EZRA Taylor won a deserved yet always difficult decision over Troy Jones in a gruelling light-heavyweight affair. The pair perfectly whipped up an atmosphere in the Nottingham Arena ahead of Anthony Cacace’s headliner with Leigh Wood.
In this battle of undefeated fighters, Taylor picked up the facile WBA Continental ‘Gold’ title for a rankings boost in his fledgling career. He’ll fancy a crack at British 175-pound champion Lewis Edmondson next.
Judge John Latham’s 97-94 total reflected what went down in the ring. Luigi Boscarelli’s 99-91 and Mikael Hook’s ridiculous 100-90 were wide of the mark. That said, Taylor’s talent and accuracy made all the difference. Jones’ heart and courage cannot be underestimated in making this a scrap.
The story of the fight was Taylor’s quality straight shots, landing hard and clean on rock hard Jones who sucked it all up and kept pushing the pace.
Taylor’s straight left jab found an early home on Jones’ face as the Birmingham boxer got the hands high, waiting to see what the fight favourite had to offer.
Referee Bob Williams had a word in the second as Jones threw a hook and grabbed straight after. Working Taylor’s corner, former heavyweight contender Malik Scott had to keep his man focused after a few choice words between the fighters at the end of the second round.
Jones had landed one or two after the bell, and he followed that up in the third round with some legal work behind the jab. Jones, 26, looked physically strong on the inside, too. Taylor was better at range.
Jones suffered a bloody nose in the fourth as he continued to smother and maul while Taylor edged forward. Mr Williams warned Jones for holding in the same session. Taylor found the left hook in the fifth as Jones continued pecking away to the body.
There was no doubting Jones’ effort, but he found himself worked over a bit in the sixth as Bob Williams dished out another warning. Jones was walking a fine line of firing out aggression within the rules.
Jones’ face was covered in blood, but his body shots were landing thick and fast at the close of the seventh as trainer Lee Beard let rip with an expletive-laden rant. Taylor’s left hook was always there for him as Jones tried desperately to soak up the weaponry.
Jones had done a great job of dragging Taylor into a rough scrap, negating the Nottingham man’s classier output. Taylor improved his slate to 12-0 (8 KOs) while Jones took no disgrace in suffering his first loss, falling to 12-1 (6 KOs).
