WHEN THE AWAY CORNER FANCIES IT: REPORT
All week I couldn’t stop talking about the main event of this Goodwin Boxing show at York Hall as my good friend Adrian Martin faced off against Lewis Syrett for the vacant Southern Area Middleweight Title. Both men brought a big crowd and the place was buzzing. I know Adrian Martin sold 125 tickets and Lewis Syrett about the same so the Hall was busy.
The first two rounds started off at a pretty slow pace and I would have had it one a piece at this point. After the third round things started to heat up- both men giving their all and landing big shots. The southpaw Lewis seemed to have the better boxing ability of the two and looked like he was racking up rounds. But one thing about Adrian is he has massive balls and that’s what everyone loves about him, after having a good sixth round Lewis then took the seventh in my eyes.
I felt that at this point Adrian was down on the cards but the dog in him just would let lie as he had a good finish in round 8 and 9. Round 10 both fighters came out and threw hands till the bitter end. The Ref's score card reads 97-94 to Lewis Syrett, I would have had it slightly wider but the right man won so it’s irrelevant. It was a really entertaining fight though they both wanted it. The MC called it a small hall classic but…
Back In 2018 at the Goodwin Christmas party Steve was talking about super middleweight William Webber and how if he didn’t win at least a British Title Steve would have failed as a promoter, so I was excited to see this protĂ©gĂ©e of Steve’s. As Webber walked to the ring I couldn't help but smile as with his ginger hair and beard, he really looked like a young Canelo.
Coming up against Robbie Chapman, Webber took the first two rounds for me but after that things got interesting as Chapman made it a dog fight. It was time to see who wanted it most as big shots were coming in from both men and going into the sixth round (of six) I had it level. Did Webber really want it? Would Robbie back off and play the game? Find out on the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z! Oops sorry wrong script. The final round was a scrappy one and things got hard for Webber in there, in the last thirty seconds he held on for dear life as he was rocked to his core.
I’m sure William and most people around York hall were glad to hear the bell; I thought that Chapman had done enough to take the win but the score card reads 58-56 for Webber. Awesome fight and almost an upset for the away fighter.
Kicking off the show was one half of the Frimpong twins, or as my girlfriend likes to call them, twinny boxers, featherweight Lewis. He came up against Luke Fash. I was very impressed with Lewis, he was very sharp and his ability to switch from orthodox to southpaw with ease was impressive. Although Frimpong had trouble getting through the tight guard of Fash, in the second round he found a home with shots and started to open his man up and appeared to hurt him, but chose to back off which was a strange one to me. All in all it was an impressive debut for Frimpong, he won 40-36.
Next up was Bailey Donald against Naeem Ali. Bailey started off fast throwing big and spiteful shots, one would think Bailey really wanted a stoppage but coming up again Naeem Ali who’s only been stopped once in 76 fights and that stoppage came from the absolute power house that is Sam Noakes. Anyway, I digress.
Ali likes to make fights interesting- he’s never there to win but he showboats and throws wild leaping left hooks in the hope it lands and hurts his opponent. In the third round Ali slipped a shot then skipped around the ring and went behind the ref as the bell went. He got a telling off for it. A good performance from Bailey and the scorecard read 40-36
The second half of twinny boxers, super lightweight Courtney, made his way to the ring with his brother behind him. Courtney started the first round like a house on fire, throwing multiple shots and coming forward throughout the round. The same followed in the second and Frimpong dropped the tough Lee Devine with a right hook to the body. As Lee got up, Courtney swarmed all over him like a bunch of hornets protecting their Queen and later dropped him with a right hook to the head and Lee’s corner threw in the towel.
I really wanted to be brutally honest like IFL and make an assessment on who the better twin was but with both giving such strong debut performances it’s hard. Lewis was sharp, great ability in switching stances and good head movement. Courtney was extremely fit, kept coming forward and stopped a very tough journeymen in Devine. I’ll call this one a draw on the night for the twinny boxers.Another debut, Kane Morgan, up against Josh Cook, was an interesting one as Cook Came to win. It’s always fun when the journeymen fancies it. Morgan held the centre of the ring for the majority of the fight but didn’t really do anything with it, nor did he land anything effective. In fact I was more impressed with Cook's work; throwing multi shots, spinning off Morgan with left hooks, controlling with the jab and working the body well. I knew the scorecard would be an interesting one and in my opinion I thought Cook did enough to get the win but the Ref had it 38-38.
Away fighter Phil Williams told Steve Goodwin in the dressing room he was coming for the win. With a fight on Sky for Williams you would think he would just want to get through this one safely and pick up both paycheques. The first minute of the round the two looked evenly matched until opponent Ross McGuigan landed a monstrous left hook which sent him tumbling to the canvas.
Williams got back up and fought on only to get hit with the same shot moments letter but stayed on his feet this time. Tempers got high in the second as Williams pushed McGuigan to the ropes and as his back turned threw a couple of punches when the Ref shouted “stop boxing”. Williams received a big telling off. It was a good fight with Williams having his moments of success landing big shots which never seemed to trouble McGuigan. It seemed Williams knew he wasn’t going to win and looked like he just wanted to hear the final bell and make it to the Sky show in two weeks. 40-35 to McGuigan.
The show was a very good one to go to with some class performances from debutantes and some incredible non-stop action- you got your money’s worth on this show. Fight of the night for me was William Webber vs Robbie Chapman.
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