TED CHEESEMAN’S brave challenge for the European super-welterweight title ended in a one-sided defeat as Spain’s Sergio Garcia delivered a punishing masterclass at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday.
The judges scored unanimously in the defending champion’s favour, 119-109 on two cards and a far too narrow 115-114. Cheeseman had managed to stay on his feet throughout the 12 rounds but he had received a hellacious number of blows to the head. Once the decision was announced he left the ring immediately and wisely did not linger to speak to television cameras or the media.
His promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News, “A brutal fight. He’s still the British champion. Heart of a lion. As I said [before] sometimes people are so far behind like that you just seem them think I’m just going to lose on points. He didn’t stop trying to win for every second of the fight. I think he’ll get a lot of credit for that. So much to improve on, didn’t move his head enough, didn’t jab enough, loads of stuff. But he [Garcia] impressed me. His engine, it was incredible.”
“He’s going to have to go away and rebuild. He’s still the British champion. There are domestic fights out there,” Hearn added. “[Garcia] is a world class fighter to be fair. But Ted’s proved that he’s not quite European level yet.”
On the undercard Craig Richards settled his rivalry with Jake Ball, dropping the latter four times in all to end inside three rounds.
Felix Cash won the Commonwealth middleweight title as hammered Rasheed Abolaji to defeat at just 2-45 of the first round.
