Floyd Moore defeats Ryan Taylor

By Boxing News - 12/19/2013 - Comments

By Andrew Fairley: In front of his adoring and vocal fans in attendance at The Excel Arena London and the many thousands of viewers watching live on Sky Sports, Fareham’s Floyd ‘Pacman’ Moore gave the performance of his life to halt favoured Ryan ‘Crash, Bang’ Taylor of Upminster in four rounds and take the Southern Area lightweight championship in a wonderful victory that must surely propel him towards British title contention. Experienced Taylor was very fortunate to survive a ferocious first round in which he was dropped heavily from an overhand right, and while trying to keep the contest at long range, Moore’s relentless pressure and jackhammer punches denied Taylor the chance to find his rhythm. Reckless use of the head brought Taylor a point deduction from the referee, and when the action resumed there was no respite as Floyd furiously surged forward. With the referee poised to intervene at any moment, Taylor did well to survive the remainder of the round.

The chanting from Moore’s horde of supporters reverberated around the arena as Moore resumed his attacks in the second round, connecting with jabs and rib-cracking body shots before another right hand rocked Taylor again. Such was the volume of punches coming his way that Taylor could be forgiven for thinking he had two men in the ring with him, but he showed his class and fitness by refusing to wilt, catching Moore with a rocketing counter that Moore appeared to shrug off before hurling more hurtful punches of his own. Both men set a blistering pace that lasted the full three minutes, and while brave Taylor had some success with his jab, it was Moore’s constant pressure that won him the round.

After the efforts of both boxers in the first two rounds, the third was understandably slower. An early exchange of jabs saw both men connect as Moore momentarily neglected his defense in his eagerness to finish the fight, provoking Taylor to go for broke and unload a six punch combination as Moore covered up effectively against the ropes. In what must have been a demoralizing moment of realisation for Taylor his shots bounced off and failed to have any noticeable impact on the teak-tough Moore. Warned by the referee to keep his punches up, Taylor showed courage worthy of the championship as he worked to make this round much closer than the previous two, but nonetheless there was a palpable sense at ringside that the contest was reaching a conclusion. Early in round four Moore unleashed a devastating 14 punch volley that left Taylor hunched down on the ropes with nowhere to go, and to the rapturous applause of the crowd the referee intervened at 1:46 of the round to save the courageous Taylor from further punishment, bringing Moore (10-3) the title honours he’d worked so hard to achieve. Taylor drops to 8 wins and 3 losses.

“My game plan was to be on the back foot for the first round and box, but I’m a nightmare – as soon as I catch them clean I just go for it! He did catch me with some punches in the third round and my trainer gave me a good talking to in the corner, but I wasn’t hurt” said Floyd. “I really felt I was going to win the fight, especially with all the training I’d done, and my fans were brilliant. I’m over the moon! I’m going to rest for Christmas, tick over, and then look to defend the title in the New Year. ”

Floyd’s delighted trainer Michael Ballinghall said “I’m very proud of him. To go on a marquee show and win the title is fantastic, and he’s worked so hard. He needs to maintain it now. There are certain things we need to work on in order to get to the next level, but Floyd can be even better than he was tonight and it’s going to be a good New Year for him.”



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