Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing
| Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing |
|
There were many promising young fighters on show yesterday at the Time Capsule, Coatbridge, but some stood out more than most though.
Gilmerton's Gary McMillan was the most eyecatching on the night with his brutal KO of Andy Li in the 69kg 1987 youths division. McMillan was far sharper from the first bell and caught the taller Li with some stinging shots and looked well on his way to a stoppage at the end of the first.
Round two continued in similar fashion, but McMillan stepped up a gear again and floored Li with a peach of a right hand. Li was up instantly,but the writing was on the wall.
In round three, Li gave his all, bravely trying to fend off McMillan and keep him at bay, but halfway through the round, McMillan trapped him in the corner and landed three haymakers, leaving Li of Cleland Miners ABC out cold for a good few seconds.
The referee immediately waved the fight over, but Li remained down for almost two minutes. The crowd gave a big cheer when he got up and made his way to his corner. He was still dazed,but it was a gallant performance against a very talented opponent.
On a lighter note, the audience were humoured when Craigmillar's Light Heavyweight Kenny Anderson took to the ring for his bout with A. Imudia (Noble Art ABC).
Just as the two were about to square up, Imudia turned and climbed out of the ring, shaking his head. One of the judges was heard saying he was disqualified and bemused onlookers wondered what was going on amid the scenes of confusion. Then the ring MC announced that the fight was to be delayed for four bouts in order for Imudia to shave his beard off!
Anderson looked disgusted and trudged off, only to return in four bouts' time and stop Imudia midway through the first round. His shave probably lasted twice as long as the fight, with Anderson looking very impressive in this one sided bout.
Also looking unstoppable was Terry Dignam, whose two fights lasted a combined total of around 90 secs. Both contests were a carbon copy of one another, with Dignam reeling off sharp combinations and forcing both of his opponents to take two standing counts each before the referee waved the bouts over.
Last year's Lightweight champ Mark Hastie of Forgewood ABC was looking to get through a seemingly straightforward bout against Lanarkshire Welfare's Mark Bett. Bett had other ideas however and came out firing in roun one, scoring with some good shots and bursting Hastie's nose.
Hastie came to life in round two though, boxing cleverly around Bett who always took the centre of the ring. In rounds three and four, Bett looked to be getting frustrated and tired a bit, so Hastie stepped up a gear, boxing at range and pulling away on points. It was no surprise when the score was announced 19-6 to Hastie, although Bett looked agrieved by the scoring. It was a solid performance by Hastie who's looking a good bet to lift the 64kg title this year, but he'll will be pushed by the likes of Glenboig ABC's Eddie Doyle and last year's losing finalist Lee Burnett of Kincorth.
The fight of the night by a mile though was Willie Bilan (Denbeath) against Sam Kynoch (Dennistoun).
Kynoch started better and landed lots of very heavy shots which shook Bilan and forced a standing count, the first of five in this cracker - two against Bilan and three against Kynoch.
Bilan composed himself and fired back some of his own big shots and still in round one forced Kynoch to take a count.The next three rounds were of a similar nature. Kynoch always took the centre of the ring and stalked Bilan, but Bilan boxed excellently and displayed crisp accurate counter punching.
Both boxers landed a lot of big shots throughout this one and it was very close. The scoring gave it to Bilan by a margin of 28-22 - a fair result as his boxing was cleaner thoughout the second half of the fight. Take nothing away from Kynoch though because he put up a tremendous fight and gave a good account of himself.
Interestingly, in the Lightweight division there were only four entries, and one of those - David Appleby - failed to make the weight. Next week in Cardenden, Broadwood's Mitch Prince takes on John Watson of the Barn in what promises to be an absolute cracker. The winner will fight last year's 64kg champion, Blantyre ABC's Gary McArthur who has stepped down a weight and received a bye into the final.
Report by George McMillan at ringside