Gavin survives Woodhouse scare but questions raised

Sometimes, not only in boxing but in other sports where a brace of people are in involved, a sheer bloody-minded refusal to let a more talented man win can shockingly upset the odds.

But when the will vs skill fight between sharp-boxing 2007 World Amateur champion Frankie Gavin and ex-Birmingham City footballer Curtis Woodhouse was announced i was one of the first to write off Curtis' chances - feeling that if he'd made it to the fourth or fifth, and that was being generous, then he would have overachieved.

Yet, on a good-looking Frank Warren show at Liverpool's Echo Arena last night (July 16), willing Woodhouse took the touted Birmingham boxer to a 12-round split decision that had opinion divided. While Dave Parris had the underdog a one-point 115-114 victor that proved popular to the Liverpudlian crowd, both Terry O'Connor (117-112) and Phil Edwards (116-113) favoured the now-11-fight (eight quick wins) undefeated portsider.

And Woodhouse, older by six years at 31 and now 15-3 (10), even managed to show a smooth  southpaw who'd been boxing since he was 11 how to use a jab in the opening four rounds. Gavin, who had a reputation for being impossible to hit in the vest, was slow to start but began to find his timing and rhythm as the rounds progressed.

His feet began to move well, slipping the hard-looking punches from the self-styled 'Driffield Destroyer', and a series of fast-handed combinations stung his man as the bout advanced to the latter stages. But the Dave Coldwell-managed scrapper sent the gum-shield of a boxer he'd engaged in a year-long slanging match flying in the tenth and an unlikely win seemed a distinct reality.

Now sliced open on the bridge of his nose, the Anthony Farnell-trained stylist (making the first defence of this WBO Intercontinental welterweight strap) dusted himself down, opened a cut underneath the Yorkshireman's left eye, and rattled in twos and threes as the 36 minutes drew to a close. Despite the heated pre-fight rivalry that bubbled over at the weigh-in on Friday afternoon, the pair braced embraced a the final bell and Curtis accepted the decision with good grace. 

He can be rightly proud of his effort.

Former world featherweight monarch Barry McGuigan was, however, critical of Frankie's showing, highlighting the fact that the Brummie is not putting the hard work in when it comes to making weight and that he should, if he wants to reach the kind of level he aspires to, have blown away a man who'd never engaged in unpaid combat. But that's taking away the performance Woodhouse put in.

If you're reading, Curtis, let me be the first acknowledge i need to eat a sizeable slice of humble pie.