Undercard From Tower Ballroom

The main event on the Warrior Promotions (Jon Pegg) and First Team (PJ Rowson and Errol Johnson)-promoted Sunday afternoon card in the Second City saw undefeated super-middleweight Eddie McIntosh, from nearby Bartley Green, sweep all six rounds against tall, lean Newark southpaw Jamie Norkett.


Popular McIntosh, 26 and who has yet to drop a single round in 34 scheduled sessions, destroyed Lee Nicholson inside two rounds in his first six-threes in April but never really looked as if he would put defensive-minded Norkett, three inches taller, away before the final bell tolled.


Now unbeaten in nine (two quick wins), Richie Woodhall-trained ‘Braveheart’ has been told that a crack at a belt, likely to be the Midland Area 12st strap held by Stourbridge crowdpleaser Sam Horton, is in the offing before the end of the year. There is also an outside chance that the Scottish and Irish-rooted boxer could get a shot at the Celtic title.


Whatever the belt on the line, McIntosh looks ready.


The bull-strong Brummie dominated durable Norkett (12st 3lbs 2oz) throughout with an assortment of accurate and fast-handed blows to both head and body. The Carl Greaves-handled East Midlander, now with three wins in 13, was content to spend 18 minutes on the back foot, never presenting McIntosh (12st 2lb 3oz) with a stationary target for more than a few seconds.


Eddie significantly stepped up the pace in the final six minutes and his hard hooks left the 32-year-old with blood leaking from his nose and hanging on for survival as the entertaining bout reached its conclusion. John Keane officiated.


Another solid prospect from Birmingham, 20-year-old light-middleweight Nasser Al Harbi, extended his unbeaten run to eight (all on points) with a close, hard but deserved four-threes points nod over Cleator Moor’s tall Martyn King (11st 5lbs 5oz), who had Huddersfield trainer Chris Aston in his corner and put in a good showing.


Al Harbi (11st 8lbs) hooked well, pot-shotted as his foe came in but his low hands and casual manner saw him ship plenty of long leads from the 24-year-old Cumbrian, now 2-4. Most of the four-rounder was scrappy and King, though game and willing, went down 40-38 on my scorecard. Mr Chalmers scored 39-38.


Sculpted Black Country light-heavyweight Quinton ‘Brown Bomber’ Hillocks (12st 6lbs 5oz) took one or two solid-looking punches along the way but eventually outpointed rough, tough but limited Cross Hands brawler Adam Wilcox (12st 6lbs 9oz) over a scrappy four-twos.


Mr Chalmers scored 40-37 to the man from Dudley. Hillocks, now 3-0, had a reputation as a one-punch concusive puncher in the amateurs but has yet to register a stoppage in the paid ranks. Still, he rattled Wilcox, who smashed former Irish title challenger Jonjo Finnegan to a three-round defeat on his last trip to the Midlands, on a couple of occasions.


The Errol Johnson-trained fighter had the seven-fight Welshman hanging on with a huge right in the third and was pleased enough with his afternoon’s work to leave the ring in the same manner as he entered it – over the top rope.


Stourbridge’s Richie Wyatt (10st 7oz) improved his professional stats to 2-0 with a 40-36 four-twos shut-out nod over winless but willing Welshman Craig Dyer (10st 3lbs 7oz), who has yet to get off the mark in 12 outings. Mr Keane had little to do as tall, lean Len Woodhall-trained Wyatt, who edged past Johnny Greaves on his debut in April, speared stocky, well-muscled Dyer, 22, with a long jab and then whipped up a sharp right uppercut from the waist as he marched in. Light-welterweight Wyatt looks as if he could be a decent little fighter.

Birmingham's Andrew Patterson kicked the show off with a three-twos exhibition with durable Secondy City trier Jason Nesbitt, who celebrated 100 professional fights the week before. As expected with an exhibition, shots were pulled but both landed with solid jabs and meaty hooks to the body.

D Gets 'Sweet' Concepcion Revenge

When dangerous East Midlands puncher Martin Concepcion fought Birmingham’s ‘Sweet’ D Mitchell last year, at the impressive surroundings of the National Indoor Arena (NIA), the Leicester man emerged from a heart-stopping four-rounder with his hand raised, his career intact and his 13th professional victory in the bag.

Fast-forward 13 months and the pair met in Birmingham again, although at a different venue – Edgbaston’s Tower Ballroom – and over four rounds again. The only thing different about this 12-minute bout was that local stylist Mitchell had his glove lofted skywards at the end.

Swadlincote’s Rob Chalmers awarded the stocky Erdington-based light-middleweight a 39-37 decision, a verdict which infuriated Concepcion and was met with loud roars of disapproval from his large band of supporters, including brother Kevin, who’d made the trip from Leicester. For what it’s worth, I had Mitchell winning by the same two-point margin (giving him the first three stanzas).

And like their unforgettable first fight in June of last year, on the undercard of Amir Khan’s successful defence of his Commonwealth lightweight title against Michael Gomez, they served up four rounds of pulsating action that saw Concepcion’s heavier-hitting against Mitchell’s sharper boxing and better movement.

As well as the give-and-take action, their first fight saw the former Commonwealth 11st title challenger rattle Mitchell in the opening two rounds before finding himself starting up at the lights in the final three minutes, albeit from a shot that looked to have caught him off balance. He got up, won by a 39-38 margin, but had been inactive since.

There was talk of another crack at the Commonwealth crown if he managed to repeat his win over the 32-year-old Brummie. Concepcion swatted aside the current Commonwealth light-middleweight boss, Manchester’s Matthew Hall, inside a round in 2007 and Hall recently spoke of his need to avenge that defeat.

His conqueror’s loss to Mitchell, who didn’t take up boxing until he was in his mid-twenties, will have put those ambitions firmly to bed. But the Richie Woodhall-trained fighter’s ninth win in 13 pro outings (two via stoppage) could see him land a shot at a title of some description.

Other than the loss to Concepcion, now 13-6, his blemishes had come on injury to Gatis Skuja (avenged), a close six-rounder to Prince Arron (a fighter Mitchell was controlling until he faded in the last two rounds) and tall, long-armed Jack Arnfield (whose height and reach caused problems).

But his tactics in the rematch with the Leicester banger were bang on. He never gave Concepcion (11st 2lbs 7oz) any room to land with the type of punches that had left nine men with stoppage defeats on their ledgers, kept a high guard, used good head movement and landed a steady stream of solid leads and countering hooks.

Concepcion, 27, threw plenty of leather but most of it landed on the gloves and forearms of his pumped-up opponent. If boxing was scored on the amount of punches thrown during a fight, he would have probably chalked win 14 on his resume. But Mitchell, who holds a win over reigning Midland Area middleweight boss Tony Randell, may have thrown less but landed with more.

The second and third rounds of the contest saw Mitchell (11st 3lbs 3oz) at his best. Rolling under his harder-hitting opponent’s punches, D parried punches coming his way and cracked home hard counters that had Concepcion, trained by Jezz Brogan, backing off towards the ropes. Martin had a better final three minutes but it was too little too late.

A rubber match would be more than welcome.

Another Commonwealth Crack For Concepcion?

Martin Concepcion could challenge for the Commonwealth light-middleweight title - if he wins his comeback fight this weekend.

The Leicester puncher returns to action for the first time in 13 months on a Warrior Promotions and First Team-promoted show at Birmingham's Tower Ballroom on Sunday afternoon and takes on a man he knows well, Erdington switch-hitter 'Sweet' D Mitchell.

The crowdpleasing Midlands pair battled over four heart-stopping rounds on the undercard of Amir Khan's Commonwealth lightweight title defence against Michael Gomez at the N.I.A last June, with Concepcion emerging a one-point victor in a tense battle that had the crowd on their feet throughout.

Mitchell, who holds a win over Midland Area middleweight champion Tony Randell, was rattled in the second and third rounds but managed to put the former Commonwealth title challenger on his backside in the last with a cuffing hook. Concepcion looked to be a tad off balance at the time and edged home to register win 13 in 17 (nine via stoppage).

The eagerly-anticipated rematch is set over the same distance and the 27-year-old East Midlander could be in line for another crack at the Commonwealth 11st belt, held by Manchester banger Matthew Hall - who Concepcion blasted out in a round in 2007 - if he can repeat the win over the talented and sharp Richie Woodhall-trained Brummie.

Hall bounced back to flatten Bradley Pryce, a man who knocked out Concepcion, and makes the first defence of his belt against Anthony Small next month. He is intent on destroying Small but told the Manchester Evening News he has his eyes on a revenge mission as well: "I lost my fight, no excuses, the better man won on the night. But I didn't get knocked out. Every time I went down against Concepcion I got back up.

"People say the fight shouldn't have been stopped, but I'm not saying that. I got beat and I've come back.

"One of the reasons I really want to win this next fight is so that I can have a voluntary defence and avenge my defeat."

Booth Retains British Title

Nottingham's former IBO super-flyweight champion Jason Booth made a successful first defence of his British super-bantamweight crown with a landslide points verdict over Thetford's Rocky Dean.

The 31-year-old East Midlander, who also won British and Commonwealth title honours at flyweight, dominated throughout, despite being sliced open in the opening three minutes, and won 119-109 for both Ian John-Lewis and Mark Green, and a even more comprehensive 120-108 shut-out for Dave Parris.

The reigning Commonwealth bantamweight boss, who stepped up a weight and won this title on less than two weeks notice against undefeated Mark Moran in April, got stuck in traffic on his way to the York Hall and didn't arrive until 30 minutes before he was set to fight. It didn't affect his performance one bit.

Slick movement and trademark tremendous workrate bothered crowdpleasing Rocky, 31 and a former Southern Area featherweight champion, who couldn't find a foothold during the 36 minutes of entertaining action. He never stopped trying to find the punches to swing matter in his favour but he was in with a vintage Booth.

And the champion, now 33-5 (13) and looking at a shot at the European title - if his friend and champion, Leicester's Rendall Munroe, moves on to a world title fight - told Sky Sports after the 12-rounder: "I couldn't - and i cracked him with some hard punches - break him down.

"I thought 'I'm not going to win the fight inside, I've just got to keep moving all night'. I didn't throw every power shot but he had a good game plan. He's a tough kid and anyone who fights him knows that they've been in with him."

Dean, who dropped to 14-11-2 (4) and has now lost back-to-back British super-bantamweight title fights, was gracious in defeat: "He was too good for me, too good in every department."