigate around his tight guard as “D Servant” backtracked with hands high.

Mendes impressively found a second wind in the seventh and registered some nice, precise punching, edging a competitive round. The prevailing winds returned in the eighth and ninth, with Little doggedly moving forward. Again, his work could have been far more precise, but Mendes left long periods of inactivity and often seemed happy to block and slip without returning fire. Both men looked fatigued, but it was Little who managed to maintain a workrate. 

A flurry of activity started the 10th, with both men throwing combinations and landing. Then, the fight regressed to the mean – Little coming forward. Now though, he did so with a visible grimace, reflecting almost 10 rounds of hard work. It was a close round that could have gone either way, but from our ringside vantage, it seemed Little outworked Mendes again. 

As the final bell sounded, Little jumped up onto the turnbuckle and celebrated in front of his vocal fans, no doubt in his mind he’d won the contest. Our 98-92 scorecard reflected the same slightly one-sided outcome in favour of Little, but there was some debate among the press at ringside. The referee scored the bout 96-95 in favour of Mendes, who collapsed to the ground as a two-time Southern Area Champion.

Little’s face was a picture – “The Boleyn Boy” was absolutely baffled by the scorecards and climbed out of the ring, outraged, without a word to his opponent. A rematch might be needed. 

On the undercard, five of Goodwin Boxing’s prospects sought to entertain, and progress their careers.

James McAteer was up first at middleweight. In his 99th professional bout, Jordan Grannum took on a man making his debut. McAteer took centre ring confidently, but ate a few Grannum jabs too. McAteer grew into the fight though, showing more aggression and volume punching. He took a 39-38 decision in an assured debut performance. We scored it more heavily in his favour. 

Then, at light-heavyweight, Luke Ransley went into his second fight looking for a more conclusive win than his 39-37 debut victory over Lewis van Poetsch. He got quite the opposite, registering a 38-38 draw with “The Pocklington Rocket” Harry Matthews. The well-travelled Yorkshireman roughed up the inexperienced man and made for a competitive bout. 

In the most eye-catching undercard bout, Marcus Hodgson came in significantly heavier than “The Mathmagician” Ramez Mahmood, but showed plenty of ambition in the opening round of six, letting loose with combinations and shooting over the low guard of an advancing Mahmood. 

From the second onwards, Mahmood was the more active, but the bout was competitive throughout and Hodgson kept finding pockets within the fight for his own offensive work. 

Mahmood showed a fantastic engine and took every round on the scorecard, winning 60-54.  

Over four rounds at super-lightweight, switch-hitting Dulwich debutant Emmanuel Zion danced to the ring for his professional bow and looked just as assured inside it. Fantastic body shots and accurate punching saw Richards in deep water by the end of the first round. 

By far the bigger man, Zion cruised to a 40-36 win and showed plenty of promise. 

Over six rounds at cruiserweight, Ross McGuigan took on Ossie Jervier. The back of McGuigan’s shorts read "Fine wine”, no doubt claiming that the 36-year-old second-timer aged like one. He certainly didn’t look past it, boxing with fluidity, his hands low, he rained down combinations on Jervier who marched forward gamely. That was the pattern of the fight and McGuigan went on to take a 60-54 decision. He’s on the cusp of the cruiser-heavy divide and looks a talent, but will have to act quickly to progress his career at 36.