This was an eagerly anticipated night of boxing from the Manchester Arena, on 18-07-2015, where the stakes were high indeed for local fighters Scott Quigg and Anthony ‘Million Dollar’ Crolla.
The Million Dollar Robbery
Darleys Perez (32-1-1) vs Anthony ‘Million Dollar’ Crolla (29-4-3), WBA world lightweight title
Anthony Crolla is a fighter that seems to grow and improve with each fight. Errors made in one fight are ironed out through hours of work and dedication in the gym ready for the next contest. His early record was nothing special in today’s expectation of perfection. Losses to Al Hamidi, Sykes (Both points) and Matthews (TKO) would be enough to dent some fighter’s confidence. But not Crolla.
Following a draw in a rematch with Matthews in 2013 Crolla has put together a strong run of performances. I was ringside in Bolton to witness his hard fought MD victory over former world champion Gavin Rees. Crolla retired the tough Stephen Foster in 6 and in what was a fight of the year contender stopped the excellent John Murray in 10.
Crolla was held to a technical draw by Gamaliel Diaz in September (Stopped after three due to cut on Diaz) and a ‘keep-busy’ points victory over Gyorgy Mizsei Jr in late 2014.
This run was enough to earn Crolla a shot at a world title, against the WBA champion, Richar Abril.
Attack setback
During the build up to the Abril fight Crolla heard a disturbance at his neighbour’s house. He investigated and confronted two burglars, resulting in him being struck by a lump of concrete by the cowards, breaking Crolla’s ankle and fracturing his skull.
Not only was his world title shot off, not only was his boxing career in jeopardy, his life was in danger.
Fighting Spirit
Crolla showed immense determination in the months that followed the attack and as soon as his bones had healed was straight back in the gym, beating the expectations of medical professionals.
There was to be no backwards step for Crolla, with Matchroom and Eddie Hearn getting him an immediate shot at the WBA crown, this time against the Columbian Darleys Perez.
Fight
A strong crowd came out in force to support their local hero. After a spirit rousing and patriotic rendition of ‘God save the Queen’ by the home crowd the Columbian anthem was drowned out by chants of ‘Million Dollar Crolla’, an electric atmosphere.
The first round was fairly tentative, but I think Perez did enough to win it. He looked that bit sharper, with his jab working well.
Round two started like the first but Crolla landed a powerful right hook late on, putting Perez in serious trouble.
Perez appeared to recover well moving into the third and fourth with accurate work, just beating Crolla to the jab.
From the fifth onwards Crolla really stepped up his game. His jab was sharp, setting Perez up for bigger shots. He was outworking Perez, showing superb levels of fitness.
Perez started complaining to the referee at every opportunity and started landing low blows on Crolla. His head started to drop and he started tire.
Crolla continued to improve and Perez eventually had a point deducted for low blows in the eleventh, with a further deduction in the final round.
Crolla had surely done enough to complete the improbable. It wasn’t to be. The scorecards read 114-113 Perez, 116-111 Crolla and 113-113 draw for a split draw decision.
Aftermath
The crowd was in an uproar, it started fairly close and by no means was a one-sided contest but given the 2 point deductions there was no doubt in anyone’s, other than two judges minds that Crolla had claimed the W.
At the final bell Perez looked dejected. He looked like a beaten man. He’d been outworked by the local fighter and apparently through desperation had landed multiple low blows. When the scores were read Perez and his team looked in shock and promptly started to celebrate.
It’s almost as if two of the judges had forgotten about the point deductions, but even then their cards were difficult to quantify.
The night, the fairy-tale for Manchester had been ruined by shocking judging, a blight on the sport.
Crolla, Eddie Hearn and Joe Gallagher all think he did enough.
I sincerely hope that Crolla gets straight back into a world title fight, preferably against Perez once more. He proved that no warm up was required, he proved he was good enough to be a world champion.
Crolla has been through so much, over-coming severe adversity. He’ll once again have to dig deep into those reserves and go again. No one deserves a world title more than Million Dollar.
Scott Quigg (31-0-2) vs Kiko (La Sensacion) Martinez (32-6-0), WBA world Super Bantamweight title Quigg, Quigg Boom
This was billed as a good benchmark fight the Bury native, a straight comparison to Northern Irish rival Carl Frampton.
Many have questioned the quality of Quigg’s opponents in his rise to the world title and have questioned his ability to cope with a big puncher like Martinez.
There was a great deal on the line for Quigg, a poor performance here would set him back considerably and significantly reduce the bargaining powers of his team when negotiations with Frampton reopen (As expected).
Fight
The first round was poor from Quigg. He didn’t seem to get going. Martinez landed some good shots and applied non-stop pressure.
The second was a completely different story. Perhaps Quigg had been deliberate with his actions in the first, tempting Martinez into a false sense of security. Quigg landed a pounding body shot early on, Kiko clearly feeling its effects. Quigg showed a true fighter’s instinct and followed it up with a barrage of blows until the Spaniard went down.
Rising in time the fight continued. Quigg once again showing no mercy swinging with massive left and right hooks until eventually a right found its target smashing Martinez to the canvas. There was no coming back this time and the fight was stopped at 1:04 in the second.
Reaction
Quigg outperformed Frampton. On a night when Frampton was put down twice in the first round in El Paso, struggling to take victory over a poorly ranked contender, Quigg showed the world what he is capable of. The bargaining power surely has shifted in favour of Quigg. Will the fight happen?
Maybe. There are other big names out there for both fighters to target, Rigondeux, Cruz and Donaire are all options but surely at some point this fight has to be made?
British Titles
The two world title fights were supported by two enthralling encounters at the British level.
Tyrone Nurse vs Chris Jenkins, Light-Welterweight
This one went all the way. For me Jenkins started the brighter really piling the pressure on Nurse, marching Nurse down and pushing him against the ropes. Nurse though never really looked in trouble and his blistering speed and sharp head movement made it very difficult for Jenkins to land anything of note.
Jenkins started to tire and Nurse really took control of this one for me. I had it 118-110 to Nurse. Yes Jenkins applied a great deal of pressure, but that counts for nothing if little gets through.
The judges had it 117-112 to Nurse and 114-114, 115-115 for a majority draw. Speaking to others at ringside some had it for Jenkins and therefore was clearly a fight to split opinion.
A rematch surely is on the cards for both fighters who can both come again.
Sam Eggington vs Glenn Foot, Welterweight
Another good contest.
Foot started well and was in the fight throughout, although I did feel Eggington was starting to take control from round seven setting Foot up well and landing some hurtful blows. The fight was controversially stopped after the eighth due to a cut below Foot’s eye. The injury was deemed to have been caused by a clash of heads and therefore we went to the scorecards, 80-71, 79-72, 80-72 giving the fight by a very wide margin to Eggington.
Twitter has been alive with talk of a fight against Frankie Gavin next for Eggington which will definitely be a step in the right direction.
Best of the rest
Martin Murray made his second fight at super middleweight against the durable southpaw Mirzet Bajrektarevic.
To say that this one was stopped prematurely would be a massive understatement but there was only ever going to be one winner, Murray again looking strong at the new weight.
The choice of opponent, a southpaw, is very interesting and there were rumours at ringside that Murray is in line to face DeGale in the near future.
Certainly one to watch is Jeff Saunders a spiteful punching light welterweight. Having only made his debut in April this year he has quickly racked up 3 first round TKO victories, Istvan Kiss lasting only 15 seconds last night.
Unbeaten prospects Jack Massey, Jono Caroll, Hosea Burton, Marcus Morrison and Charlie Edwards all continued with victory, as did Liam Taylor (11-1-0) coming back from a points defeat to Tyrone Nurse in his last outing.
Conclusion
A great night of big time boxing in Manchester soured by scandalous judging. Crolla can be world champion, he should be world champion.
