NEWCASTLE wins at the Stadium of Light have been at a trickle for years but how they flowed at the Summer Rumble. Unbeaten light-heavyweight prospect Lawrence Osueke spearheaded the day of Geordie triumph at the annual outdoor spectacular at Sunderland AFC’s HQ.
Osueke oozed class when completing eight rounds for the first time with a shut-out 80-72 against game Cambridge fighter Gianni Antoh, referee Ron Kearney in charge.
Middlesbrough’s Simon Vallily, was due to go eight against Dorian Darch. Things were just starting to hot up when the Welshman was stopped at 2-10 of round two with a cut eye, giving victory to the ex-Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who is now campaigning at heavyweight. Mr Kearney refereed.
Co Durham’s Darren Surtees brought the curtain down on the Phil Jeffries/ Steve Wraith promotion with an exciting six-round success over hard-as-nails Mexican Arturo Lopez, Kenny Pringle scoring it 60-54.
The rest of the event were four-rounders and dominated by Tyneside boxers, with Joe Laws and Terence Wilkinson recording their sixth straight wins, both 40-36.
Crowd favourite Laws overcame a messy start to beat Hull’s Zygimantas Butkevicius(Pringle) while Wilkinson outclassed Derbyshire’s Lee Connelly (Kearney).
Glenn McCrory-trained Anth Ornsby dug in superbly to see off Driffield’s Danny Littlein a belter, 39-37, while the excellent Alex Farrell enjoyed a dominant debut againstArvydas Trizno from Lithuania 39-36 (both Pringle).
Jeff Nesham also won well on his professional bow, the Gateshead southpaw outpointing Bradford’s Jake Pollard 40-37 (Kearney).
Hetton’s Adam Gair was pushed all the way at cruiserweight by Dmitrij Kalinovskij, the Lithuanian edged out 39-38.
Teesside was represented on Wearside with Redcar’s Tom Hill shutting out late sub Qasim Hussain, from Sheffield, 40-36 from Mr Pringle, while Mr Kearney recorded the same tally for Middlesbrough giant Michael Webster against Lithuanian, Remigijus Ziausys.
The Verdict A week after a troubled three-bout show at Dunston, North East boxing’s reputation was restored with an entertaining 11-fight show.
FULL RESULTS
Lawrence Osueke (179lbs), 9-0 (1), w pts 8 Gianni Antoh (179lbs), 1-7; Simon Vallily (221lbs), 15-2-1 (6), w rsf 2 Dorian Darch (241lbs), 12-10-1 (1); Darren Surtees (143 1/2lbs), 12-0 (8), w pts 6 Arturo Lopez (136 1/2lbs), 5-12-3; Jeff Nesham (124 3/4lbs), 1-0, w pts 4 Jake Pollard (126 1/4lbs), 0-9; Alex Farrell (154 1/2lbs), 1-0, w pts 4Arvydas Trizno (156lbs), 27-88-3 (7); Tom Hill (155lbs), 7-0 (2), w pts 4 Qasim Hussain(150lbs), 4-90-2; Joe Laws (157lbs), 6-0 (3), w pts 4 Zygimantas Butkevicius (157lbs), 2-24; Anth Ornsby (153lbs), 2-0, w pts 4 Danny Little (155lbs), 8-60-2 (1); Terence Wilkinson (139 3/4lbs), 6-0, w pts 4 Lee Connelly (137 3/4lbs), 7-47-4; Adam Gair(202 1/2lbs), 2-0, w pts 4 Dmitrij Kalinovskij (199 1/2lbs), 13-56-4 (5); Michael Webster (199lbs), 2-0, w pts 4 Remigijus Ziausys (191 3/4lbs), 20-105-5 (10).
