Liam Davies (12-0, 5 KOs) became the new British Super Bantamweight champion in Telford on Saturday night.
The unbeaten 26-year-old made it a tasty dozen victories beating Marc Leach (18-2-1, 4 KOs) to end the Salford man’s three-month reign as title holder.
After a minute of round one the fight was turned on its head when Davies landed a right hand straight down the middle to drop Leach. An accidental clash of heads resulting in a cut over the bridge of the challenger’s nose added to the chaotic start.
Davies was confident, and Leach was now wary of the power in front of him but soon got caught with a flush one-two in the second with his hands by his side leaving himself open for disaster.
The counter puncher sorted himself out by the third and took the round thanks solely to his left hand which was a problem for the loudly supported home favourite.
The challenger got the bit between his teeth from rounds four to eight as he made the fight physical doing his best to ensure Leach couldn’t catch him at distance. Davies was beginning to swarm all over the champion and even when he wasn’t throwing punches, he was always on the front foot unsettling Leach.
In the seventh Davies appeared over-confident and tried to double up the right hand believing nothing was coming back but it did. A swift left hand brought him down to earth, and the fighters traded briefly. It proved to be another defining moment in the bout that saw Leach kick on particularly in the final few rounds.
Leach was his most relaxed from rounds 10 to 12 and was making Davies miss with ease. The tenth proved to be one of the best rounds of the night from Leach who was a three-minute problem that Davies couldn’t solve.
Davies fought back with one final push in the 12th round doing enough to make the judges think. Leach abandoned his elusiveness and stuck it on Davies as best he could.
The three judges awarded a clean sleep to Davies 116-113 (Michael Alexander), 115-113 (Phil Edwards) and an unfair 118-111 (Terry O’Connor).
You can watch the moment Liam Davies became the champion courtesy of BT Sport Boxing on Twitter:
Crazy scenes in Telford as Liam Davies becomes a British Champion in his home town 👏#FightNightLivepic.twitter.com/3PUuJRYlon
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) June 11, 2022
Davies told BT Sport afterwards:
“I just took the title off the champion who won it with ease. I was the underdog tonight and Telford has spanked the bookies.”