By Michael Cotter

Rendall Munroe (122lb) retained his European Super-Bantamweight title by beating Simone Maludrottu (121¼lb) at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre, Nottingham by way of unanimous decision in a thrilling, hard fought battle that was enjoyed by all in the arena and those that watched live on Sky Sports.

Munroe knew as he entered the arena that, for all his worthy performances over the past 18 months, victory over Maludrottu simply had to happen.  The fight was billed as a WBC-eliminator and by all accounts, with Rafael Marquez (the current WBC mandatory) unwilling or unable to stay at super-bantamweight, whoever took the spoils in Nottingham would be in line for a showdown with WBC king Toshiaki Nishioka and a shot at glory in Japan.

Munroe, from Leicester, had relative home advantage with the bout staged no more than 30 or so miles from the very streets he works on as a bin man, much has been made of Munroe’s choice of employment and by his own admission “he loves it” and so do the legions of followers the fighter brings, who don the luminous garb as worn by his fellow workers.  The East Midlands must be full of bin men as over a third of the arena were sporting the high visibility jackets as worn by the EBU champion, Munroe, as he made his entrance to a raucous reception, proving once again that Nottingham at its best is as good a fight town as anywhere in the country.

The opening stanza of the bout indicated the terms the contest were going to be fought on, namely at a ferocious pace, with plenty of leather thrown and with neither man taking a backwards step.  Maludrottu looked in excellent condition, as was the champion; the two combatants began engaging from the off, with Munroe landing the cleaner shots in the opener and having the slicker movement to gain the nod from myself at ringside.

The second and third rounds showcased both fighters ability to land clean and with great effect in close quarters, Munroe did enough to steal the second, before Maludrottu fired back in the third round and matched the champion in a round as close as one can ever be.

The rugged Italian had found a way into the bout, by throwing in a frenzy, Munroe had no choice but to ‘fight’, this was no boxing match, it was turning into a brawl, when both fighters fought, it made for some truly engaging action and as Maludrottu continued to increase the pace in the fourth, the bout as the boxing adage goes, could have taken place in a ‘phone booth’.

Munroe dropped rounds four, five and six in this writer’s opinion, getting tagged as he walked into the big left that the Italian was able to land on numerous occasions, causing a slight bleed to the right eye of the popular British/Jamaican.  The Italian showed a solid defence and was prepared to allow Munroe to aim to the body and block his shots on his arms.  With six rounds gone, Maludrottu, as I saw it, was a point up, landing the cleaner shots and making it his fight.

As the combatants came out to the opening bell of the seventh, they would both have been forgiven for taking a breather, with eighteen minutes of action still to go, they deserved a round off, that break, however, never happened, the second half picked up as the first had gone, both tore into each other like buzz saws, with Munroe backing up Maludrottu, only for the same to occur to him seconds later, as with the third.  I couldn’t separate either man and scored the round even, feeling it would be grossly unfair on either fighter to have given them the nod.

Munroe boxed and brawled in the eighth well, taking for the first time in the bout something akin to the upper-hand, landing stinging shots to the body and crashing a couple of meaty uppercuts before Maludrottu pushed him back and tried to steal the round at the end. 

The ninth was Rendall’s best of the bout, looking to box and bruise in equal measure, when the bout was at some sort of distance, the champion moved in landed cleaner and retreated before throwing again.  The shaven-headed Sardinian was still game, he refused to retreat and when possible moved forward, the fighters heads time and time again came perilously close and I was thankful a bout-ending clash never occurred.  The bout was fought with continuing ferocity as the tenth came to a close, with the boxing ‘bin man’ (as brandished on his shorts) doing enough to win three on the bounce, as his challenger had done in the first half of the contest.

The championship rounds, as with the half-hour before, were scintillating.  Munroe would land flush only for Maludrottu to fire back, both had fantastic engines and gave everything they had, it was only towards the end of the eleventh that Maludrottu looked to be breathing heavily and that, once again, was a round I was unwilling to split.

The twelfth displayed just how much this WBC eliminator meant to both fighters, their corners were in a frenzy and the leather began to fly, it was as if the bout had just begun, both landed hooks, to the body at times in synchronisation and they shared the spoils as the bell rang on the final round as I saw it as well.  As viewed from ringside I had it 117-115 Munroe.

The three judges scoring the bout gave it to Munroe unanimously 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113.

The fight was a hard fought contest with Munroe, doing just enough against a quality operator to earn his shot at world-glory in the new-year.  Frank Maloney came over to the press at the bout’s conclusion and admitted that “Maludrottu was a solid fighter” and the intention was to get Munroe a “shot at the title”.

After such an even contest, Maludrottu can hold his head high and will no doubt get another shot down the line, especially if Rendall vacates the European belt to pursue a title shot as expected.

The under card minus Tony Jeffries (who picked up an injury in the week) did not light the litmus paper as the main event did.  A welterweight contest pitting Derby’s Scott Haywood (149½lb) against Margate’s Scott Woolford (149¼lb) proved to be the highlight of the contests.  Haywood boxed the opening three-rounds with more composure, landing good left and right hooks on Woolford and bossing the action with his jab.

The fourth brought about a swing in the pendulum as Woolford landed a razor like right, which sliced open the brow under the left eye of the Midlands fighter.  The sight of blood brought Woolford ever forward and he began to rough up the previously collected Haywood and took the fourth and fifth; he was unable to miss the bloodied eye.  The doctor was called in to have a good look at the injury mid-way through the fifth.

The sixth began with Haywood sprinting out of the blocks, as if aware he had dropped the last couple, he started solidly before getting tagged again around the eye.  I noted ‘needs to keep left hand up, cover eye’.  Referee John Keane then called the doctor in to have another look and this time both had seen enough.

The bout concluded at 2:10 of the sixth, with Woolford getting the victory due to Haywood’s injury ensuring he could no longer continue.  Hopefully a rematch will occur, as the fight had plenty of back and forth action and exciting exchanges.

The ‘War Machine’ Larry Olubamwio (262lb) fought Yavor Marinchev (208lb) from Bulgaria over six rounds in a heavyweight contest, which proved forgettable due to the spoiling tactics of the Bulgarian.  Marinchev gave referee Robert Chalmers every opportunity to take a point away for constant holding, hugging and mauling, but such a penalty never occurred.

Marinchev could easily make cruiserweight judging by his physique and size and when actually engaging he landed the cleaner shots on Larry, who was clearly frustrated at this opponents tactics, as they ensured that he could only fire a limited arsenal of blows.

The referee scored the bout 60-54 in Olubamwio’s favour at the end of the sixth.  I had it slightly closer giving Marinchev the two rounds in which he actually tried to fight, regardless the ‘War Machine’ rolls on.  When speaking to Boxingscene after the fight, Larry said he “was annoyed with his opponents tactics, but was pleased to have got in the rounds.  I proved my stamina to those who may have doubted it”.  Larry indicated that he has one eye on the British title as the 2010 progresses.

In other action:

The well-supported Tony Hill (166½lb), from Southampton, defeated Matt Scriven (170lb) on points in a four rounder.  Hill did nothing but jab and Scriven landed no more than five punches all night.

 

Erick Ochieng (163lb) beat debutant Prince David Davis (162) on points in another fourth rounder, showcasing heavy hands and a skill level above that of his opponent.

Dale Miles (150lb) scored the only clean knockout of the night by dropping and stopping Janis Chernouskis (151lb) from Latvia at 2:55 of the second.

Likeable Liverpool fighter, John Watson (138lb), who was well supported and who fought immediately after the main-event’s conclusion, fought by orders to earn a shutout win over Youssef Al Hamidi (also 138lb).  Watson was keen to shrug-off the ring-rust having spent 12 months away from competitive action due to remaining loyal to Hayemaker Promotions.

Leon Dean (138lb) beat Sid Razak (140lb) 39-37 in a four-rounder.

Steve Jevons (146lb) defeated Vinny Woolford (145lb) by the same margin and Scott Slater (131lb) drew with Pavels Senkovs (also 131lb) over four-rounds in a bout that saw out the evening’s action.