By Jim Dower: Making his pro debut, former 2007 AB lightweight champion Frankie Gavin (1-0, 1 KOs) stopped Georgian George Kadaria (5-4) in the 4th round of a scheduled four round bout on Saturday night at the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, West Midlands. With Kadaria taking severe punishment against the ropes in the 3rd, referee John Keane decided to step in to stop the action at 1:39 of the round to prevent Kadaria from taking any additional punishment.
Gavin, 23, now fighting as a light welterweight, attacked Kadaria hard with brutal body shots from the opening minute of the fight, and showed a good punch variety and combinations. Best of all, Gavin fought hard and looked to be trying to take Kadaria out with every shot. Although not a particularly big puncher when going up stairs nor all that fast either, Gavin was able to get a lot of power on his body shots and with his high work rate, he gave Kadaria a lot to worry about in the fight.
In the 1st round, Gavin went after Kadaria with hard shots to the head and body. During this round, Gavin was throwing mostly one punch at a time while trying to feel Kadaria out. Near the end of the round, Gavin began to open up more with his shots, going to the body with two and three punch combinations.
In the 2nd round, Gavin stepped up the pace of his attacks, throwing mostly combinations as he surged forward to meet Kadaria. Without worrying too much about incoming, because Kadaria looked to be just trying to survive, Gavin was free to unload with pretty much anything he wanted offensively. In addition to his hard body shots, Gavin threw some nice uppercuts in the round. His power, or lack thereof, was a problem as was his lack of hand speed, but with the amount of shots he was pouring in at Kadaria, it more than made up for his obvious flaws.
Gavin hurt Kadaria with a hard right to the body in the 3rd, and seconds later he forced him to the canvas by pushing him down. However, Kadaria was obviously feeling the effects of the hard body shot. A minute later, Kadaria went down again on another slip, but it seemed like he was having problems with Gavin’s hard body shots. Gavin was now teeing off with nonstop body shots and not wasting much time by throwing to the head. Gavin’s nose was cut in the round after banging heads with Kadaria.
In the 4th, Gavin went after a tired and hurt Kadaria with a series of hard body shots, causing Kadaria to lose his mouthpiece. After the action resumed, Gavin backed Kadaria up against the ropes and began to blast away at him with power shots to the head, hurting him with a big left hand. Finally, referee John Keane had seen enough and stepped in and stopped the fight at 1:39 of the round.
“As an amateur, I didn’t throw that much to the body,” said Gavin after the fight. “I’m throwing a lot more to the body now. There was a hard clash. He [Kadaria] kept using his head. That’s boxing for you.”
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