Peter Vaughan can be happy with registering a victory that didn't result in a post-fight shiner.
The battling Banbury light-middleweight had his first fight under Birmingham fight figure Jon Pegg, on a Dave Coldwell-promoted bill at the Second City's New Bingley Hall last night, and plowed forward constantly to secure a 39-37 nod from Terry O'Connor [scoring on the outside for trialist referee Gareth Morris].
But his opponent, Trowbridge teenager Dan Blackwell, deserves tremendous credit for soaking-up a ferocious body assault and lashing back when under pressure on the ropes.
Fair-skinned and carrot-topped, the self-styled 'Banbury Bull' [one of the most apt monikers in boxing] brought a coach-load of noisy ginger-wigged supporters with him from the town on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border and has a Ricky Hatton [albeit at a lower level] air about him.
Vaughan [11st 5 1/2lbs] ended the nine-fight unbeaten runs of Phill Fury, brother of Tyson, and Wayne Goddard [in Prizefighter] last year and attacks the ribs with the same vigour as the former two-weight world champion from Manchester - and Blackwell's reddened torso attested to that as early as the opening 90 seconds.
Always on the front foot and looking to work, Jim Evans-managed Peter ate plenty of leather throughout the all-action four but whipped-in a steady stream of hooks to head and body to leave the 19-year-old brother of English middleweight boss Nick [11st 6 3/4lbs] marked-up and swollen-faced at the final bell.
Pegg revealed afterwards that his 26-year-old charge, now 5-1-1 (1) and who'd been working on head movement in the lead-up to his, was delighted about finishing a contest without a developing black eye. Remarkably, that was the first time it'd happened in his two-year journey as a professional fighter.
And the well-respected trainer, manager, matchmaker and former pro can be pleased with the work of another one of his fighters, right-leading switch-hitter Craig Cunningham [11st 5 3/4lbs], who i like the look of.
Matched against Scunthorpe's solid and willing Steve Spence [11st 4 1/2lbs] - who entered the four-rounder on the back of a six-round draw in Sheffield six days previously - the punch-picking Brummie middleweight romped home a clear 40-36 winner for Terry O'Connor [scoring on the outside for Mr Morris].
Though i had the Carl Greaves-handled 25-year-old earning a share of the second three minutes, loose-limbed Cunningham controlled the action with an assortment of rights and lefts and used his feet well to nimbly avoid replies. Spence banged his gloves together in defiance on several occasions but was nailed as he marched in and finished with a mouse under his left eye.
Northfield's Cunningham, 24, is now 2-0; Spence 2-17-4 (1),
Another southpaw out of the Midland Boxing Academy, welterweight Calum Cooper [10st 10 3/4lbs], extended his blemish-free start as a paid fighter to three by pounding out a shut-out four-threes decision over Worcestershire's former Midlands Area champion Billy Smith [10st 11 1/4lbs].
Sharp-boxing Cooper, 23, formulated a pattern in the opening round and used it effectively for the remainder of the contest: doubling the lead and spearing through a left backhand. 125-fight iron man Billy, as ever, hit back when under too much pressure but was outworked and finished red-faced as his Longbridge-based opponent's left breached his defence on more than one occasion.
Mr O'Connor scored on the outside for Gareth Morris.
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