Lee Selby
showed that his recent stoppage of former British and Commonwealth champion
Stephen Smith was no fluke as he put an end to the latter’s old adversary John
Simpson’s challenge for his old belts in spectacular fashion at York Hall on
Wednesday night.
The fight
had aroused much intrigue since its announcement as the tough Scot was tipped
to give the relatively inexperienced Selby a true test and thorough examination
of how far he’d come in the past three months since his devastating shock
knockout of Smith.
Simpson, who
had came into the fight with a record of 22 – 8 had never previously been
stopped in his career.
From round
one it was taking the shape of previous Smith vs. Simpson encounters as it
would be difficult to put any of the fighters on top. Simpson would make a more
fluent start though, connecting with Selby’s head with left jabs and right
leads. Lots of big shots from both men were hitting the defence more often than
sneaking through, but Selby would turn in occasional big shots to the body.
The theme
would continue into round two with both sticking by their apparent game plans
as neither appeared to be gaining the upper hand. Simpson would come out more
aggressive forging straight right and left leads as Selby would counter with
swing lefts and rights to the head, while banging in the body shots that proved
successful in the first.
As round
three was underway, Lee Selby’s style of counter attacking and moving was
looking the one in control. A classic fight was developing with both landing
solidly, looking strong and in it for the long haul. First blood would be drawn
by Lee Selby which gave him encouragement as John Simpson would begin to bleed
quite heavily from the mouth.
Lee Selby
would come out for round four looking in firm control as he took the initiative
for the first time in the fight. The body shots he had been landing come into
play again with more frequency and severity this time with not much was coming
back from Simpson. There was still no sign of a finish, largely a nod to the
reputable toughness of the Scottish challenger.
Round five
was all Selby as he seemed to sense a stoppage. Huge swinging left and right
hooks crashed home though Simpson was still returning and largely untroubled,
before a heavy short sharp body shot booms into his ribs as he waded in on
Selby, sending him to his knees gasping for air. The referee would count to
eight as he got to his feet, but waved off the contest noticing Simpson was in
more trouble than first thought. The big Welsh support for Selby would go into
raptures at the feat their man had achieved.
Earlier in
the evening Joe Gallagher was ringside preparing to cast an analytical eye over
Lee Selby which could mean a rematch between his charge Stephen Smith and the
British and Commonwealth king;
‘’I’m here
to watch the Selby vs. Simpson fight on behalf of Stephen tonight. He’s fought
twice this year beating Simpson before losing to Selby and there’s talk of him
fighting the winner somewhere down the line. Doing a bit of scouting, it’s
alright watching on DVD’s but I wanted see it in person. There wasn’t much to
get on Selby last time as he came out of nowhere so we’ll see what happens and
go from there.’’
Gallagher
would also give an update on John Murray and what the future may hold, being full
of praise for his man’s credentials after the great account the Manchester
Lightweight made of himself at the MCG against Brandon Rios on 3rd
December;
‘’John’s
alright, he stayed a few days in New York after the fight seeing the sights,
what he could see of them with his eyes! Listen I thought he put in a world
class effort against what we call a world class hot champion and for six rounds
we were in the fight. We got a point deduction in the seventh which took the
wind out of our sails in the eighth, we had a good ninth. I told everyone in
the corner we’d give John one more round and then it got stopped. That kids
fought world class fighters in Urbano Antillon, Lamont Peterson, he’s knocked
over a few world class fighters and he didn’t put John Murray on his backside
so John Murray gave a good account of himself. The Murray that turned up with
Rios I wish had turned up with Kevin Mitchell because he would have beaten
Kevin Mitchell. I only had John six weeks for that fight with Rios after he
came back to me and we wasted four weeks with that fight, and it’s just the
small things with him having altitude training and John having six weeks with
me which affected us down the stretch. He fought a great fight and was in it
for six rounds;
John gave
him plenty of problems he hurt him to the body a few times. All fighters want
to test themselves against proper world class fighters as Macklin did against
Sturm, just to prove to themselves that they are that good. People were saying
John Murray wasn’t this, wasn’t that but listen he’s won the Lonsdale belt out
right he’s won the English, he’s won the European now he’s gone in against one
of the hot champions in the world and he went 11 rounds with him and went out
on his shield;
John has
earned a good break. He’s had three tough fights this year including the
domestic fight of the year against Kevin Mitchell and then the Rios fight. The
WBA title’s vacant now so if he’s considered for that he’ll easily come back
for that. I’m sure he wants to stick his teeth into Kevin again. That wasn’t
John at his best but that was Kevin at his best. There’s a few options for
Murray but he’s going to take a break, enjoy his Christmas and we’ll have him back
in say, May time.’’
Also on the
card, Hatfield’s travelling Olympic bronze medallist Billy Joe Saunders made
light work of a disappointed Tommy Tolan, stopping the Irishman after 1.07
seconds of the first round. Saunders began sizing up his opponent by offering
the right jab. He soon settled into a rhythm and unloaded with a classy
dominant combination which his man had no answer to and the referee called a
somewhat premature halt to the contest to the visibly unhurt Tolan, though it
was felt that a stoppage would have been imminent soon enough in what was
effectively a fight aimed at keeping Saunders busy after his December 9th
outing was cancelled last weekend.
Kevin
McCauley’s ring savvy tactics were not enough against Canning Town’s promising Freddie Turner as he
took his record to 5 – 0 via a points decision in their 6 round contest. Turner
was cut badly in 3rd round by the head of McCauley, with some
spectators showing their disapproval of the referee’s somewhat casual
officiating as his wild bursts often resulted with the use of the head. The 23
year old showed great maturity and earned invaluable experience in what was a
tough contest against a seasoned, aggressive and wily opponent during their
welterweight showdown.
In another
title fight that evening, Southern Area light middleweight champion Steve
O’Meara stopped the encouraging Nathan Weise via a peach of a right hand in the
first round. The fight had been envisaged to go considerably longer with Weise
given a great chance of claiming the title.
They began feeling each other out before after just 51 seconds Weise
went in on the attack and was caught flush, leaving his corner concerned after
crashing worryingly to the canvass. Doctors were called in and after he was
given oxygen, thankfully got to his feet. O’Meara, who improves to 15 – 2 after
a second successive 1st round kayo, sent out a clear message that he
possesses great power worthy of getting him a shot at bigger titles in the near
future.
George
Michael Carmen beat the incredibly tough ‘Rockin’ Robin Deakin via a points
decision, taking his record to 6 – 0 – 1. The inspirational Deakin, who has a
partial disability in his leg, is still looking for his second win after 43
contests and was deducted a point in the 4th for use of the head. Carmen
looked strong and technically sound in what became a routine victory.
Cranham
Middleweight Lee Markham earned a points decision over Wickford’s Danny Brown
and improved to 3 – 0. Brown was proving a tough obstacle returning well to the
advancing Markham, who began to make his opponent pay when he went to the body.
Brown was in some discomfort each time he was attacked downstairs, though made
it through to the final Bell.
19 year old
Alfie Smith, making his second appearance as a professional, beat Jason
Nesbitt, a veteran of an incredible 149 contests via points decision. Smith was
the busier throughout, landing swing left and rights to the head and hitting
the body particularly well. Nesbitt proved a tough nut to crack showing good
defence in what was ultimately a very one sided encounter.
Speak Your Mind