Zach Parker cruises to expected victory but Danny Ball’s battle with Sam Gilley steals the show
ZACH PARKER made an impression on his debut for Queensberry Promotions at the Copper Box Arena, taking less than five minutes to hand American veteran Vaughn Alexander his first stoppage defeat. Swadlincote switcher Parker, ranked No 1 by the WBO at super-middleweight, dropped Alexander twice and in the second and drilled him around the ring for around 30 seconds until referee Marcus McDonnell decided he had seen enough.
Time was 1-39. It was scheduled for 10 rounds. Parker had Alexander looking disorganised at the bell to end the opening round and once he had him dazed again early in the next, the Midlander turned southpaw and smashed him with lefts until he landed on his back.
Alexander dragged himself up on unsteady legs and was bundled over again. Mr McDonnell rightly ruled he had been pushed, but within seconds of the fight resuming, a clean right hand had Alexander on his knees for another count.
The fight continued, but with Alexander under fire in his corner, Mr McDonnell waved it off.
Parker improves to 20-0, Alexander dips to 15-5.
There was disappointment for Liverpool’s Sam Maxwell after British and Commonwealth super-lightweight champion Akeem Ennis-Brown pulled out of their fight earlier in the week through injury – and in stepped Ben Fields.
From Stourbridge, Fields, who hold the Midlands belt at 140lbs, had snapped four unbeaten records, always fights his heart out from first bell to last and, given that Maxwell may have been feeling flat after missing out on the biggest fight of his career there was the chance of an upset when they met over eight rounds.
As it turned out, Maxwell ground out a 79-73 points win on referee Bob Williams’ scorecard.
Mr Williams and Maxwell both had their hands full with the fired-up Fields.
He lost a point in the seventh and received several lectures, but you sensed Maxwell enjoyed the on-the-cobbles moments and admired Fields for his spirit. The quality work came from Maxwell and by the middle rounds, his corner, led by new trainer Steve Maylett, seemed to sense the fight was leaving Fields. They were wrong and he kept coming forward and swinging, and having successes here and there, until the final bell.
Brad Foster, the undefeated British and Commonwealth super-bantamweight champion from Lichfield, fancied he would be the first to stop Alvaro Rodriguez (10-3-1-1) – and had their 10-rounder lasted another 30 seconds or so he might have got his wish.
As he tends to, Foster produced his best work at the start and end of the fight. He had Rodriguez grimacing with pain from a left hook to the body in the opening round and in the dying seconds, Foster (13-0-2) produced a quality moment. He sat on the ropes, inviting Rodriguez to attack and then beat him to the punch with a left hook that rocked the Spanish champion onto his heels.
Rodriguez, cut on the left eyebrow from a seventh-round right hand, tried to steal rounds in the second half with flurries in the dying seconds, but the judges were unimpressed. Howard Foster, Terry O’Connor and Marcus McDonnell gave Foster every round.
Best fight of the night was between unbeaten super-welters Danny Ball (9-0-1) and Sam Gilley (11-0).Every session of the 10-rounder was competitive and Ball was a deserved unanimous winner. Mr Foster and Mr Williams both scored 96-94, with Mr O’Connor marking 97-94.
Ball won more of the early rounds, Gilley rallied and then they slugged it out down the stretch. The exchanges continued until the bell and the Midlander got the better of it.
The Board have paired Maidstone southpaw Dennis McCann with English bantamweight champion Liam Davies in a British-title eliminator and the 20-year-old tuned up for that by handing Mexico’s Luis Moreno (9-1) a count in the last of an eight-rounder on the way to a wide points win.
McCann – lacking one-punch pop but so good to watch – controlled Moreno (8st 6lbs 11ozs) with his jab to win 80-71.
Eighty seconds was all it took for Ladbroke Grove heavyweight David Adeleye, a career-heavy 16st 3lbs 10ozs, to make it five wins out of five. That seemed the only possible outcome of his hastily-arranged scheduled four-rounder against first-timer Dave Preston, a 31 year old from Dudley with a handful of white-collar fights behind him. In short, this was a woeful mismatch.
Once the tattooed Preston stopped moving, the end was near. Adeleye feinted with his right, forcing Preston to twitch and give him a sight of his ribs. Adeleye found them with a left hook that left Preston on his knees. He got to his feet just as referee Howard Foster’s count reached ’10.’
Limerick brothers-in-law Edward Donovan and Jason Harty were winners on their pro debuts. Donovan had fellow debutant Matt King (Gosport) over in the first on the way to a 40-35 points win and Harty knocked down Walsall’s Kearon Thomas with a sweet left-hook counter in the second and won by the same score.