By Danny Winterbottom

Ice Arena, Hull, UK - In the main event of the evening Hull’s Tommy Coyle (21-2, 10 KO’s) survived a heavy knock down in round two to score a sixth round  victory over former British champion Martin Gethin (25-7, 11 KO’s) who retired with a perforated ear drum and in doing so secured the showdown with London Olympic Gold Medallist Luke Campbell in the summer.

Gethin almost spoiled the party in round two after a slow start as he countered a wild Coyle swing with a brutal left hook that looked every inch a fight finisher.

Coyle slumped in a heap on the bottom rope as people in the crowd covered their faces in disbelief as Hull’s most anticipated fight looked to have gone out of the window in a flash.

As brave as ever Coyle hauled himself up from the canvas but was in massive trouble as Gethin searched for the finishing blows.   It was only the Walsall man’s lack of punching power that prevented Coyle from being seriously hurt as he teetered around the ring before regaining his senses and fighting back.

Shouts of ‘Tommy, Tommy’ rung out around the Ice Arena as the crowd tried to rally their man in the third as Gethin hunted for the finish but the Walsall man’s patient style played against him when he should have been letting his hands go.

Once a come forward pressure fighter Coyle’s aggressive nature and love of a fight has been tempered slightly by trainer Jamie Moore but once he is hit and in trouble he returns to type and in during the third session both men declared war.

Coyle began round four by tripling his jab as he picked off a lacklustre Gethin throughout the session and he continued to do the same in round five as Gethin became too cautious and waited too long for an opening, all this after almost rendering Coyle unconscious three rounds earlier.

As the bell sounded for round six Gethin told referee Michael Alexander that he couldn’t continue, citing a perforated ear drum, the same injury he suffered in a losing effort to Terry Flanagan in July 2014, as the reason.

It was a disappointing ending to an interesting fight and if Coyle believes he can upset Luke Campbell in the summer he will need to improve 100 percent in the coming months.

“I trained 12 weeks for this fight and I’m sorry to the fans that it didn’t go on longer because I love to fight” said Coyle.

“This is the nature of the boxing business but now we can look forward to me and Luke getting it on in the summer.

“Congratulations to Luke tonight.  He is my pal but honestly I think I’m gonna knock him out.  It was hard to get up for this fight when they dangle a massive carrot like the Olympic Gold Medallist in my face but I’m now mega excited to be fighting Luke in Hull.”

Martin Gethin said:  “My ear drum went again, I was enjoying the fight, it was close.”

Speaking to Sky Sports backstage Luke Campbell sounded slightly amused when told that Tommy Coyle had said he would score a knockout when they meet.

“Good luck to him!  Me and Tommy are friends but he said I haven’t fought anyone.  We both fought Brizuela and he had murder with him and I stopped him in seven rounds, but perhaps he took too many shots to the head tonight to remember!”

London Olympic Gold Medallist Luke Campbell (10-0, 8 KO’s) made an emotional appearance in front of his home fans and despite his father suffering a serious illness he scored a second round stoppage of the over matched Nicaraguan Levis Morales (11-3, 4 KO’s).

Campbell, 27, had removed himself from the show altogether when his father’s illness worsened but after talking to his family and promoter Eddie Hearn he bravely decided to fight on.

During the contest he showed no effects of the emotional turmoil he is suffering as he dropped Morales in round two with a combination of blows and again in round three as he trapped Morales on the ropes.

Morales bravely rose to his feet but his corner threw in the towel and the referee stopped the contest at 55 seconds of round number three.

Asked by Sky Sports if he felt under pressure in the ring given his personal circumstances Campbell said:

“It’s about turning the negatives into positives and I wanted to make my family proud tonight.

“There is nothing better than fighting in Hull as far as I’m concerned.”

Asked about the potential summer show down with Hull rival Tommy Coyle, Campbell was upbeat.

“I want to make history in Hull and fill out an outdoor arena.  The people want to see me and Tommy get it on.”

Former 2007 world amateur Bronze Medallist Bradley Saunders (12-0, 9 KO’s) maintained the

unbeaten start to his professional career with a one sided hammering of 35-year-old Frenchman

Stephane Benito (22-18, 8 KO’s)

Saunders, who challenges Dave Ryan for the Commonwealth title on April 4 and was using this bout as a tune up, tattooed Benito from the opening bell and hurt the Frenchman several times with his trademark body shots and it was such a shot that dropped Benito to the canvas in round 5.

Bravely the Frenchman beat the count but moments later he was tagged by several hard head shots along the ropes prompting referee Michael Alexander to call a halt to the bout at 2-50 of the session.

Benito was hammered from pillar to post by Saunders, 29, as he sharpened his tools in preparation for his first professional championship challenge.

“Full respect to Dave Ryan but I wouldn’t be in boxing if I didn’t think I could win these kind of fights,” said Saunders, who had respected trainer Oliver Harrison working his corner for the first time.

“I asked for Eddie (Hearn) for this fight because working with a new trainer for the first time can be tricky and I wanted to get used to working with Oliver before the Ryan fight.”

21-year-old Sam Eggington (14-2, 8 KO’s) produced a brilliant performance to stop the previously unbeaten Shayne Singleton (20-1, 6 KO’s) in round five to capture the WBC silver welterweight title.

Eggington dropped Singleton three times, once in round two with a booming right and twice in round five, the final knock down prompting Singleton’s trainer Karl Ince to wave the contest off from the ring apron, a decision that was accepted by referee Victor Laughlin with the end coming at 2:50.

Eggington, a former Prizefighter entrant trained by Jon Pegg, has come through the welterweight ranks the hard way and was very impressive in halting Singleton who had no answer to the power punching of the youngster.

“It was a good, tricky fight” Eggington told Sky Sports.

“I try to box my fight and if I do that I’m 100 percent confident that I can win.”

Singleton, sporting bruising to the right hand of his face said:

“He (Eggington) can crack alright! I have never been down amateur or in sparring and he did me a few times in there.”

“I wanted to carry on because I’m the type of fighter who wants to go on until I can’t get up myself but Karl (Ince) stopped me because he said I can fight another day.”

Rocky Fielding (20-0, 11 KO’s) returned to the ring following a long layoff caused by a hand injury to score an 80-72 points victory over Olegs Fedotovs (19-19, 13 KO’s) on the card of referee Michael Alexander.

The contest proved to be a glorified sparring session for Fielding, the former unbeaten Commonwealth champion, as he went through the motions against Fedotovs who proved to be a tough but limited opponent.

Following the contest Fielding reiterated his desire to face Merseyside rival Paul Smith, who was on pundit duty for Sky Sports, for the British super middleweight title in what would be a massive fight between two men from the same city.

“It’s the fight everybody wants so yeah lets ‘av it!” said the 27-year-old. “I had to get the eight rounds in here.  I had a bit of ring rust but I’ve got that out of the way now and hopefully I can be out again on April 11.”

Smith was asked by Ed Robinson if he would fight Fielding, his mandatory, next.

“Right now I don’t know.  I’ve just had two close fights with Arthur Abraham for the world title so do I want to drop down to British level?

“His (Fielding) fights have not impressed me to be honest.  I can fight at world level and get world level money or fight at British level and get British level money, but then again I could grant him his wish.”

In the opening televised bout of the evening at the Hull Ice Arena former English light middleweight champion Erik Ochieng (16-4-1, 4 KO’s) and unbeaten 22-year-old prospect Tom Knight (5-0-1, 1 KO) battled to a draw over eight rounds.

Referee Howard Foster scored the contest 75-75 after eight entertaining rounds Knight, boxing in front of his home town fans in Hull, recovered from two knockdowns in round four, a straight right then a left uppercut, to pressurise the much more experienced Ochieng in the later sessions but seemed to have left his charge too late and Boxingscene.com scored the contest 77-73 in favor of the veteran.

“Two knockdowns, what can I say?” asked Ochieng when speaking to Sky Sports’ Ed Robinson following the contest.

“I froze a little in the early rounds but I did ok in the second half” said Knight “The ref said it was a draw and I’m happy with that”