By Tom Podmore

When dangerous East Midlands puncher Martin Concepcion fought Birmingham’s ‘Sweet’ D Mitchell last year, at the impressive surroundings of the National Indoor Arena (NIA), the Leicester man emerged from a heart-stopping four-rounder with his hand raised, his career intact, and his 13th professional victory in the bag.

Fast-forward 13 months and the pair met in Birmingham again, although at a different venue – Edgbaston’s Tower Ballroom – and over four rounds again.  The only thing different about this 12-minute bout was that local stylist Mitchell had his glove lofted skywards at the end.

Swadlincote’s Rob Chalmers awarded the stocky Erdington-based light-middleweight a 39-37 decision, a verdict which infuriated Concepcion, and it was met with loud roars of disapproval from his large band of supporters, including brother Kevin, who’d made the trip from Leicester. For what it’s worth, I had Mitchell winning by the same two-point margin (giving him the first three stanzas).

And, like their unforgettable first fight in June of last year, on the undercard of Amir Khan’s successful defence of his Commonwealth lightweight title against Michael Gomez, they served up four rounds of pulsating action that saw Concepcion’s heavier-hitting pitted against Mitchell’s sharper boxing and better movement.

As well as the give-and-take action, their first fight saw the former Commonwealth 11st title challenger rattle Mitchell in the opening two rounds before finding himself starting up at the lights in the final three minutes, albeit from a shot that looked to have caught him off balance.  He got up, won by a 39-38 margin, but had been inactive since.

There was talk of another crack at the Commonwealth crown if Martin managed to repeat his win over the 32-year-old Brummie.  Concepcion swatted aside the current Commonwealth light-middleweight boss, Manchester’s Matthew Hall, inside a round in 2007 and Hall recently spoke of his need to avenge that defeat.

His conqueror’s loss to Mitchell, who didn’t take up boxing until he was in his mid-twenties, will have put Hall’s rematch ambitions firmly to bed.  But the Richie Woodhall-trained fighter’s ninth win in 13 pro outings (two via stoppage) could see Mitchell land a shot at a title of some description.

Other than the loss to Concepcion, now 13-6, his blemishes had come on injury to Gatis Skuja (avenged), a close six-rounder to Prince Arron (a fighter Mitchell was controlling until he faded in the last two rounds) and the tall, long-armed Jack Arnfield (whose height and reach caused problems).

Mitchell’s tactics in the rematch with the Leicester banger were bang on.  He never gave Concepcion (11st 2lbs 7oz) any room to land with the type of punches that had left nine men with stoppage defeats on their ledgers, kept a high guard, used good head movement, and landed a steady stream of solid leads and countering hooks.

Concepcion, 27, threw plenty of leather but most of it landed on the gloves and forearms of his pumped-up opponent.  If boxing was scored on the amount of punches thrown during a fight, he would have probably chalked win 14 on his resume.  However, Mitchell, who holds a win over reigning Midland Area middleweight boss Tony Randell, may have thrown less but he landed with more.

The second and third rounds of the contest saw Mitchell (11st 3lbs 3oz) at his best.  Rolling under his harder-hitting opponent’s punches, D parried the punches coming his way and cracked home hard counters that had Concepcion, trained by Jezz Brogan, backing off towards the ropes.  Martin had a better final three minutes but it was too little too late.

A rubber match would be more than welcome.

The main event on the Warrior Promotions (Jon Pegg) and First Team (PJ Rowson and Errol Johnson)-promoted Sunday afternoon (July 5) card in the Second City saw undefeated super-middleweight Eddie McIntosh, from nearby Bartley Green, sweep all six rounds against tall, lean Newark southpaw Jamie Norkett.

Popular McIntosh, 26 and who has yet to drop a single round in 34 scheduled sessions, destroyed Lee Nicholson inside two rounds in his first six-threes in April but never really looked as if he would put away defensive-minded Norkett, three inches taller, before the final bell rang.

Now unbeaten in nine (two quick wins), the Richie Woodhall-trained ‘Braveheart’ has been told that a crack at a belt, likely to be the Midland Area 12st strap held by Stourbridge crowd-pleaser Sam Horton, is in the offing before the end of the year.  There is also an outside chance that the Scottish and Irish-rooted boxer could get a shot at the Celtic title.

Whatever the belt on the line, McIntosh looks ready.

The bull-strong Brummie dominated durable Norkett (12st 3lbs 2oz) throughout with an assortment of accurate and fast-handed blows to both head and body.  The Carl Greaves-handled East Midlander, now 3-10 (1), was content to spend 18 minutes on the back foot, never presenting McIntosh (12st 2lb 3oz) with a stationary target for more than a few seconds.

Eddie significantly stepped up the pace in the final six minutes and his hard hooks left the 32-year-old with blood leaking from his nose and hanging on for survival as the entertaining bout reached its conclusion.

John Keane officiated.

Another solid prospect from Birmingham, 20-year-old middleweight Nasser Al Harbi, extended his unbeaten run to eight (all on points) with a close but deserved four-threes distance win over Cleator Moor’s tall Martyn King (11st 5lbs 5oz), who had Chris Aston in his corner and put in a good showing.

Al Harbi (11st 8lbs) hooked well, pot-shotted as his foe came in, but his low hands and casual manner saw him ship plenty of long leads from the 24-year-old Cumbrian, now 2-4. Most of the four-rounder was scrappy and King, though game and willing, went down 40-38 on my scorecard.

Mr Chalmers scored 39-38.

Sculpted Black Country light-heavyweight Quinton ‘Brown Bomber’ Hillocks (12st 6lbs 5oz) took one or two solid-looking punches along the way but eventually out pointed rough, tough but limited Cross Hands brawler Adam Wilcox (12st 6lbs 9oz) over a scrappy four-twos.

Mr Chalmers scored 40-37 to the man from Dudley.

Hillocks, now 3-0, had a reputation as a huge puncher in the amateurs but has yet to register a stoppage in the pros.  Still, he rattled Wilcox, who smashed former Irish title challenger Jonjo Finnegan to a three-round defeat on his last trip to the Midlands, on a couple of occasions.

Hillocks had the seven-fight Welshman hanging on with a huge right in the third and was pleased enough with his afternoon’s work to leave the ring in the same manner as he entered it – over the top rope.

Stourbridge’s Richie Wyatt (10st 7oz) improved his professional stats to 2-0 with a 40-36 four-twos shut-out nod over winless but willing Welshman Craig Dyer (10st 3lbs 7oz), who has yet to get off the mark in 12 outings.

Mr Keane had little to do as tall, lean Wyatt, who edged past Johnny Greaves on his debut in April, speared stocky, well-muscled Dyer, 22, with a long jab and then whipped up a sharp right uppercut from the waist as he marched in.  Light-welterweight Wyatt looks as if he could be a decent little fighter.

Birmingham’s Andrew Patterson kicked off the show with a three-twos exhibition with another man from Birmingham, recent centurion Jason Nesbitt.  As expected with an exhibition, shots were pulled but both landed with decent jabs and meaty hooks to the body.