Melton heavyweight Josh Quailey got a confidence-boosting win at the Leicester Arena on Saturday night.
Boxing aggressively behind a sharp, quality jab, he dominated tough-as-old-boots Hungarian Ferenc Zsalek over four rounds, winning every session.
“I’m happy with that,” said Quailey, controversially beaten on his professional debut by former Olympian Blaise Mendouo.
“I’m happy that I won every round, boxing at the pace I wanted to without rushing and I know there’s a lot more to give.
“I injured my right elbow during training and if I had been able to throw a straight right, I think I would have got him out of there.
“If I fought him again, I think I would have stopped him, but I’m glad I got the rounds under my belt.
“I need three or four more fights like that to get myself sharper and build my confidence and once I have that, I will be fine.
“I’m happy that I won every round, boxing at the pace I wanted to without rushing and I know there’s a lot more to give.
“I didn’t really get out of second gear on Saturday night.
“I hurt him to the body a couple of times, but I wanted to get the rounds in and not make any mistakes.
“I’m just happy to get in there and get the win.”
As expected, Swedish southpaw slickster Anthony Yigit was just too good for Joe Hughes and kept his European super-lightweight championship with a unanimous points win at Leicester Arena.
Scores of 118-112, 118-110 and 119-109 don’t really reflect the effort Hughes put into a fight that was absorbing rather than exciting.
By the end of the second round, Yigit had a swelling under his left eye – proof of Hughes’s good early work – but once the champion got his feet moving, he took control.
Though barely throwing a right hand because it’s three inches shorter than his left, Hughes was always in the fight and made Yigit work to win the rounds, but struggled to pin him down and when Yigit did stand his ground in the eighth and the last, he got the better of it. The best exchange of the fight came in the final minute – and the clean blows all came from Yigit.
Cyclone Promotions hope Yigit will defend next against Josh Taylor, possibly towards the end of February, but Yigit hinted he may have other plans.
He says a move down to 9st 9lbs is a possibility.
The McGuigans reckon Chantelle Cameron is “three or four” fights away from a match with Katie Taylor after she captured the vacant IBO belt with a one-sided stoppage of Viviane Obenauf.
The likelihood is that Cameron will next meet WBO champion Yohana Belen Alfonzo in a unification match and target Taylor towards the end of next year.
Obenauf was never going to ruin those plans. The Swiss-based ‘Golden Girl’ was pulled out after six rounds – but the fight might have been stopped sooner.
The first punch of the fight was a hard Cameron jab that made Obenauf blink and her nose was bloodied later in the session.
Cameron had Obenauf hanging on when she switched her attack to the body late in the third and at the bell, she shook her head. She kept going – and kept shipping punishment until the fight was mercifully waved off.
Halesowen’s muscular Lennox Clarke announced himself as a domestic super-middleweight contender with a hard-earned unanimous points win over Jahmaine Smyle in a gruelling 10 rounder.
The vacant IBO Continental belt was on the line.
All three judges scored 97-92 and though there were no complaints from Smyle, the scores might have been closer.
Smyle boxed sharply on the counter when Clarke took the fight to him in the early rounds – and the fight changed when Clarke went on the back foot.
The 26 year old from Errol Johnson’s stable chipped away with single rights and flurries and when he engaged, he kept his defences tight. Clarke gave an indication of how he felt the fight was going at the end of the fifth when he raised a glove to his supporters, but the rounds continued to be hard and competitive as Smyle kept pressing and having moments of success.
Clarke put the fight beyond Smyle on the scorecards’ with a 10-8 round in the ninth, forcing the Leicester fighter to touch down briefly with a right hand.
Smyle put everything into the last three minutes, hurt Clarke with a body shot, but Clarke backpedalled to safety.
Swindon’s Luke ‘The Duke’ Watkins is still the Commonwealth cruiserweight champion after forcing Mike Stafford to retire after eight rounds.
Watkins is a slow starter with a relaxed, hands down defence – and within the opening minute, Stafford got his attention with a right hand.
The solid Stafford kept trying the punch and made Watkins’ knees dip for a second in the fourth when he connected flush.
Stafford was putting everything into every punch and by the fifth, he started to feel the pace – and Watkins upped it.
Stafford went back to his stool after the sixth on rubbery legs and with blood dripping from a wound on his left cheekbone – and Watkins took over. Stafford mounted a spirited rally in the eighth that proved to be his last push.
Best fight of the night was the show opener, a 10 rounder between welterweights Ryan Martin and Craig Morris, Ludlow’s answer to the Terminator.
Morris took the IBO welterweight belt back to South Shropshire after a unanimous points win. Martin showed slippery, switch-hitting skills and a heavy dig, but after from a southpaw right hook in the opening round that made his knees shudder briefly, southpaw Morris took whatever was thrown at him and kept coming.
As early as the fourth, there were anxious cries from Martin’s Swindon supporters as Morris got on top and he was bruised under his right eye as well.
There was a spirited rally from Martin in the last two rounds, but as was the case throughout the fight, Morris walked throw his punches.
Morris won by scores of 97-93 (twice) and 97-94.
Wolverhampton bantamweight Kyle Williams grabbed his chance to impress a nationwide television audience, dropping outgunned Hungarian teenager Szilvesztar Kanalas twice for a second-round knockout and cruiserweight hope Chris Billam-Smith found a left hook to the body to dispatch Laszlo Ivanyi inside the opening round and extend his 100 percent knock-out streak.
Scottish Lee McGregor had too much for too small Kamil Jaworek, dropping him twice and stopping him inside a couple of rounds.
Lichfield super-flyweight Brad ‘The Blade’ Foster was another quick winner, taking just 101 seconds to overwhelm Czech import Patrik Bartos. Bartos has won Czech honours up at 8st 10lbs – but Foster was too strong, cutting the ring off and punching him to the floor in a neutral corner. Bartos got up, but the referee waved it off.
Boxing behind a fast jab, Melton heavyweight Josh Quailey, finalist in the England Boxing Elite championship earlier this year, chalked up his first win in the pros, winning every session against game Hungarian Ferenc Zsalek, who was cut on his hairline in the opening round.