London’s Ahmet Patterson produced a career best performance as he systematically broke down and stopped Waltham Abbey’s Phil Gill in six one sided rounds to win the vacate Southern Area Welterweight title at the Camden Centre in Kings Cross on Friday night (July 5th).
The slick Patterson, 25, who trains out of the Peacock Gym in East London, has fond memories of the venue, having previously won the British Masters title against Dale Miles just last month, and he looked a class above Gill throughout as he added the Southern Area title, vacated by Bradley Skeete last week, to his growing collection.
After two rounds which saw more wrestling than crowds at a WWE event would care for, Patterson started to cement his dominance in the third. Always on the front foot, ‘Pattycake’ Patterson caught Gill with a superb lead left hook late in round which seemed to trouble the once beaten Gill.
While referee Richard Williams was certainly earning his money separating the two up close, in truth Gill, who only had three week’s notice for the fight, rarely got going, with Patterson using his defensively savvy shoulder roll to negate most of the Gill’s attacks in the fourth. A right hand caught Gill rarely coming forward which stunned the Mickey Helliet managed fighter, who was then bundled to the floor with the referee calling no knockdown. Rising to his feet, Patterson again landed a flurry of left hooks before sinking in two solid right hooks to the body. With Gill backed up to the ropes, Patterson unleashed a flurry at the end of the round which had Richard Williams on the verge of stoppage the action before the bell intervened.
Supporting swelling under his right eye, Gill rose tentatively at the start of the fifth and had his knees buckled late in the round following a sickening left hook to the head followed by a pinpoint left to the body, yet the tough Essex native somehow remaining on his feet. By the sixth, many around me were calling for the action to be stopped as ‘Punch Picker Patterson’ continued to dominate with the left hook.
Mercy was finally given to Gill by his corner before the start of the seventh, a stoppage which, in truth, could have come a shade earlier. Gill drops to 14-2-2, while the impressive Patterson improves his unbeaten record to 10-0 (3 early). Gill could perhaps drop down in weight, while Patterson will now surely target the likes of Skeete and Ronnie Hefron. Mickey Helliet promoted.
Top of the undercard saw popular South Londoner Johnny Garton go eight rounds for the first time as he outpointed Latvia’s Ivan Godor in a Welterweight contest. Garton, now 9-0, looked to impose he dominance early in the fight against his smaller foe as he dug to the body well in the opener, while a straight right hand caught the Eastern European import’s attention in the second.
With Dean Powell barking instructions in the Garton corner, the unbeaten ‘Pexican’ upped the work rate in the middle rounds, throwing in hooks up close and working the right uppercut. But Garton has a tendency to be lazy with the jab on occasion which allowed Godor easy access to the inside at times, particularly in the last as the two traded leather in the centre of the ring. Garton, who is still improving, is perhaps not the puncher his thick frame suggests, but he has enough spite to get an opponent’s attention. He ran out an 80-72 points winner.
The card also saw the return to action of the likeable Irishmen Dean Byrne who was in action for the first time in seven months. Byrne, who was desperately unlucky to only come away with a draw against Kell Brook victim Carson Jones in December last year, started his bout with Danny Little, unbeaten in his previous two fights, in impressive fashion, stunning ‘Lethal’ Little with a solid left hook, the first meaningful punch of the Welterweight contest.
Byrne was working the overhand right at will, and mixed it up more in the third as a left hook crashed off Little’s jaw, sending the unbeaten man to the floor. Rising from the count early, Byrne jumped on Little, targeting the body while sending in yet more right hands to the head.
But the dogged Little survived the onslaught and fought his way back into the entertaining contest in rounds four and five, despite losing both stanzas as Byrne looked to coast. Both came out landing solid blows in the sixth and final round, but it was Byrne who landed the meatier shots, with a left hook to the body again sapping the energy from Little. Byrne was awarded the decision 60-54.
In a battle of the unbeatens, Brighton’s Light Middleweight Lloyd Ellett handed Liverpool’s Sean Lewis his first loss over six rounds. ‘Lightening’ Lloyd started the quicker of the two, firing in fast flurries in the opener. Ellett, standing at 5ft 10”, dwarfed his smaller opponent yet rarely used his impressive height and reach advantage, favouring to crotch over before mixing it up on the inside.
An accidental clash of heads caused a cut on the scalp of Lewis early in the third which seemed to spur the Merseysider on in the fourth. But Ellett was now making Lewis miss with relative ease. A 1-2 followed by a left hook caught Lewis flush in the fifth, before right hands in the last seemed to hurt Lewis. Ellett ran out a 59-55 points winner.
Confusion rang out around ringside regarding the length of a Light Middleweight contest between Warren Fenn and Andrej Cepur. Wrongly announced as a six rounder before the start of the contest, Fenn throw combinations from the outset, but often switched off in periods in the first two rounds. Fenn stepped up the pressure in the third, trapping Cepur on the ropes with a flurry of left and right hooks. In the end, the length of the bout was incidental as Fenn fired in a pinpoint right to the body which sent Cepur down for the count at end of the fourth. Fenn moves to 5-1.
Middleweight southpaw Elliot Matthews was frustrated by the holding tactics of Raimonds Sneidze throughout their six rounder. Cut by a punch over the right eye early in the second, Matthews upped the pace in the third, dropping the Latvian twice, firstly with a right hook and second via the left hand. A straight left hand staggered Sneidze early in the fourth. After repeatedly being warned for holding, Sneidze was deducted points in both the fourth and the sixth as he looked to survive. He did so, but was widely outpointed 60-50 by the impressive Matthews.
33 year old Leon Senior, now 9-1, outworked the game Ergidijus Kakstys over six rounds at Light Heavyweight. Kakstys, not content on tucking up, worked hooks well on the inside against the classier Senior, who targeted the body well in the third. A left hook on the bell seemed to hurt the Lithuanian in the fourth, but Kakstys survived until the end.
Debutants Tony Milch and Light Heavyweight Marley Churcher both got off to winning starts. Milch, clearly nervous, was content to jab with the experience Danny Donchev in a forgetful four rounder, while the fleshy Churcher worked away well on the inside, before dropping Olegs Lopajevs with a left hook to the body, before a barrage of shots forced a stoppage.
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