Darlington 3 Manchester United 0.
Not a result you see every day, or any day for that matter, but Pete Shepperson’s gym began 2019 with that exact scoreline.
Steve Wraith hosted a four-fight show, with meal, which, sadly, became a three-bout fare following the cancellation of Ste Cooper-Zach Thompson, but all three home boxers, Daryll Hall, Ellis Corrie and John Green made sure the Dolphin Centre audience was sent home happy.
Green headed ‘D-day in Darlo’ with his six-rounder and his win over Jamie Quinn was a good one and a fitting tribute to dad, Jimmy, who died earlier this year, while the returning Corrie performed so well against Dale Arrowsmith, it was hard to believe he’d been away from the ring for 10 months.
But one of the stories of the event had to be Hall’s victory over Iranian fighter Taha Mirhosseini, now based in Manchester.
A well-known North-East footballer, Daryll has turned to boxing late in his sporting life but how he has taken to it.
He won by KO on his debut last year in Australia where he was (surprise, surprise) playing football.And he made it two wins from two with a 39-37 victory over his fellow 30-something.
Hall looked relaxed after he came out and it showed with a composed start, which even included a few jabs, while the ‘Beast from the East’ prodded towards the body.
The Spennymoor cruiser had the crowd off their seats in the second round when a short right and long right hurt his opponent but he was unable to follow in and Mirhosseini recovered.
Mirhosseini let two big swings go in round three which both missed, while a third glanced the head of Hall, who looked exhausted when he returned to Shepperson and Imran Naeem in the blue corner.
However, he came out refreshed for the last, successfully slipped a few big swings and pushed Taha back with a super right-left-right-right.
Hall had put in a fine performance and deserved his two-point victory from referee Ron Kearney (pictured).
This reporter never saw how good Corrie was in the Muay Thai arena, but, under Shepperson’s tutelage, he is displaying very positive signs that boxing could be his game.
Out of his action since last April, he made up for lost time against Arrowsmith, from Hyde.
Setting a great tempo from the start, his left did not miss, either to the head or body while there was nice volley on the inside too.
He was even better in the second and in the third he delivered some cracking lefts to the body and rights to the head.
His right found the mark in the last and a 40-36 tally was inevitable from Mr Kearney.
Green’s Middlesbrough army of fans raised the roof when he emerged to Boro anthem. Pigbag, and the 29-year-old made sure they had plenty to cheer about over the next 20 and a bit minutes.
The former Northern Area champion was superb in the opener and while Quinn got through with a right-left combo in the second as a reminder there were two boxers in the ring, John Boy was in total control.
A right and two lefts to the body were the stand-out shots of the third with a body combination the highlights of the fourth.
Green loaded up his right in the fifth and stayed on top in the sixth, with Quinn’s high guard ensuring he got through to end where Mr Kearney made John a 60-54 winner.
Words: Roy Kelly
