A big day for English boxing and a massive day for North East Boxing at the Stadium of Light yesterday afternoon. If you live in the North East area than I’m sure you heard about the event or at the least knew someone who knew someone who went. Spotted a Facebook status perhaps? The sun made a rare appearance in Sunderland and the best fans in the North East had to offer poured out to enjoy it, but more importantly to witness some good old pugilism and cheer on their men.
All of the bouts I seen were a real pleasure to witness, a couple of pro debutants and one of our Geordie boys bagging himself a first round stoppage, it’s hard to pick out any of the fights in particular but someone has to do it.
Obviously, you had the big one from the cruiserweights, David Dolan(14(5)-4-1) taking on Jon Lewis Dickinson(9(2)-2-0) for the Northern Area title. This winner of this ultimately looking to push on for English/British title. Both fighters coming off two straight losses and looking to get their careers going back in the right direction by picking up the win.
Dickinson, 25, suffered a suspected broken jaw last time out but the Prizefighter champion was hoping to cast off as part and parcel of the trade and push on to bigger and better things. Dolan, 31, picked up gold at 2002 Commonwealth games but failed in his two attempts at a British title and most recent for the English title.
The fight lived up to all expectations as every one of the 10 rounds scheduled went, with cases for both fighters throughout. Dolan seemed to favour the body and some success switching up to head here and there. Dickinson was able pump some decent 1-2’s on a regular basis and snapped Dolans head back once or twice. This was how the fight played out, Dolan jumping in closing range and Dickinson putting him back on the end of his jab when the need arose.
Both fighters hitting each other with good shots at times but they were always equal to them. The fight was tight, so much so the gentleman to my left and I were exchanging scores throughout. In the end I scored it 95-96 to Dolan, I got it wrong. The decision went to Dickinson and I certainly didn’t have any arguments. In the end, Dickinson seemed most in control throughout and deserved the decision. I guess I’m just a sucker for body shots.
Now, you can guess that Dickinson is going to be looking for the bigger fights and look to have as much success as he can domestically and potentially beyond that. Best of luck to both fighters who put on a great show, but as always there always has to be someone who goes home disappointed.
As for the best of the rest Featherweight Robert Sharp(1(0)-2-0) and David ‘Davey’ Lake, one of our debutants from South Shields, put on a real tear up. Lake brought a huge following along with him and they certainly appreciated the show they put on. Both fighters kept themselves busy and were throwing bombs throughout. Lake had the better of it, only losing one of the four rounds. A great start.
Then we had former British and European Bantamweight champion Ian ‘Dappa’ Napa(19(1)-10-0) in his first fight in over a year against Martin Ward(11(1)-1-0), the southpaw from Newcastle. The first three rounds ‘Dappa’ was just trying to find his way into the fight, trying to close the space between himself and his taller opponent. Ward found his rhythm. Even though his more experienced opponent started to get himself into the fight Ward controlled the fight. Pumping his jab out religiously and hitting some big lefts on the moving target. A little showboating and a ‘Ali Shuffle’ in the last round really got the crown going as he took his victory 94-92.
A great event that I was glad to be a part of, even though I wasn’t surprised by quality on show but the amount of fans some of these guys brought with them was truly astounding. Good news is Phil Jeffries has been quoted as saying he has the Stadium of Light booked out for the 01/07/2012. See you there?
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