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By: Ste Rowen
Rocky Fielding got back to winning ways at Liverpool’s Olympia Arena with a 2nd round victory over Abdallah Paziwapazi that’ll add to the KO reel of 2019 and one he hopes will bump him back into the fringe contender status at super-middleweight he held just less than a year ago.
Abdallah, 26-6-1 (23KOs) came out swinging from the first bell as he looked to shock the home-town favourite. Rocky, the much taller man, attempted to slow his opponent down with his lengthy jabs but the Tanzanian’s pace keeping the early momentum with him.
Fielding was fighting for the first time since his early TKO loss to Canelo back in December and it seemed the inactivity was playing a big part in the first few rounds in Liverpool tonight. But with 60 seconds left of the 2nd, Fielding landed a heavy 1-2 that offset the Tanzanian and forced him onto the backfoot, and then Rocky really laid it on thick to setup the finisher. With his back to the ropes, Rocky landed four unanswered hooks and dropped Paziwapazi to the canvas.
He attempted to rise, but the referee waved it off before he could properly steady himself. So the Liverpudlian, now 28-2 (16KOs) sealed a comprehensive return to winning ways and then spoke ringside immediately,
<em>‘‘As a kid I looked at the Olympia and said, ‘Oh it’d be great to
fight here.’
I’ve been in camp waiting for that big shot. I said after the Canelo fight I just wanted that break with the kids…I was looking to get back in. The buzz of the gym, this is what I want.
It felt fine in there, he’s a bit swingy cos he’s got a bit of power in him…We’ve been working on those shots. Hopefully I can get out in December and get back in the mix.’’</em>
Former lightweight world champion, Terry ‘Turbo’ Flanagan scored whitewash win over Honduran, Jeyro Duran. The Mancunian outclassed his foe from the first bell to the last, but still sounded a little disappointed post-fight.
<em>‘‘The last few rounds he tried to tie me up and I fell into his
trap, but it was still an easy fight. I was always in control.’’</em>
Jayro may have a famous surname but the Honduran headed into tonight on a two-fight loss streak and was forced into a passive start by an aggressive Flanagan. ‘Turbo’ was intent on throwing combination punches and clearly wasn’t settled with just trying to land single shots. The relentless attack continued into the 3rd but Duran, 14-6 (13KOs) was hanging in without making a dent in Flanagan’s dominance.
Terry, who was two fights removed from his decision loss to former WBA Super-lightweight champion, Regis Prograis, ended the fight in much the same way he started it, and despite not getting the stoppage, eight rounds in the bank of constant pressure won’t do the Mancunian much harm as he heads into 2020 hoping for a big fight at 135lbs. The final scorecard was 80-71, meaning he improved to 36-2 (14KOs).
Martin Murray scored a shut-out points victory over eight rounds, against Bosnian, Sladan Janjanin and promised big things to come for 2020.
Murray had clearly planned to target the body from the outset, landing swift left hooks to Janjanin’s torso and keeping him on the backfoot. Within the first minute of the 2nd round, the away fighter was already struggling with Martin’s constant body attack, even at certain times looking over to the ref helplessly protesting for a low blow.
The Bosnian, 27-4 (21KOs) continued in his retreat as the fight progressed into round six and former middleweight contender, Murray with his hands low was mixing up his shots, even risking taking a few hits to land more. Before tonight, Sladan’s four defeats have all came via stoppage, ranging from super-welter to super-middleweight, so despite the constant pressure and domination Martin will be disappointed that his opponent survived to hear the final bell, but survive was the key word and Murray took a comprehensive points victory with the referee scoring the bout 80-72, and, now 39-5-1 (17KOs) he spoke post-fight,
<em>‘‘We knew he couldn’t hurt me…Another easy one for me, I enjoyed
it in there. If I’m honest people like that need to be going but the bigger the
fight, the better I am.
I believe I’ve just been made mandatory for the European at middleweight and I’ve just been offered a big fight in America, so that could happen next year…I’ve forgotten his name but he’s a big, big puncher.’’</em>
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