New professional Lee Stevens showed tremendous spirit on his debut in Liverpool on Saturday night.
The Newton Aycliffe super-bantamweight slugged it out with Merseyside new boy Brad Strand before being retired with an eye injury after round two.
Punch-lines featured the 30-year-old last week, when we highlighted how boxing had helped turn around the life of a man once beset by drug addiction as well as a spell behind bars.
It would appear there was an element of confusion surrounding the match made between the two debutants at the Greenbank Sports Academy.
It turned out the home boxer’s pedigree was somewhat higher than anticipated – the Everton Red Triangle amateur star was a national champion – but the bout went ahead with Stevens showing tremendous tenacity before it was ended by an eye injury midway through.
Coach Pete Shepperson said: “We came down to box a 30-13 amateur who hadn’t won anything, only to find out he was four-time national champ who won the [England Senior] Elites last year.
“It was a mix up in messages apparently, wrong info for wrong fighter.
“That said, I was very proud of Lee who got in and had a go with a top lad. He was doing well, playing the game and surviving some heavy onslaughts but after sustaining an eye injury in the second I retired him between rounds.
“Lee is as hard as nails and wanted to carry on but his eye was on verge of splitting so I called it.
“[It was a great effort.”
Stevens, like his DBMA team-mates, Adam Hutchinson and Ellis Corrie, is happy to go on the road, like another North-East fighter, Jordan Ellison, who drew in Liverpool on Saturday night in another show.
You’ve got the hardest fight out the way Lee, keep in the gym and in the ring.
Words: Roy Kelly
