SOUTHAMPTON’S Joe Pigford stopped Nicaraguan Miguel Aguilar at 2-40 of the second of a scheduled eight-threes when headlining a Bendall’s Boxing Promotion card at the city’s Central Hall.
Pigford was clever and dangerous throughout the first round, hurting the import to the head and body, and employed slashing hooks from both sides. He set up rib attacks by distracting Miguel with fast and straight shots upstairs and then, when Aguilar tried to tuck up downstairs, switched to uppercuts and opened the visitor up.
The end came when a left hook punctuated a three-punch combination and floored Aguilar. He bravely rose but third man Mark Bates had seen enough.
In a mooted six-threes, also officiated by Bates, another Southampton fighter Jack Hillier impressed in stopping County Durham’s Lee Stevens at 1-12 of the second. Hillier was lightening fast and hurt Lee with repeated left hooks and straight rights in the first. He then continued to pressurise and break Stevens down in the following round and, when he connected with a hard left hook to the body, Lee wilted on the ropes and the affair was waved off.
In the first of two four-three shut-outs refereed by Ian John Lewis, Bournemouth’s Lee Cutler overcame Bow’s Rod Douglas Jnr in a hard-fought contest. Cutler manipulated the range well, delivered an excellent punch output, and forced Rod to display a lot of grit to see out several rocky patches.
Then Chris Sanigar-handled Basingstoke prospect Bryce Goodridge took every session against Bristol-based Lewis Van Poetsch. In this one, Goodridge used his significant height advantage and impressive lateral movement to take away Van Poetsch’s scoring options. He skilfully found a way to hit the seasoned journeyman with hooks around his tight defence and ran out a worthy winner.
Finally, in the show opener Poland’s Jarek Prusak slipped to a four-threes defeat as he was bested by Derbyshire hardman Kent Kauppinen, losing a 39-37 decision on referee Bates’ card. Prusak punched neither often nor hard enough to assert his authority and Kent was able to control the action.
The Verdict Pigford and Hillier are both skilled, dangerous and continue to show progression.
