By Nate Anderson: BBBofC British featherweight champion Paul Appleby (14-0, 9 KOs) destroyed Juan Garcia Martin (15-7, 8 KOs) in the 1st round on Saturday night at the Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, Cheshire. Appleby, 21, hurt Martin with a hard right hand late in the round and then poured on a flurry of shots as Martin tried to cover up against the ropes.
Referee Phil Edwards stepped in between the two fighters and stopped the fight at 2:25 just after Appleby landed a hard right hand that snapped Martin’s head back. The stoppage seemed way too premature, as Martin didn’t look remotely hurt was merely covering up and waiting out Appleby’s storm of punches.
Appleby, who came into this fight having won back to back fights over John Simpson and Esham Pickering, showed great patience with the wrestling and roughhouse tactics from Martin in the 1st round. In between the constant clinching and wrestling initiated by Martin, Appleby landed short, fast right hands to the head.
In the clinches, Martin proved to be plenty tough, throwing rabbit punches and roughing up Appleby constantly. However, the turning point came when Appleby nailed Martin with a hard right-left combination to the midsection as Martin was charging in for yet another clinch. The punch seemed to stop Martin in his tracks, though he still was able to initiate his typical wrestling maneuvers.
Appleby got a little space after being separated by the referee, and then landed a big clubbing right hand to the head of Martin. The shot sent Martin retreating to the ropes where he covered up. Appleby then landed a big left hand to the head and then a left to the body, at which point referee Phil Edwards jumped in and halted the fight at 2:25 of the round. It was clearly a hasty stoppage, but the way things were going, Appleby would have finished Martin off in a round or two with the shots he was hitting him with.
“I looked at his [Martin] eyes, and they were rolling a bit,” Appleby said later. “I felt the referee was right to stop it, because he would have gotten hurt.”
In other action, BBBofC British light welterweight champion Paul McCloskey (19-0, 9 KOs) took out challenger Dean Harrison (14-2, 4 KOs) in the 4th round of a title bout. McCloskey, 29, making his first defense of his British title won in a 9th round stoppage over Colin Lynes in December 2008, knocked Harrison down in the 1st round with a left hook to the head.
Harrison, 25, seemed to never recover from the shot as he would continue to absorb punishment into the 4th round. During that time, the southpaw McCloskey hurt Harrison with a powerful left hand. McCloskey then poured it on landing additional left hands until referee Marcus McDonnell stepped in at 1:50 of the round to halt the fight.
McCloskey fought remarkably well, hammering the outclassed Harrison with big shots in the opening round while avoiding most of Harrison’s futile attempts to land. Not the easiest fighter to land a shot against, McCloskey was especially elusive against Harrison who found it increasingly tough to land much of anything in the round. Early in the 1st minute of action, McCloskey landed a hard left hook that put Harrison down.
McCloskey would continue to punish him with heavy shots after he got to his feet, following after him and trying hard to take him out. McCloskey finished the round impressively, landing three straight right hands. The 2nd round was all McCloskey as he tagged Harrison at will with shots. McCloskey often held his hands below his waist, daring Harrison to try and land anything.
When he would try to, McCloskey would lean away from the shot letting it miss badly. In the entire round, Harrison was only able to land two shots that I could see and one of them occurred when he held McCloskey and hit him with his free hand. I guess I can’t blame him for wanting to get an extra edge because things were going poorly for him.
In the 3rd round, Harrison was cut on the left side of the eye, perhaps due to a couple of head butts that took place in the round. The cut was small, however, and not in a place where it would have an effect on the outcome of the fight. McCloskey continued dominating Harrison much as he had in the two previous rounds. In the 4th round, McCloskey landed at will and hammered Harrison around the ring until the fight was finally stopped by referee Marcus McDonnell at 1:50 of the round.