If this was to be one of his final moments as a professional boxer, what a way to sign off the world’s hardest sport.
Adam Hepple spent the best part of 30 minutes inside the ring fighting Zak Chelli for the vacant English light-heavyweight title at the iconic York Hall. He showed incredible commitment and heart, and plenty of skill too, against the highly-accomplished boxer from the other side of London.
The record shows the former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion won it at 29 seconds of the 10th and final round after felling Hepple with thunderous left to the body. Seaham’s Northern Area champion was unable to beat referee Reece Carter’s count.
But what the record sadly will not show is the tremendous effort made by the 32-year-old, who was backed by an army of fans from Co Durham.
Challenging for the title against the Londoner completed a dream for Seaham’s ‘Punching Politician’ following a night on the sofa in front of the telly with his better half, Lauren.
“We were enjoying a bottle of red wine, watching Sky Sports and Zak Chelli was fighting Jack Cullen for the British title and I said ‘I’m going to end up fighting him’,” Adam told punch-lines.
“I’m proud of myself. No-one could say that ’he shouldn’t have been in with Zak Chelli’.
“A lot of people might have thought that before the fight but not after it.
“That was my eighth fight and my fourth 10-round fight.
“Zak is a former British and Commonwealth champion for a reason – no-one is fighting him for a title in just his eighth fight and I took him into the 10th round.”
If that is the end of Hepple’s career he deserves a million plaudits and our best wishes. He is busy outside the ropes – he has his own business to run, he’s a Seaham councillor, he’s a dad and with Lauren pregnant, there is another on the way!
Should he continue boixing then he would deserve to – he has proven himself a championship fighter.
Trained by Jordan Williams in the Twins Academy in Trimdon, Hepple has stopped Matt McCallum to become the Northern Area champion and has gone away from home to take on the unbeaten Reece Farnhill, the recently-crowned European champion Brad ‘The Sting’ Rea and now the excellent Chelli.
What a line-up of fights.
Clad in the red and white of Sunderland, Hepple was roared into the East London ring by his fans, though there wasn’t a great deal to cheer in the opening rounds.
It was Chelli who settled into an early rhythm, using his jab and double jab to good effect, while delivering scoring shots to both head and body.
The Fulham man had the opening four rounds to his name and when he fired off a bunch of punches to Hepple’s head in the fifth, it seemed he was chasing an early finish.
But after his last shot landed, Hepple simply smiled and came forward with a right and left, attacking the Londoner with gusto in the closing stages of the session.
Having given a glimpse of what he could do, Adam then got firmly on the front foot and a right hook in the seventh brought his fans to their feet.
He kept coming forward and the eighth round was his best. When he connected with a left-right combination, Williams was waving him in.
Going into round nine and behind on the scorecards, it looked like Hepple had adopted the ’Til the end’ Sunderland AFC mantra but near the conclusion of the ninth, Chelli unleashed a sustained attack, putting Adam down.
He got up by “eight” and the bell came to his aid. Sadly, it was only a temporary respite and Chelli completed his victory early in the last, depriving Hepple the chance of seeing the job through.
“I’m gutted,” Hepple reflected in the dressing room. “He didn’t hurt me at all in the fight until then.
“I felt I was putting him where I wanted him, but I just wasn’t able to capitalise – I wasn’t pulling the trigger as much as I should have.”
Easier said than done against a gunslinger like Chelli, but Hepple should have no regrets. He did his team, his family, his town, his county and, most importantly, himself proud.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jason Corbett/ Mindenwood Photography
