Rogan Stops Skelton in 11th!
March 1st, 2009
By Nate Anderson: In one of the most exciting heavyweight fights I’ve ever seen before, former ‘Prizefighter’ heavyweight winner Martin Rogan (12-0, 6 KOs) stopped Matt Skelton (22-3, 19 KOs) in the 11th round on Saturday night to win Matt’s Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title at the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, West Midlands.
When the action resumed, Rogan quickly cornered Skelton and battered him with head shots until referee John Keane stepped in and halted the fight at 1:21 of the 11th. Just as Keane was stopping the fight, Skelton’s corner was throwing in the towel to save him from any additional punishment. Had the fight been allowed to continue much longer, there is little doubt that Rogan would have sent Skelton down again.
Skelton, 42, seemed to make a crucial mistake in the early rounds by trying to fight Rogan, an excellent inside fighter, at close range against the ropes. In doing so, Skelton took an awful lot of punishment from Rogan while at the same time losing a lot of energy because of the hectic pace that Rogan set for him.
Say what you will about Rogan’s lack of technical skills, he has a tremendous heart, great strength and excellent fitness. The way that Skelton fought Rogan, probably not a whole lot of top heavyweights in the division could have stayed in as long. Rogan has top notch inside fighting skills, and he did a real number on Skelton with his short uppercuts, hooks and body shots at close range.
Skelton fought well until the 5th, when Rogan began to take over the fight with his fierce attacks. Rogan kept Skelton pinned to the ropes in rounds five though eight, hammering Skelton with hard hooks and body shots. Skelton took terrible punishment in the 5th, a round in which he received a cut over his left eye from a big right hand from Rogan. Skelton looked to be tiring out from the pace and was rocked by a viscous flurry from Rogan late in the round.
Though Skelton tried firing back while backed to the ropes, he was largely ineffective and could only offer up weak shots compared to the sledgehammer rights and lefts from Rogan. Skelton was again hurt in the 6th round after getting nailed by a big left uppercut from Rogan. In the 7th, Skelton tried a different tactic, now retreating around the ring instead of actively engaging Rogan.
It worked somewhat, allowing Skelton to keep from getting hit as much as he had in the previous rounds. However, Rogan easily won the round because he was landing the far bigger shots and was the one trying to make the fight happen.
In the 8th, Rogan once again trapped Skelton against the ropes and gave him a god awful beating with hard hooks to the head and body. Skelton looked every bit his forty-two years in the round and could offer up little to match the downpour of shots from Rogan. After the round, Skelton’s corner told him “Tell me if you’re not okay otherwise I’ll pull you out.” Skelton said that he was okay, but he didn’t look it.
In rounds nine and ten, Rogan did little looking as if he was resting from the energy he had expended in the 8th. This allowed Skelton to move on the outside and throw a lot of jabs. Skelton had nothing on his power shots, but he was still able to fight effectively by throwing uppercuts while on the retreat. After the 10th, Skelton looked confident as if he had the fight under his control.
In the 11th, Skelton fought well in the opening minute of the round, now hitting Rogan with nice combinations. Suddenly, however, Rogan landed a hard right hand to the head of Skelton, hurting him. Rogan then nailed him with a hard left hand that staggered Skelton. With Skelton now against the ropes trying to cover up, Rogan poured in a flurry of shots ending with Skelton falling forward onto the canvas.
He got up immediately, but staggered around against the ropes. Referee John Keane then looked Skelton over and allowed the fight to continue, although he probably would have been wise to stop it at this point because Skelton was badly hurt and could barely stand. Rogan then rushed forward and landed a big right hand and then a flurry of shots that had Skelton’s head ricocheting from one side to the other. Finally, referee John Keane had seen enough and stepped in and halted the fight at 1:21 of the round.
Tags: 16 Responses to “Rogan Stops Skelton in 11th!”
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rogan would give the usless Russia giant a good beating for a belt he has a great chance of Getting a title shot as he would be seen as an easy title defense
First off, Skelton is no slouch, hes an ex kickboxer who can take some amount of punishment so hats off to Rogan for taking him out.
Rogan may not be world class but at least he’s entertaining, unlike the champs of the Heavyweight division at the moment!!
C-philly, brraapp!!???? Why? What the *$%£?
Arreola hasnt done nowt yet, but i do think he can if given a chance, he’s working on his fitness so if he loses around 35 lbs and gets his stamina up, who knows. The mans a powerhouse. But a match up with Haye could prove interesting with the winner going for Wlad, minus his stupid rematch demands!!
c-philly have a boxing argument with me(someone who knows a thing or two) Areloa has done absoulty nothing. His biggest test to date his travis walker and meen com on Chris was floored by him. His fitnes s level is terrrible. I tell you what fight fans lets send David Haye out to america and he would destroy Chris inside 5 rounds id put all the money i have on it. Who else is there to shout about apart from chris ? Who else is there? Apart from B-Hop you have no outstanding fighter i dnt believe. Pavlik would be destroyed by abraham i have no dout. Mosley is no where as good as Cotto. Vernon Forrest although won the rematch was beaten by sergio morra(pause for laughter) Light welter -bradly and holt dont come close to hatton. Lightweight marques is the man. So who do you have please tell me
i were only sayin cuz you dont know her.
yo ukansodoff you are correct he is fatter than my mom! that ment t be insult, really poor effort but then again expect nutin better from a englishman now go and have a cup o tea and put your toys back in pram.
you serious C-Philly? the mans fatter than your mother.
listen punks we have got a heavyweight goes by the name areloa would destroy this rogan inside two the mans a better prospect than all your heavys fact get real biiaatcch.
Great stuff, not every fight out there can be between 2 boxing geniuses, not every fight can be for mulitple world champions, not every fight can be at maddison square or vegas.
So when they aint and you wana be entertained Rogan appears to be your man.
I dont care 1 little jot the standard of fighters or any of that crap. Sometimes you just want entertaining and this is what youve got.
Id love this whole Rogan story to continue and something amazing happen for him. Hes my new favourite boxer.
id love to see rogan win a world title but really cant see it happening!
as for him calling out haye,fair enough rogan now deserves a big fight but i think haye would outclass him although it would be a good fight & i think rogan would last longer than “big macc” but not much longer!
as far as”c-philly” america certainly has nothing to brag about!
Too right Simon! what up and coming heavyweights have the usa got, Kevin ‘jabber’ johnson? rogan would destroy him!
Also people must recognise that although skelton is not the most fashionable fighter, he has one of the best chins in the business which says a lot for rogan
well done rogan. he has something a little bit special but i cant see him competing at a higher level. skelton is made of stone rogan landed about 6 flush power shots before he fell down then got up.
good fight
You guys aint got a clue , just because the guy isnt the most technical boxer in the world does not meen to say he cant do it , i believe if Rogan gets Haye into the later rounds Haye is there to be taken. And tbf C-philly who is the up and coming american heavyweight and dont see you lot having anyone to shout about lets see how your heavyweights do against Tyson fury,david haye and YES martin Rogan
blut blut blut !
rogan winning a world title woulnt be a fairytale! more like a miracle!
hats of to rogan but theres a big difference between skelton(42yo) and haye!
would be entertaining though!(like haye v maccranelli that is!)
rogan aint he that dumb old pikey that drive taxi for livin, u brits are unbelieveable the dude only won a few fights against fellow british heavyweights who are old and frankly shocking and yaall big him up! get realistic punks he goin nowhere. brraaapp!
I was at the NIA on saterday and even though i am english apart of me really wanted to see Rogan win. It would be something of a fairytale if he could win a world title but that fairytale could really become a reality. I love too see him fight Haye to see how good both fighters are because if ethier of them in it would be a great scalp for both of them.