Ashley Lane displayed the value of persistence at bantamweight, capping Friday night’s action packed with finishes by overwhelming Chris Bourke to secure a rare stoppage, winning more domestic honours. Willy Hutchinson ended his layoff emphatically while heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma wasted no time after 2020 Olympian Luke McCormack’s long-awaited debut.
And new: Lane’s late-career surge continues
R6, 2:09 — Ashley Lane bt. Chris Bourke via TKO, wins vacant British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles in York Hall headliner
- Calling your shot: “There’s only one person on my mind, that’s Thomas Essomba for the European. I’ll vacant the English, anyone who wants me can fight for that first, maybe they’ll box the winner between me and Essomba afterwards – that’s what makes sense. We both deserve a big payday, let’s have it in the summer,” Lane says in Queensberry interview
- Don’t judge a book by its cover: Cameroon-born Essomba, who won EBU European gold in Italy last May, edged a split decision win over Elie Konki to retain his title last month. Between him and Lane, the pair have lost 18 of their 52 pro fights but refused to let that restrict their ambitions
- History repeating itself? Bourke was a considerable pre-fight favourite and won three on the spin since Marc Leach inflicted his first career defeat in 29-year-old’s first British title fight two years ago this month
YORK HALL, LONDON — THEY say domestic title fights are always appointment viewing and this one was no exception on a welcome night with a 100% finish rate.
Lane lapped up the boos as a bullish away fighter with little to lose against Streatham’s Bourke, who boxed well off the back foot in the opening round but found himself susceptible to being hit clean whenever they were boxing up close in the first stanza. That foreshadowed a furious, dramatic finish five rounds later.
The 14-fight pro clearly had a power advantage and by round’s end, Lane’s face was a cherry red complexion as his corner suddenly had a big job on their hands.
A loud roar erupted at the sound of the bell after an encouraging opening stanza, and it would get better for the 29-year-old as Lane employed urgency behind his combinations, ignoring defensive tendencies by walking forward onto shots and winging wildly in tandem. A high-risk, high-reward strategy as it proved.
Bourke countered him well at mid-range, unfazed by the uptick in speed and instead moving laterally along the ropes to keep Lane working hard to pin him in one spot, two left hands landing flush for the favourite but still Lane charged towards him looking to muddy their exchanges in close quarters.
The success he did have was being cancelled out by Bourke doing the cleaner work and that trend continued as time wore on, a sneaky uppercut landing flush as body punching came too. Lane had more of a say late in the round and early in R4, finishing flurries stronger as the 33-year-old began to grow into the contest.
Head movement! was the cry from Lane’s corner early in the fifth, their charge being tagged too often despite an increase in punch output and by virtue, progress with their war of attrition continuing into the second-half of a busy bout.
Both had dangerous moments to endure, but Lane’s swarming attacks did the most damage. He pressed and after unleashing a hellacious onslaught of punches, got giddy and pushed Bourke to the canvas with the favourite on unsteady legs.
After a brief pause, Lane knew what he needed to do and went to work against a man who still hadn’t recovered enough to defend intelligently or fire back: raining down punches to stop the younger man on his feet with referee Lee Every soon stepping in.
The pro-Bourke atmosphere suddenly went down like a lead balloon as the Northampton man’s team stormed into the ring to celebrate, inadvertently bundling him over to the canvas in the process. All things considered, this was a feelgood story for someone who endured his fair share of difficult moments in a 13-year career.
Having been stopped twice in 19 months by Brad Foster (May 2019) and Qais Ashfaq (Dec. 2020), Flash had repeatedly fallen short at the final hurdle when challenging for domestic honours and now won English, British and Commonwealth bantamweight gold in the space of nine months. The value of persistence speaks for itself.
Itauma eases past Garber inside a round
- Maiden title fight in May? Francis Warren floats idea of teenager boxing for his first professional title on Riyadh bill come May 17, during post-fight interview during TNT broadcast – they have options aplenty to explore
- High praise, but no rush: Itauma’s trainer Alan Smith says he knew upon meeting at age 13, Itauma was the most gifted kid he’s come across and insists while challenges will naturally get tougher, says ‘he’ll be the best heavyweight ever’ if 8-0 pro (6 KOs) keeps progressing at the same pace
- Itauma has been named as the #1 contender for English champion Solomon Dacres’ title. Dacres vs. David Adeleye, originally slated to take place in Birmingham last weekend, could feature on April 20 card instead
A fight day piece ran, detailing how Yorkshireman Dan Garber had rejected this particular fight on six separate occasions before finally agreeing to terms on five days’ notice. I’ve asked Frank Warren repeatedly when they’d announce Itauma’s next opponent and you could see why the promotion had this matchmaking issue.
Garber cut a bemused look in the far corner after referee Mark Bates had waved it off (2:23), perhaps at the wrong moment during a one-sided opening round, but allowing it to continue for much longer would’ve prolonged the beating anyway.
Itauma flicked out a heavy jab, boxed-and-moved intelligently and was predictably dictating the pace against a man double his age as you could sense everyone was bracing themselves for another highlight reel knockout punch to connect clean.
Garber leaned forward during their exchanges with his head exposed, absorbing uppercuts and power punches through a high guard as you could sense the end was nigh, whenever Moses deemed it necessary against another overmatched opponent.
As far as challenges are concerned, he’ll be stepped up in May on the rescheduled Fury-Usyk bill as part of another stacked undercard but it’s important to note this was his first fight scheduled for eight rounds and manager Francis Warren has been insistent on getting him to 16-0 by January 2025 like they previously pledged.
Hutchinson ends layoff with furious intentions
Willy Hutchinson wasted no time scoring a second-round finish against Germany’s Martin Houben, buoyed by an aggressive start against the 30-year-old.
Having landed the most noteworthy shots in a frantic first round, he knocked the visitor down with a left hook, right cross combination.
The referee could’ve easily ended it there and then, but after beating the count, Hutchinson unloaded an eight-punch flurry – one pierced straight through the guard – as it was swiftly waved off, Houben didn’t know where he was.
An emphatic finish after a ten-month absence through injury, it’ll be interesting to see how Queensberry move the 25-year-old next given his growing profile in a 175lb division packed with uncertainty below the very top echelon right now.
During a passionate post-fight interview, he called out a trio of top-ranked domestic names – Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez – the latter two are on the BOXXER platform and it makes no sense from their perspective, though Warren promised he’d get another meaningful step-up when back in the ring once more.
Royston showing new wrinkles as he matures
Royston Barney-Smith improved to 9-0 as a pro, scoring a fourth-round stoppage against 23-fight pro Jose Manuel Perez after displaying patience and poise en route to a finish which seemed inevitable from the first bell.
The 20-year-old super-featherweight whipped power shots at his Costa Rican opponent early in the first, impactful one-two combinations the pick of his punches as the 35-year-old wasn’t firing back nearly enough to keep the youngster away.
Flurries did their job as he pinned Pacman into the corner and threw more, first to the body then a pair of left-hands which visibly hurt the ten-year pro.
It was clear from these sequences he hasn’t fully developed that man strength yet but had more snap in his punches than when making his senior debut two years ago.
Taking his time and flashing more body work, he pressed his foot to the pedal and after connecting on a series of lefts early in the fourth, Perez was sent crashing down to the canvas in a heap and wouldn’t recover before the fight was waved off.
Elsewhere on the card…
The long-awaited professional debut of 2020 Olympian Luke McCormack lasted little over three minutes, as the 28-year-old light-welterweight scored a body shot knockout win over seasoned Nicaraguan journeyman Robin Zamora.
Afterwards, the Sunderland man – who experienced an extensive decade-long amateur career – conceded to Queensberry’s own channels this fight wasn’t the action-packed type he wanted for his debut against someone unwilling to engage.
He didn’t learn much from it either, but he’s likely to be stepped up the levels in a division where there’s plenty of movement domestically.
Speaking of Zamora, he was a former opponent for Maidstone welterweight Sean Noakes at this same venue ten months ago. Sean improved to 7-0 with a third-round TKO win over Marian Wesolowski, showing discipline and slick punch selection as younger brother and rising lightweight Sam was among those watching ringside:
Having begun his pro career looking to box at 140lbs, Sonny Ali has quietly been racking up victories and improved to 8-0 with his maiden knockout coming as he stunned Petar Aleksandrov early in round two – you saw just what it meant to him.
Listed as a welterweight on BoxRec, the 25-year-old has only weighed in under the 147lb limit once in his last four appearances. If he can make it safely, that’s probably a better avenue to pursue long-term than the upcoming sentence.
He acknowledges injuries and inactivity have stifled his development, so it’s unclear how Queensberry will push him – they also promote the Fail brothers (Carl, Ben) and Joshua Frankham at 154lbs – where he’s housed on their own website.
As far as depth in weight divisions are concerned it’ll also be interesting to see where cruiserweight hopeful Iman Zahmatkesh goes next, after a first-round finish on the 29-year-old’s pro debut vs. Pawel Strykowski. His harrowing story isn’t well-known but with continued success in the paid ranks, you can’t help but feel it soon will be.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes procured by me
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