SEAN MCCOMB was forced to dive deep into his tool kit, climbing off the canvas in the opening round before claiming a convincing points victory over Ben Crocker.
The pair squared off at the Park Community Arena, Sheffield, earlier this evening, with Crocker, 14-1-1 (2 KOs), entering their super-lightweight contest as the IBF European champion.
But it was McComb, 20-2 (5 KOs), who ultimately came away with the belt which, despite being an otherwise meaningless trinket, should nonetheless see him earn a world ranking at 140lbs.
For the most part, it was a relatively uneventful night’s work for the Belfast man, yet an early scare certainly inspired an even more defensively polished effort than usual.
As it happened, McComb came in reaching with a long backhand, only for Crocker to take a quick step to the side and respond with a crunching left hook, flooring the pre-fight favourite in the opening round.
Scrambling back to his feet, McComb then began to shake his head, as if to say that it was little more than a flash knockdown, before making it back to his stool with minimal difficulty.
‘The Public Nuisance’ then put his crafty style into motion in the following six minutes, while Crocker occasionally came back with several more of his promising left hooks.
Once again, a closely-contested fourth round saw neither fighter establish their authority, though the added aggression of Crocker might have been enough to pinch a 10-9 verdict.
By the fifth frame, though, it was McComb who seemed to be controlling the range while, at the same time, targeting the body of his opponent with a looping left hand.
The 33-year-old then got clipped with an eye-catching right hand in the sixth round, yet the lack of activity from Crocker otherwise allowed him to dictate proceedings with his southpaw jab.
If only for a greater degree of urgency, the Welshman may have had a stronger claim to be ahead on the judges’ scorecards in the later rounds, but instead it was McComb who continued to poke and prod at long range.
The last two rounds then saw pockets of success from Crocker, but with all of those moments being few and far between, the three ringside judges ultimately scored the bout 96-93 in favour of his opponent.
