Huddersfield boxing

There was an entertaining night of boxing at Huddersfield Leisure Centre on Saturday, with all seven local fighters, including British Super Featherweight champion Gary Sykes, successfully coming through their contests.

Sykes had a change of opponent & went in with Bulgarian Valentin Stoychev, and the difference in class was evident from the start. The champion ended it in the 3rd round with a barrage of body shots putting the visitor on the canvas where he stayed as the referee completed the count. While not a great test it was a useful tune-up for the Dewsbury man before his October clash with Gary Buckland & he is always entertaining to watch.

Huddersfield light welterweight Tyrone Nurse moved his unbeaten record onto 18-0 with a 4th round retirement of Ben Lawler. The fight started slowly with Lawler covering against the ropes but gradually warmed up as Nurse managed to penetrate his guard & bring the Skegness fighter out of his shell. Lawler, bleeding from his mouth by the 4th, looked increasingly weary & it was no surprise when the corner signaled they were withdrawing him during the interval. This was only Nurse's second stoppage victory in his 18 fights which may be the reason why he is being brought through so gradually, but they really need to step him up a level next season, he isn't going to learn anything from continuing to fight journeymen who are coming to survive.

The most entertaining fight on the card was between Halifax's Patrick Liam Walsh & Birmingham's Andrew Patterson, over 6 rounds at welterweight. Walsh took the clear verdict & was the constant aggressor as he backed his experienced opponent against the ropes, firing in heavy hooks from a variety of angles. Patterson deserves credit though, he took some solid shots but continued to reply enough to prevent the referee from stopping the fight & there was a constant flow to the contest with no clinching or wrestling. The same couldn't be said of the middleweight clash between Alistair Warren & Dean Walker which was scrappy & untidy, the local man Warren getting in the slightly cleaner work to take the verdict over 4x3's.

Another Huddersfield fighter, Jason McCalmon, was successful in his 5th pro contest, breaking opponent Ian Turnbull's nose on the way to a points victory again over 4 rounds, in the super middleweight division. McCalmon, formerly of Rawthorpe ABC, came close to registering a stoppage as he hurt his opponent on several occasions & looks like he may be worth watching in the future. Entering the ring with a gladiator helmet, he is aggressive & has a crowd friendly style although will need to develop more patience before going for the big shots.

The card was rounded off by a comfortable points win at cruiserweight for Batley's Zahid Kahut over Howard Daley, and Scott Gladwin overcoming some early problems to defeat Anwar Alfadli again on points over 4x3's at super bantamweight.

The home fighters all triumphed as expected, fairly comfortably in most cases, but it was an entertaining evening for the decent sized crowd & a showcase for the young prospects of the area

I could get used to having a ringside seat too...