By Nate Anderson: Light middleweight prospect Matthew Hall (21-1, 14 KOs) defeated Jason Rushton (18-8, 3 KOs) by a 6th round TKO on Friday night at the Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, in Cheshire, England. Hall, 24, knocked Rushton down once in the 4th round and another time in the 6th. After the second knockdown, the fight was stopped by referee Mickey Vann at 1:19 of the 6th.
Rushton, 25, at one time a promising prospect, was hurt often in the fight, staggered in rounds four through six, and never really into the fight. More of a classical boxer in the purest sense, Rushton found himself unable to use his boxing skills against the Mike Tyson-like Hall, who kept him under stead pressure, cutting off the ring on him constantly and forcing him to brawl with him.
Slugging it out wasn’t a style of fighting that favored Rushton, as he was over-matched against Hall’s fierce body attack and unable to match the powerful body shots that he was throwing.
Hall, only 5’7″, found the going easy in the first round, as he cut off the ring on the taller 5’10” Rushton, cornering him and hitting him with huge body shots over and over again. Rushton tried circling the ring but that proved to be futile move, as Hall intercepted him each time and met him with heavy shots to the body.
In the 2nd round, Rushton was limited to a shot here and there, and spent the majority of the time as a large heavy bag for Hall to land his hard body shots. When trapped, Rushton proved to be a decent body puncher in his own right, but still he wasn’t nearly as committed to throwing body shots as Hall was, and was no match for him at close quarters.
In the 3rd round, Hall continued to force Rushton to slug it out with him, trapping him along the ropes and keeping him pinned for sustained amount of times. Rushton, to his credit, showed a good chin in taking the tremendous right hands to the jaw. However, he wasn’t doing well other than that, because he was doing little offensively other than offering up some hard body shots and a few jabs.
In the 4th round, Hall staggered Rushton with a hard right hand to the head. He then followed it with a hard left hook, further staggering Rushton. Hall then added another big right to send Rushton down to the canvas. Fortunately for Rushton, this came near the end of the round, enabling Rushton to escape the round without having to get hit too many more times.
In the 5th round, Hall staggered Rushton with a left hand to the head. The remainder of the round saw Hall battering a near defenseless Rushton with one big shot after another. In the 6th round, Hall battered a beaten down Rushton nearly at will, hitting him with one big body punch after another until finally dropping him with a big left to the head. Though Rushton got to his feet and wanted to continue fighting, the fight was stopped by referee Mickey Vann at 1:19 of the round.
“I’d like to fight Conception,” Hall said afterward, referring to Martin Concepcion who stopped Hall in the 1st round a year ago in July.
In another fight on the undercard, undefeated light heavyweight prospect Tony Bellew (8-0, 5 KOs) was too much for Phil Goodwin (4-2, 1 KOs), taking him out in the 2nd round of a four-round bout. Bellew used his short, chopping punches to knock Goodwin down with a right hand in the 2nd. Goodwin, 28, arose with a bloody nose and tried gamely to continue fighting, but was dropped again by another chopping right hand. Goodwin got to his feet at the count of eight but referee Howard John Foster stepped in and halted the fight at 1:49 of the 2nd round. Ballew used power shots to control the fight in the first round, and it was clear immediately that he had way too much power for Goodwin to deal with for long.
After the fight, Bellew, not shy about his talent, said “I think I’m possibly the best light heavyweight in this country already…My power speaks for itself. I’m ready for anyone.”