TIME and tide wait for no man Geoffrey Chaucer once said – and if proof were ever needed, it was up close and personal at the Manchester Arena as ultra-confident and ever-smiling Dubliner Jono “King Kong” Carroll handed Bury’s former world champion Scott Quigg a one-sided beating.
Several seasoned ringsiders felt there might have been a case for pulling Scott out as early as the conclusion of the seventh; he was way behind on the cards with little prospect of turning things around, his timing was way off, he was missing and his face already bore the marks of battle.
As it turned out the one-sided affair ran through until the 11th, when with 46 seconds still on the clock and with several of Quigg’s stablemates urging him to do so, Joe Gallagher rescued his man by hurling in the towel. Referee John Latham waved an immediate halt.
Credit to southpaw Jono in the biggest fight of his career. He turned in a four-star performance but it was sad to see it coming to an end for Scott, who opined afterwards that it was indeed, “Time to call it a day”.
Heavyweight Hughie Fury was in fine form, banking a purposeful confidence-boosting early win before going in once more at the top level. He regularly switched to southpaw to dismantle Czech Pavel Sour in just a shade over two rounds of a scheduled 10 refereed by Steve Gray.
The initial breakthrough, a crashing hook to the head soon after a punishing left in the dying embers of the opener, was followed up quickly. Another solid right at the very start of the second rocked the visitor, who finally succumbed having fallen victim to an overhand right that sent him over backwards just moments before the bell.
The end came 24 seconds into the third when, with their man having been floored once more, the towel came in from the Czech corner.
Australian super-middleweight Rohan Murdock proved a particularly tough cookie in his 12-rounder against Derbyshire’s unbeaten Zach Parker, giving as good as he got for long periods and earning the respect of the crowd before ultimately losing out late.
I had Parker, who, working behind the jab, seemed to be just having the better of things in the second half, slightly ahead at the finish. It came with only two seconds of the penultimate round remaining when a left cross at the culmination of a sustained burst to the head, with Rohan on the ropes, sent the Australian crashing onto his back in centre ring.
It was a great stoppage from Phil Edwards as Murdock was clearly on unsteady legs.
Now under the tutelage of Shane McGuigan, Liverpool’s Anthony Fowler needed exactly three minutes of a scheduled 10 to see off Ghana’s Theophilus Tetteh, who truth told proved more powder puff than teak tough.
In the little time it lasted the African was down on no fewer than four occasions, all inside the last 90 seconds. Fowler pressed forward behind a fencing, range-finding left to deliver the coup de grace as the bell sounded, and referee Bob Williams decided enough was enough.
Little Lever’s always-popular Jack Cullen was another victorious by the short route, with 2-31 of the second in a scheduled eight against Argentina’s Tomas Reynoso all that had elapsed when Bury referee John Latham halted proceedings. It was quite right, despite the visitor’s protests after a short left uppercut had floored him and left him more than a little unsteady on rising.
The eight between Kirkby’s Robbie Davies Jnr and Damian Leonardo Yapur (Madrid via Argentina) was scored 80-72 at the finish by Phil Edwards but it seemed a long watch, never really sparking to life.
Robbie, now boxing out of the Ingle gym, switched stance regularly and worked away behind the jab while Yapur did make a slightly better fist of things towards the end.
Unbeaten New Yorker Reshat Mati made short work of wild-swinging Tanzanian Abdallah Luanja, stopping him late in the second of a six. A punishing left to the body and a follow-up right as he fell sent Luanja in slow motion to the canvas in centre ring – and referee Steve Gray halted it just two seconds from the bell.
Another Tanzanian halted in a scheduled six was super-lightweight Benson Nyilawila who, after being floored no fewer than four times by hard-hitting Sheffield prospect Dalton Smith, was mercifully saved any further punishment when referee Gray intervened just 18 seconds into the fourth.
Telford’s Dean Jones, the evening’s only British opponent, went down 40-36 for referee Latham at the conclusion of a four against Oldham’s unbeaten Aqib Fiaz who after beginning well was increasingly relegated to having to jab off the back foot.
A couple more 40-36 finishes, the first overseen by Mr Latham and the second by Steve Gray, had Liverpool’s Blane Hyland securing win number three with a nice, relaxed showing against Nicaraguan Joel Sanchez; a fine corkscrew right late in the second brought cheers from the early arrivals.
Meanwhile, Stretford’s Bradley Rea was always one punch ahead of gutsy Slovakian Pavol Garaj, who made a better fight of it late on.
One-fight Keighley novice Ibrahim Nadim took a little while to settle against Bucharest’s Stefan Nicolae – but once he got into his stride there was no doubting it was going to be his arm raised by referee Mr Edwards, who scored 39-37.
The Verdict Carroll can look forward to another world title crack, while Quigg faces retirement.
FULL RESULTS
Jono Carroll (129 1/4lbs), 18-1-1 (4), w rsf 11 Scott Quigg (130lbs), 35-3-2 (26); Zach Parker (167lbs 2oz), 19-0 (13), w rsf 11 Rohan Murdock (167 1/2lbs), 24-2 (17); Hughie Fury (238lbs 7oz), 24-3 (14), w rsf 3 Pavel Sour (243 1/4lbs), 11-3 (6); Anthony Fowler (156 1/4lbs), 12-1 (9), w rsf 1 Theophilus Tetteh (155 1/4lbs), 19-8-2 (12); Jack Cullen (161 3/4lbs), 18-2 (9), w rsf 2 Tomas Andres Reynoso (162lbs), 13-6-1 (3); Robbie Davies Jnr (143 1/21lbs), 20-2 (13), w pts 8 Damian Leonardo Yapur (143lbs), 16-17-3; Aqib Fiaz (135 3/4lbs), 5-0, w pts 4 Dean Jones (136lbs 7oz), 1-27; Reshat Mati (146lbs 9oz), 7-0 (5), w pts 4 Abdallah Luanja (147lbs 7oz), 13-8-2 (9); Dalton Smith (141 3/4lbs), 5-0 (4), w pts 4 Benson Nyilawila (141lbs 1oz), 10-4 (6); Blane Hyland (115 1/4lbs), 3-0, w pts 4 Joel Sanchez (116 1/4lbs), 4-11-1 (2); Ibrahim Nadim (126lbs 10oz), 2-0, w pts 4 Stefan Nicolae (124lbs 6oz), 3-23-1 (1); Bradley Rea (161lbs), 9-0 (3), w pts 4 Pavol Garaj (163lbs), 6-19-3 (2).
