Maughan battles through cut to win Hardy battle

Terry Maughan must have thought he was going to be in for an easy night when he decked Andy Hardy less than than 30 seconds into his six-rounder in Nottingham last night.

But Hardy clambered to his feet, bravely fought back for the remainder of the bout and went down 58-56 [scored on the outside by John Keane for trialist referee Gareth Morris] after a crowd-pleasing 12-minute all-Nottingham affair that got my vote for fight of the night on the Carl Greaves-promoted bill.

Mr Keane's scoreline was, for what it's worth, a tad too close for me and i had the Sneinton-based light-middleweight a far more commanding 59-55 victor [giving his opponent the third and a share of a back-and-forth fifth].

But Scott Calow-handled Hardy [11st 4 1/2lbs] - a game, hard trier from Newstead - made Irish-rooted Terry work every minute for his win, aggressively throwing himself into a toe-to-toe war that saw both absorb plenty of punishment.

Although with no amateur background and only five unlicenced boxing bouts [all wins] to his name before he turned professional in October 2009, Tony Harris-trained, Jimmy Gill-managed Maughan surprisingly out-boxed a 26-year-old [now winless in five] who had over 60 unpaid contests.

And it looked as though Andy would suffer the first inside-the-distance defeat of his eight-month paid career when a counter right sent him tumbling early in the opening stanza. More off-balance than overly hurt, in truth, he was up quickly but was rattled again moments later when a right-handed body-head combination crashed home.

Maughan boxed neatly in the second but a stray elbow mid-way through the third left the former Richie Woodhall-coached scrapper sliced on the right eyebrow, surviving an inspection from the ringside doctor. Jimmy Gill worked magic to stem the flow of blood between rounds and both traded furiously during the fourth and fifth, with vociferously-supported Terry nailing oncoming Hardy with more well-timed rights.

Once again, the better, crisper and cleaner shots came from Maughan in the last but Hardy, biting down on his gumshield and windmilling with both silver-gloved fists, never stopped trying and optimistically offered his hand to Mr Morris at the final bell, only to be left disappointed for the fifth time this year.

But despite the win, the victor wasn't completely satisfied with his performance. "I started to neglect my jab after a while and just got involved in a bit of a war with him," admitted the ambitious former three-time British kickboxing champion [11st 2 1/4lbs], who registered his sixth professional win in eight and fourth on the spin.

"If i'd continued to have boxed off my jab, picking the right shot after stopping him in his tracks with a solid lead, then i could have made life a lot simpler and won with a bit more ease. But it's a learning curve.

"But i loved being involved in a hard fight like that and i can't wait to get back in there and go at it again," he continued. "I've got big ambitions and i'm aiming for a title, whatever belt that's being offered to me, next year."