Midlands threesome Lee Glover, Barrington Brown and Troy James all failed in their bids to win the title of featherweight Prizefighter champion in London last night [October 29].Both Glover, Tipton, and Brown, Nottingham, fell at the first quarter-final hurdle - with Coventry's James losing out in the semi on the Sky Sports-televised eight-man competition at York Hall, Bethnal Green.
First out of the hat, drew by former world 9st bosses Colin McMillan [WBO] and Barry McGuigan [WBA], was unbeaten Glover, who got the fighter most were looking to avoid until the final [or completely, if he'd been eliminated by someone else] - eventual winner and Spencer Fearon-handled Mongolian warrior Choi Tsveenpurev.
The final two balls to be drawn were Brown and ex-McGuigan-managed 'Terrifying' Troy [pictured above in their give-and-take fight], who'd face each other in a intriguing-looking East vs West Midlands nine-minute derby.
But Errol Johnson-trained Glover, unblemished in six entering [two quickly] and the current International Masters champion, was first up and brutally swatted aside by world-ranked Choi. The now-Capital-based former WBU boss cleverly sensed the right over the top would do the damage and sent the Black Countryman hurtling to the canvas with 45 seconds left of the opener.
Lee [9st 1 1/2lbs], only 24 and with plenty of time on his side to come again, boxed well in between being rattled with the rights and hitting the floor, landing his well-schooled jab with a degree of ease. But a dangerously low left and inexperience at this level meant his destiny was already mapped out.
And so it proved when, early in the second stanza, the self-styled 'Tipton Slasher' was lifted off his feet by his powerfully-built 40-year-old opponent and dropped again. He got up, walked to his corner and signaled [with a sly shake of his glove] that he was through. The referee, Victor Loughlin, completed the count after 62 seconds of the set three-rounder.
The all-Midlands quarter-final between Tony Harris-trained Barrington 'Killah' Brown [9st 1 1/2lbs] and well-built Troy James looked good from the outset. On his day, tall, lean, big-hitting Brown can give any man a decent run for his money and was back at the weight that saw him obliterate touted former amateur star Lloyd Otte in 2006 [at this venue].
But after stiffening the legs of James, who entered with a 9-0-1 (3) paid tab, in the opening minute with an overhand right and whipping left and right uppercuts, 29-year-old Radford-based Barrington was muscled onto the back foot and, at the end of the three-rounder, out of the competition. Troy's body shots saw Brown's output drop and though he landed a corking uppercut at the death in the final session, it was too late.
Though the decision was unanimous for the Coventry feather [9st 1 1/4lbs], two of the three judges marked it 29-28 [like myself], presumably giving the Nottingham puncher, now with five wins [two stoppages] and three draws in 14, the opening three minutes, with the third tallying a 30-28 score that probably meant he gave the first round a draw.
But there would be no luck for James in the semi, neatly out-boxed by Manchester's silky Rhys Roberts. Troy had a better final three minutes but, like Brown in their match, left himself too much to do. Two gave the Midlander the third [29-28] and one gave him a share of the third [30-28] but Roberts advanced by unanimous decision and went on to lose to Choi in the final.
Image courtesy of Gavin Burrows.
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