Anthony Nelson made it a 1-2-3 for Team Gates at South Shields as he triumphed in his comeback fight.
But one of the stars of the night at Temple Park proved to be from Teesside rather than Tyneside.
Joe Maphosa made it five straight wins as a pro when he registered his fist stoppage success with a fourth-round TKO of Steven Maguire.
The 24-year-old, from Thornaby, is a talented young fella going places in the flyweight division after carrying on from where he left off against Gary Reeve last month in Houghton.
Maphosa had been due in with Sergey Tasimov, a wily old Russian now based in Estonia, but Maguire stepped in as sub on debut.
The Manchester southpaw was very much an unknown quantity but he proved a very worthy opponent, moving well in the opener and landing several shots of his own.
Maphosa grew in authority as the round reached its conclusion and set a decent pace in the second, briefly pinning Steven in the corner, but the 31-year-old was highly resilient.
However, less was beginning to come back from Maguire in the third when Maphosa let volleys go in the red corner and then a neutral corner.
‘Smokin’ Joe’ completed the job in style in the fourth.
A right-hander was right on the button, dropping Maguire, who was straight up.
But that was the cue for Maphosa to go for the finish. The former Tees Active Sports Academy member lost some of his accuracy and a number of wild swings missed the target, but once he composed himself, a head combination jolted Maguire, prompting referee Ron Kearney to step in at two minutes, 50 seconds.
Coach Imran Naeem celebrated with Maphosa in the ring while the travelling fans let out a chorus of “T-T-Teessider”.
Paul Gidney launched the action at Temple Park against London-based Swede, Edward Bjorkland.
Gidney had boxed superbly last time out without getting the result against James Beech Jnr, but this evening there was no denying the 21-year-old, with Bjorkland easily mastered.
Referee Williams marked it 40-36 and he scored it the same for ‘G Dog’ team-mate Sam Menzies.
The 21-year-old made it two wins as a pro when he beat Anwar Alfadli.
The Sheffield journeyman threw a few more shots than the previous two visiting fighters on the night put together but spent much of the contests keeping away from the busy Menzies.
‘Pocket Rocket’ threw some nice long rights in the opener, jabbed sharply in the second and applied some good pressure in the last and this will go down as four good rounds for the ex-Horsley Hill ace.
Nelson closed the show with another South Shields victory with a 60-53 result over a game Simas Volosinas.
The Lithuanian was down in the opener but made it all the way through to the end which, similar to Menzies, was just what the doctor ordered.
North Shields was represented on the Steve Wraith show by light-heavyweight Lawrence Osueke.
The 30-year-old ex-Team GB man won at an absolute canter against
Jevgenijs Andrejevs, a Latvian who was good at clowning around but did not lay a glove on Lawrence.
Light-welterweight Jeff Saunders’ 13th professional bout fell through.
Words: Roy Kelly
