IT WAS a night of routine results with Manchester’s Hosea Burton registering his second six-round decision win in a row, beating Riga’s Edgars Sniedze by a margin of 60-54 on referee Jamie Kirkpatrick’s card.
“The Hammer” registered his sixth straight victory since losing his British light-heavyweight title to Frank Buglioni in a thriller back in December 2016. The opposition has been modest thus far, so he will no doubt hope to crank things up a notch as he bids to get back into contention.
It was Burton’s first outing of 2019 so there was naturally a bit of ring rust in the early going. He recently spent some time training with Tyson Fury in Las Vegas – and shares his cousin’s innate boxing ability as evidenced by good movement, a solid jab, and his ability to adapt to his opponent’s style.
Indeed, Hosea admitted that the biggest challenge he faced against the visitor was getting used to fighting someone almost as tall as him for once: Sniedze stands at 6ft 2ins to Burton’s 6ft 4ins, so it was a different experience for the traveller. However, Burton soon found his groove and cantered to the win.
Cumbria’s Ross Cooksey boxed and moved his way to a victory over Kent-based Ricky Leach. Cooksey’s surname already sounds like a nickname yet he has taken up the moniker “Ross the Boss” – and he bossed the action over four-threes. Referee Phil Edwards had it 40-36 for the prospect once the final bell had sounded.
Cooksey admitted he has been working on boxing and moving in the gym with trainer Johnney Roye since hooking up with him back in March. It paid dividends in this one.
Despite a strong third round Preston’s Lisa Whiteside could not tuck away Slovakia’s Claudia Ferenczi, so had to settle for a 60-54 six-twos win on Mr Kirkpatrick’s card.
Macaulay McGowan admits that he put on a fair bit of weight during his near two-year absence from the sport and there were fears he would have to wait even longer to get back into the ring. At one point he feared he would never fight again as his career drifted away from him.
McGowan, though, signed with MTK then dropped the weight required to make his return. The Wythenshawe-based boxer beat the game Paul Allison of Stranraer by a score of 39-38 after a closer than expected contest. Kirkpatrick refereed this one.
Mike McGoldrick returned to Barrow in Furness with a win after beating Cambridge’s Gianni Antoh over four. Edwards turned in a 40-37 card for McGoldrick, who believes he is now ready to take the step up to six-round contests after picking up another confidence-boosting result.
It was an emotional night for Chris Ogbonson as he fought for the first time since the tragic death of his trainer Oliver Harrison earlier this year. The Leeds-based boxer had Martin Murray and Jamie Moore on hand to offer support as he beat Belfast’s Alec Bazza – who should adopt “Bazza” as his nickname as a nod to Bez “Bez” Berry of the Happy Mondays, the fans would love that – by a score of 40-36 on Kirkpatrick’s card.
Bradford’s Amin Jahanzeb really tried to make a statement early against fellow Bradfordian Jake Pollard yet soon realised he would have to go the full course. This despite piling even more pressure on his opponent in round three without gaining any clear reward.
Pollard has taken his last five opponents to the final bell and it became clear he was going to extend this run despite some nice work early on from Jahanzeb. The contest was one-sided so it was no surprise when he was deemed a 40-36 winner by Kirkpatrick.
Ryan Watson was the only other fighter on the bill apart from McGowan who dropped a point. The Ulverston-based boxer had dropped a decision to veteran journeyman Youssef Al Hamidi in February of last year, but he did not make the same mistake this time out, boxing well enough within himself against Sheffield’s Qasim Hussin to secure a 39-37 win in a fight overseen by Edwards.
The Verdict A relatively straightforward night for the fighters in the home corner.
FULL RESULTS
Hosea Burton (185 1/4lbs), 24-1 (11), w pts 6 Edgars Sniedze (177 1/4lbs), 6-27 (6); Ross Cooksey (130 1/2lbs), 7-0 (1), w pts 4 Ricky Leach (129 1/2lbs), 3-40-1; Lisa Whiteside (113 1/4lbs), 2-0, w pts 6 Claudia Ferenczi (110 1/4lbs), 19-71-8 (10); Macaulay McGowan (162 1/4lbs), 13-0-1 (2), w pts 4 Paul Allison (160 1/2lbs), 6-4-1 (1); Mike McGoldrick (173 1/2lbs), 4-0, w pts 4 Gianni Antoh (179 1/4lbs), 1-6;Chris Ogbonson (143 1/4lbs), 3-0, w pts 4 Alec Bazza (138 1/4lbs), 0-43-3; Amin Jahanzeb (129 1/2lbs), 4-0 (1), w pts 4 Jake Pollard (128 3/4lbs), 0-8; Ryan Watson (147 1/2lbs), 3-1, w pts 4 Qasim Hussain (147 1/2lbs), 4-89-2.
