Paul D
11-06-2006, 05:13 PM
MORE than 400 fight fans were locked out of a heaving Wythenshawe Forum on Friday night.
They missed David Price hand out a
boxing lesson to local favourite Tyson Fury.
The Scouse super-heavyweight had been called out by an over-enthusiastic Fury in a niggling build-up to
the North West Counties Final.
Price did his talking in the ring, displaying more craft, more experience and more intelligence as he punched his way
to a 22-8 verdict.
Fury may well come again in the future, but as the road to the 2008 Olympics begins, the Scouser is the undoubted number one
super-heavyweight in the country.
His success was the high-point of another demolition job by the West Lancs division against their Manchester
counterparts.
With two fighters receiving byes - heavyweight Anthony Bellew and Ellesmere Port light-fly Paul Butler - Merseyside sent 11 fighters
through to the national quarter-finals later this month.
Reigning national champ Paul Edwards, however, made it by the skin of his teeth.
The
Salisbury flyweight found himself five points down going into the last round against former victim Justin Wilkinson of Fox ABC.
In a dramatic climax
Edwards dug deep to turn the contest on its head and edge home by a single point.
"It was a bit close for comfort," admitted Salisbury coach Alan
Lynch, "but he got going in the end and he’ll be all the better for the bout."
The Mersey fighters sustained their only defeat of the night at
bantamweight, Northside’s highly regarded Calum D’eath outpointing Croxteth’s John Donnelly 26-11.
But there was never any danger of an upset at
featherweight, where another Melbourne hero, Rotunda’s Stephen Smith, totally outclassed Brian Cunliffe of Sharples Police Club.
Smith almost secured
a rare shut-out, as his superior skills were too much for Cunliffe in a mesmerising 25-3 display.
The Price-Fury contest was staged as the
centre-piece of the evening’s show, before Thomas Stalker of St Aloysius was another convincing victor, overcoming Arrows ABC’s Jonathan Kays
13-6.
Stalker’s clubmate, Nathan Brough, faced African Commonwealth Games competitor N Giyuni and took a little time to shake off early season
rustiness.
But when he did he was clearly the better technician and edged a tight contest 10-8.
Rotunda’s Joey Selkirk showed no mercy to young
Northside pretender Carl Kirkham and triumphed 13-5, Vauxhall’s Michael Phillips was an even more convincing victor over Collyhurst’s Kevin Connolly, 17-7 in
a scrappy bout, while Joe Ainscough eased his way into this year’s championships with a 23-14 defeat of Manx Club’s Christian Borucki.
In the new
cruiserweight division, Kirkby’s John Ward produced the only stoppage success of the night - and took less than a round to do so.
He dismantled Barrow
ABC’s Gary Whitehouse to score a first round TKO.
The national quarter-finals will take place at the Liverpool Olympia on Wednesday, November 15
(12-6pm), with the semi-finals the following evening at the same venue.
Ringside tickets, priced £15 are available on 0151-233-6349, with outer ring
tickets costing £10.
THE Dockers Club stages five semi-finals and five finals of the junior Golden Belt Championships tomorrow night. Boxing starts at
7.30pm and spectators can pay on the door.
They missed David Price hand out a
boxing lesson to local favourite Tyson Fury.
The Scouse super-heavyweight had been called out by an over-enthusiastic Fury in a niggling build-up to
the North West Counties Final.
Price did his talking in the ring, displaying more craft, more experience and more intelligence as he punched his way
to a 22-8 verdict.
Fury may well come again in the future, but as the road to the 2008 Olympics begins, the Scouser is the undoubted number one
super-heavyweight in the country.
His success was the high-point of another demolition job by the West Lancs division against their Manchester
counterparts.
With two fighters receiving byes - heavyweight Anthony Bellew and Ellesmere Port light-fly Paul Butler - Merseyside sent 11 fighters
through to the national quarter-finals later this month.
Reigning national champ Paul Edwards, however, made it by the skin of his teeth.
The
Salisbury flyweight found himself five points down going into the last round against former victim Justin Wilkinson of Fox ABC.
In a dramatic climax
Edwards dug deep to turn the contest on its head and edge home by a single point.
"It was a bit close for comfort," admitted Salisbury coach Alan
Lynch, "but he got going in the end and he’ll be all the better for the bout."
The Mersey fighters sustained their only defeat of the night at
bantamweight, Northside’s highly regarded Calum D’eath outpointing Croxteth’s John Donnelly 26-11.
But there was never any danger of an upset at
featherweight, where another Melbourne hero, Rotunda’s Stephen Smith, totally outclassed Brian Cunliffe of Sharples Police Club.
Smith almost secured
a rare shut-out, as his superior skills were too much for Cunliffe in a mesmerising 25-3 display.
The Price-Fury contest was staged as the
centre-piece of the evening’s show, before Thomas Stalker of St Aloysius was another convincing victor, overcoming Arrows ABC’s Jonathan Kays
13-6.
Stalker’s clubmate, Nathan Brough, faced African Commonwealth Games competitor N Giyuni and took a little time to shake off early season
rustiness.
But when he did he was clearly the better technician and edged a tight contest 10-8.
Rotunda’s Joey Selkirk showed no mercy to young
Northside pretender Carl Kirkham and triumphed 13-5, Vauxhall’s Michael Phillips was an even more convincing victor over Collyhurst’s Kevin Connolly, 17-7 in
a scrappy bout, while Joe Ainscough eased his way into this year’s championships with a 23-14 defeat of Manx Club’s Christian Borucki.
In the new
cruiserweight division, Kirkby’s John Ward produced the only stoppage success of the night - and took less than a round to do so.
He dismantled Barrow
ABC’s Gary Whitehouse to score a first round TKO.
The national quarter-finals will take place at the Liverpool Olympia on Wednesday, November 15
(12-6pm), with the semi-finals the following evening at the same venue.
Ringside tickets, priced £15 are available on 0151-233-6349, with outer ring
tickets costing £10.
THE Dockers Club stages five semi-finals and five finals of the junior Golden Belt Championships tomorrow night. Boxing starts at
7.30pm and spectators can pay on the door.