Photos courtesy of Fight Night Photography
The fans turned out in force at the Deepdale Stadium, the home of Preston North End football club, on Saturday night to witness the return to the fray of local hero Mick ‘The Hammer’ Hall following his five year sabbatical from the sport.
Promoters Mollie Edgington (TFM Boxing Promotions) and John Bowers (JBF Management) put together a stellar card with a distinct international flavour to support the Mick Hall versus Ghana’s Theophilus Tetteh headline fight.
The opening fight of the night see Wolverhampton’s Lynsey Perrin (3-0-0) face off against Gurdaspur, India’s Rajwant Kaur (5-7-0) in a six rounder.
Initially Perrin dominated the first half of the contest, easily winning the first three rounds, however things began to get really lively in the fourth, Perrin still secured the round but by a much smaller margin.
Things really began to get even livelier in the fifth, with Kaur coming forward and letting rip more often, so much so that referee Adrian Thorne couldn’t split them and scored it a draw.
The sixth and final round started the way the fifth ended, however Perrin landed a couple of heavy body shots that not only slowed Kaur but also led to her spitting out her Gumshield for some much needed respite, not once but twice, leaving the referee no option but to deduct a point.
After six entertaining rounds of boxing it was to Referee Adrian Thorne’s scorecards, which read 60-54 in favour of Lynsey Perrin, elevating her record to 4-0-0.
Next up see local lad Byron Unsworth (1-0-0) take on late replacement Liam Haywood in a four rounder, following his original opponent failing to get his visa in time.
Unsworth secured the opening round fairly comfortably. The second round, well that’s another matter, as the local lad went through the gears and began landing some seriously heavy shots, as the round progressed in to the final minute Unsworth landed a big heavy shot that really rocked Haywood.
Following the bell that ended round two Haywood’s corner summoned Referee Adrian Thorne and requested the doctor check over their charge, which ultimately led to the contest being waived off during the interval between round two and three.
The third contest of the night see Bolton’s Peter Booth (3-0-0) enter the ring to go toe to toe with Rattakhera, India’s Sunil Kumar (4-9-1) in a four rounder.
Booth is a slick operator, and Kumar is a tough all action fighter, so fireworks were expected due to the clash of styles, however the first round turned out to be a little one-sided with Booth working off the back of his crisp jab with sharp body shots and combinations, which forced Kumar to cover up much of the time.
Second round was more like it, with both boxers going for it, whilst still not quite hammer and tongs level it was a cracking all action round. More of the same in the third, albeit that as the round progressed both protagonists literally went toe to toe slugging it out, before Booth regained control of the round with his exquisite ring-craft.
What a fantastic round of boxing that was, yet the best was still to come, as round four was just awesome, technically, with both protagonists showcasing their pugilistic skills throughout. After four all action rounds it was to the scorecards, Referee Adrian Thorne scored the contest 40-36 in favour of Peter Booth.
Next up was local lad Adam Daniel, who was making his professional debut against Nottingham’s Andy Goy (0-7-0).
The opening stanza was first class, with both lads boxing beautifully, it was fairly equal in the first half of the round, but as it progressed Daniel stepped up the power and it really paid off around the two minute twenty mark, when Daniel let rip with a big right instantly followed by a big left that sent Goy to the deck. Goy quickly got to his feet and the fight continued albeit for about fifteen seconds as Daniel back Goy towards a corner before firing another big right to send Goy to the deck for the second time. Again Goy got to his feet, however the referee Adrian Thorne was intent on being sure he was fit to continue and made Goy undertake the ‘walking’ check twice to be on the safe side, so no further action before the bell rang.
Goy came out tentatively in the second, initially covering up and just occasionally responding with a shot of his own, then around ten seconds or so in Goy throws a shot and Daniel responded immediately with a big right shortly followed by an uppercut and left hook to send Goy down for the third and last time, as Referee Adrian Thorne waived the fight off on the nineteen second mark of the second round.
Next up was another debutant, this time Manchester Heavyweight Creole McNamee who faced fellow Mancunian Kevin Masirika (2-5-0).
The first couple of rounds were fought at quite a high pace, McNamee securing both, however things were very different in the third, again fought at a high pace but this time Masirika was beginning to control more of the contest, it was a very close round, so much so the Referee Adrian Thorne scored it a draw. So into the fourth and final round. Masirika came out fast, McNamee had to really defend and defend he did despite the continuing onslaught from the bigger opponent through to the final bell. The referee’s scorecard read a close 39-38 in favour of Creole McNamee.
Next up, and undoubtably Fight of the Night, was local lad Leon Kellett (1-0-0) against Bhairupa, India’s Bhinder Singh (1-6-0).
What a fight it was a non-stop Battle Royale for virtually every second of every round, if you get chance look up the video when it’s uploaded to YouTube, seriously this was a closely fought, four round WAR that screams out for a future rematch, especially as it was scored a 39-39 DRAW!
Now to the headlining fight of the night Preston’s very own Mick ‘The Hammer’ Hall (15-3-0) vs Accra Ghana’s Theophilus Tetteh (19-9-2). This clearly wasn’t an easy warm up fight for Hall on his return after a five year sabbatical from the sport as Tetteh is a former WBO Africa Champion as well as a former WBO Intercontinental championship challenger.
The Hammer’s skills were showcased as the first round progressed, Hall controlling the proceedings with ease, and more importantly clearly showing that the five year lay-off hasn’t affected his power one iota, as proved later in the round when he sent the Ghanian to the canvas.
Hall dusted off any remaining ring rust in the second, stepping up the pace and throwing exquisite combinations and powerful lefts and rights before eventually stopping Tetteh late on in the round. Official time of stoppage was two minutes and fifty seven seconds of the second round.
Congratulations to Mollie Edgington, John Bowers and all the boxers that took part for an excellent all action show at a classy venue, can’t wait for the next.
