By Jaspreet Panchhi.

 

On May 12, a fight card promoted by Mike Hennessy Promotions provided excitement that was unparallel to any boxing action that England has seen for quite a while. The card included eight fights of which two were for vacant British titles.

 

The top of the bill saw the unbeaten Lenny “Lightening” Dawes (14-0-0, 6 KO’s) take a unanimous victory over twenty-six year old southpaw Nigel Wright (16-2-0, 8 KO’s) in a bout for the vacant British Light Welterweight Title.

 

Wright, who is from Hartlepool, England, got the better of the early rounds as the stylish southpaw was allowed to work at distance and pick his punches. However, Wright altered his game plan and began to trade with Daws, who started to take the initiative away from a tiring Wright.

 

Wright’s right eye was hurt in the third round and despite a determined fight back in the eleventh round, he failed to emulate the result in his amateur career where he managed to beat Dawes.

 

Twenty-seven year old Dawes from Mordon had the greater intensity and work rate and landed 209 punches, 160 of which were to the head of Wright, compared to the 147 that were landed by his opponent.

 

Dawes, who said that it was a “dream come true” to win the Longsdale belt, emerged victorious at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, via a hard-fought unanimous victory of 117-111 on all of the three judges’ scorecards.

 

The other Longsdale belt that was up for grabs on the night was the vacant British Lightweight Title, which was left unoccupied by Graham Earl. Lee Meager (20-1-1, 7 KO’s) stopped Dave Stewart (18-1-0, 5 KO’s) in the sixth round in a bout that was the greatest British Lightweight Title fight since Bobby Vanzie’s victory over Stephen Smith in 2000.

 

Thirty-year-old Scotsman Stewart managed to land solid right hands in the first round, in comparison to Meager’s sustained body attack. It also seemed clear that two had contrasting styles. Meager is the more experienced fighter in comparison to Stewart, who has only been professional for five years. The height and reach advantage lied firmly with the Scotsman, who sustained a cut above hi right eye in the second round. However, this did not halt the impressive timing of his straight right hand but the gritty Meager continually came back to land his own barrage of body shots.

 

In the fourth round, Stewart, who now lives in London, was knocked down by a solid jab from Meager after Stewart was temporarily square-on. However, Stewart resumed his boxing at range whilst the Salford fighter Meager attempted to land the shorter shots.

 

One minute into the sixth round, the native Englishman hurt Stewart with a left hook that seemed to take away the strength from the Scotsman. Stewart only managed to throw one punch in the following thirty-second period, in which Meager landed a number of successive left hooks that led referee Marcus McDonnell to rightly stop the contest 1:34 into the sixth round.

 

Meager displayed good defence and when the opportunity arose in the sixth round, the Salford fighter took full advantage to bring an end to a contest which was fought at a frantic pace and saw thunderous action.

 

In other action, twenty-two year old Darren Barker (10-0-0, 6 KO’s) knocked out Danny Thornton (20-11-3, 4 KO’s) in the sixth round of an eight-round fight, which was an English Light Middleweight Title Eliminator. Sheffield fighter Thornton, who has been professional for nearly ten years, was the underdog going into the contest. Darren “Dazzling” Barker, who resides form Barnet, extended his unbeaten run and will now fight the winner of the fight between the current English Light Middleweight Title Eliminator Andrew Facey and Matthew Hall which will take place on July 15th, 2006.

 

The fights at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday night instilled a breath of excitement for British boxing fans and with big bouts in the United Kingdom coming up, the action seen on May 12th promises to be an exhilarating prologue to an exciting chapter of fights.