Larkhall Super-Feather Darren Johnstone headlined and retained his British Masters title over 10 rounds against Walsall’s Steve Gethin last night on St Andrew’s Sporting Club’s Annual Burns Night show at their new home in Glasgow’s Raddison Hotel.

Darren (9st-4lbs) boxed well from the off, putting in hurtful body shots against a well conditioned Gethin (9st-4lbs). Darren set a good pace throughout the fight and took the first half of the fight clearly.

Gethin was always in the fight though and caught the southpaw with some good right hands.

Johnstone was told by his cornerman John McDermott to bend the knees when setting down to put in his body shots, this worked well throughout.

The second half started to get a bit untidy with both boxers coming together at times and Darren was pulled up by referee Victor Loughlin a couple of times throughout the contest, firstly for landing a couple of punches south of the waistline and again for use of the head, but to be fair both boxers were guilty on occasions. To his credit though, Gethin didn’t complain too much and just got on with the job.

Round six saw a cut open up on Gethin’s left eye and again in the seventh when this time the right eye was cut.

Round 9 saw Johnstone deducted a point for head use, but he rallied in the 10th and last round to secure victory and retain his title by a score of 96-95 on referee Loughlin’s card.

The opening bout of the evening saw Newarthill Light-Welter Paul King (10st-2lbs) make his debut in the professional ranks.

King, boxing under the name Charlie King as a tribute to his late father, seemed a little nervous in the 1st round of this 6x2’s against Latvia’s Rom Krauklis (9st-12lbs). However, he picked it up in the second and seemed to get stronger as the rounds went on but the awkward style of Krauklis made it a scrappy affair and with occasional heads coming together King received a small cut to the side of his left eye.

King had a good last round to secure his 1st victory 58-56 on referee Kenny Pringle’s card.

The night’s 2nd bout was at Super-Featherweight with Glasgow’s Furhan “Moonie” Rafiq (9st-3 1/2lbs) against Telford’s Shaun Walton (9st-3lbs) again over 6x2mins.

Moonie got the upper hand in the 1st round against his taller opponent and caught Shaun with a cracking right hook that shook the Telford man, forcing
him to go on the back foot but Rafiq closed him down and upped the pace.

This was a good all action bout with a couple of close rounds, but Moonie did more than enough to secure the victory 59-56 on referee Pringle’s card.

Matchmaker for the show was Errol Johnstone.

Wull Downie