Jason Booth 35-5 (15) retained his title tonight with an eleventh round cut eye stoppage
win over Matthew Marsh 13-2 (1). The result however does not tell the whole story
of an engaging battle.
Booth is a classy boxer but from the first bell Marsh went on the attack, threw plenty of punches and generally knocked Booth out of his game plan.
A very early head clash cut the defending champion who started to panic. Marsh carried on this fine form for the early rounds and I noted the comment that Marsh “has never looked better” in the third round.
Booth came back a little in the fourth and started to get his nice left jab off but in the fifth Marsh came back and was awarded a knockdown when a straight right caught Booth on the top of the head and Booth slipped to the canvas. The referee called it a knockdown but it was difficult to judge.
Booth was probably a long way behind at this stage and he needed to improve. This
he did and from the sixth round onwards Booth got into the fight. His jab was becoming
an effective weapon but Marsh would flurry, often late in rounds. Marsh by now had
a cut over his right eye which didn’t seem too much of a concern.
The next couple of rounds were close with Booth possibly nicking them. In the ninth Booth stopped a tiring Marsh in his tracks with a right hander but Marsh flurried hard in the last 30 seconds to make it an even round.
The tenth was dominated by Booth for the first half of the round but Marsh again came back towards the end despite his fuel tank running low. However Marsh’s cut widened significantly in this stanza and when Booth re-opened it in the eleventh, the referee and ringside doctor called a halt to the bout.
Both fighters praised the other at the end of the bout and promoter Frank Maloney
said the fight deserved a rematch, possibly with the European belt at stake as well.
It was difficult to score some of the rounds but I had it even at the time of the
stoppage.
Two of the judges had Booth behind by 2 and 3 points respectively meaning Booth would’ve had to win both the final two rounds to have retained by a draw.
Nonetheless this was the best main event on a Sky Sports card for quite some time.
On the undercard dangerous fighter and surprise Prizefighter (The light heavyweights) champion Ovill McKenzie 18-9 (7) showed why no one will queue up to fight him as he demolished former Commonwealth title challenger Billy Boyle 13-5 (7) inside a round.
Boyle was floored by a big right in the first 40 seconds and from then on had a look of pain on his face regarding his eye. McKenzie hurt him several more times before the referee stopped the fight as Boyle’s corner threw in the towel near the end of the first.
Martin Concepcion 16-6 (10) retained his Midlands area light middleweight title and in doing so earned the 8th and final Prizefighter place for the tournament on February 26th. However he appeared slightly lucky to win by 1 point over 10 rounds against Kevin Hammond 8-2-1 (4).
After a quiet opening this fight became an excellent if gruelling affair. Concepcion was the puncher but it seemed like Hammond has done the cleaner work with his better boxing. However the referee disagreed.
Concepcion was absolutely exhausted at the final bell and will need a rapid recovery to be in good shape for Prizefighter which is only 3 weeks away.
By JIMMY LAST (EDITOR)
