Kyle Redfearn made sure MTK’s debut night finished with a bang.
The Ferryhill light-heavyweight knocked out Norbert Szekeres in round three in the climax to their promotion in Gateshead
MTK’s boxers have been doing plenty of winning but on Thursday night they did it on their own event with Redfearn following wins by Jay Hughes and Chad Ellis at the sell-out dinner show, where Darren Surtees added to his growing collection of stoppage victories.
It was a sweet night for Redfearn who had been knocked out in four rounds by Germany’s big-hitting Nick Hannig inWolfsburg back in October.
However, Kyle, pictured, can dig a little himself and his international battle with Szekeres (set for six rounds) was always a candidate for an early finish, given half of Norbert’s 18 successes have been via a stoppage.
Redfearn forced back the 32-year-old in the opener, though there were a few shorts from the eastern European.
Kyle’s left dominated the start of round two but he brought his right into play and some heavy body work ensured any ambition from Szekeres was quickly extinguished.
The third was even more dominant and after one superb three-punch combination the end looked nigh and so it proved.
A left hook to the body put Norbert downand while he rose by “nine” referee Ron Kearney counted him out. It was his eighth win, six arriving before the final bell.
Redfearn’s unbeaten MTK team-mates extended their 100 per cent records withpredictably easy points successes.
Hughes took a 40-36 result against Blackburn’s Naheem Chaudry, controlling matters from start to finish.
The pick of the Gary Barr-trained boxer’s work came in the third with a right to the body followed by a right to the head.
Ellis worked almost exclusively in close against the popular Irish visitor, Alec Bazza.
It was a policy which paid dividends for the Spennymoor star, with Bazza in trouble in the second but he hung on to the end, despite a fourth-round fall to the canvas.
Alec looked off-colour but, as always, boxed with a lot of heart and with Mal Gates and Paul Charters in his corner. Mr Kearney marked it 40-35 to Ellis who put together one of his most dominant displays.
Darren Surtees v Oscar Amador always looked like being the fight of the night and it was on it’s way to delivering until the Barcelona-based light-welterweight dislocated his right thumb in the second of six scheduled rounds.
Surtees is surely one of the North-East’s ‘ones to watch’ in 2019 as he extended his winning sequence to 11, eight inside the distance.
Up against Lewis Ritson’s Birmingham opponent, ‘Dazzla’ began with supreme confidence, as befits an in-form boxer,with some clean jabs and a couple of stinging combinations to the body and head.
That jab was in action at the start of the second but suddenly Amador came to lie and clubbed the Thornley boxer with a few hooks to the head with both fists.
After one right, he recoiled clutching his fist in pain. Mr Kearney asked if he could continue and the Nicaraguan insisted he could.
But when he tried to fight off a Surtees attack, it was clear he could not use his right hand and the Sunderland official waved it off at two minutes, 25 seconds of round two. A premature closure maybe, but the Dave Binns/ Phil Jeffries/ Team Sauerland boxer is destined surely for something significant soon off the back of this and his recent run.
It was a full house in terms of attendance, as well as home wins, with Macmillan benefiting as the designated charity.
Words: Roy Kelly
