How great to see Jeff Saunders doing what he does best again – what a shame we were denied half-an-hour of Joe Maphosa.
Dunston was the location for the comeback of Saunders, who had been out for over 20 months since defeating Steven Lewis just up the River Tyne at the Metro Radio Arena in November 2017.
Jeff outpointed sub opponent, Rhys Saunders, over four exciting rounds after originally being due to box Spanish-based Mexican, Fernando Valencia, then Blackburn’s Naeem Chaudhry on this Black Flash event.
Changes of opposition would prove the stumbling block to Maphosa who was looking to his eight-rounder with Jerson Larios to move him ever closer to a title shot.
From what punch-lines has been able to piece together, the Larios match fell through last week, only for Joe’s manager, Francis Warren, to seemingly pull a rabbit out of the hat by in the shape of Cristian Narvaez.
Alas,the Spanish-based Nicaraguan’s paperwork did not arrive at the British Boxing Board of Control’s Cardiff HQ in time on Friday for the BBBC to approve the fight.
It meant no bout for Joe, who turned up on Saturday afternoon at the Lancastrian Suite totally oblivious to all the commotion. He was told by BBBC officials there was no opponent for him, an unacceptable state of affairs for any boxer, let alone one of the sport’s nice guys.
An unfortunate set of circumstances? Yes, quite probably, but it made for a disappointing show to say the least.
Was it the fault of the promoters, matchmaker or manager?
A combination of the three you would have to say – all parties should have had their fingers on the pulse given its was the top-of-the-bill attraction and, for Maphosa, a key fight in his career.
To add to the shambolic nature of the event, Basi Rasaq’s bout also fell through.
The promoters thought they had booked Danny Little as the opponent for the Geordie comeback man, only for the Driffield fighter to turn up at a rival promotion in Doncaster the same night when he took on Lewis Booth.
It meant of the eight faces on the Black Flash Promotions poster, only three made it to the ring.
Luke Cope and debutant, Steven Robinson, were already known to be off the show, but there was no news on Liverpool’s Marcel Braithwaite who was also listed to appear.
The bouts which did go ahead were watchable, but for those seated fans on ground level, 60 quid for three four-rounders was not great fare was it?
Anyway, back to the boxing.
The supporters of Jamie Bates were not complaining.
A transfer from the kick-boxing scene, the Lanchester made a winning start by outpointing Portugal’s Yailton Neves, who is now based in Manchester.
Any boxer’s debut is often the hardest night of their career, but the Nik Gittus-trained light-heavyweight looked confident and his superior aggression got him home to a 39-38 verdict from referee Ron Kearney.
NE boxing is, sadly, littered with many 1-0 boxers, but hopefully we’ll see him again.
It was certainly great to see Michael Watson again. Like his old South Durham ABC comrade and Sedgefied neighbour, Jeff Saunders, he had not boxed since November 2017.
Taking on the ‘Baltic Bomber’, Genadij Krajevskij, the cruiser looked in great nick, using his jab nicely while also pinning his opponent on the ropes on more than one occasion.
He hurt the Lithuanian in the third, prompting a shake of the head from Genadij, always a sure sign a boxer has felt in.
Watson, who had Jeff Saunders Snr and Mark McGuinness in his corner, controlled matters throughout to gain a 40-36 scoreline from Mr Kearney.
That was also the tally in the last as J Saunders beat R Saunders.
Jeff, now under the tutelage of Gittus at Michael Ferry’s Wallsend gym, looked in splendid shape and that was matched by his boxing skills.
Given his long absence there would, surely, be a temptation to get stuck into a fight in the heat of the moment.
But Jeff was Mr Cool, measured in his approach, landing lefts to the Welshman’s body and bringing the right through to the head.
He switched smoothly between head and body again in the second and a four-punch combination in the third was a reminder of just what the 27-year-old has in his locker.
Round four saw Rhys get forward and land a fair few shots, in fact your punch-lines reporter gave him a share of the last. Mr Kearney who knows much more than me thought otherwise and gave Jeff the shut-out (pictured).
Words: Roy Kelly
