Lindsay Stops Appleby

By Boxing News - 04/26/2009 - Comments

lindsay323By Nate Anderson: BBBofC British featherweight champion Paul Appleby (14-1, 9 KOs) was defeated in 6th round technical knockout by his 26-year-old challenger Martin Lindsay (14-0, 6 KOs) on Saturday night at the Ulster Hall, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Appleby, 21, was staggered by a big left hand from Lindsay in the 6th round. Lindsay then hit Appleby several more times, hurting him further and causing the referee to step in and stop the bout at 2:36 of the round. Appleby, naturally, wasn’t happy with the quick stoppage, but he was badly hurt and likely would have been finished off by Lindsay in the remaining seconds of the round.

Although only 21-years-old, Appleby fought Lindsay surprisingly well and looked to be the stronger fighter, if not the better one. Never mind Appleby being the champion going into the fight, I see little relevance in the BBBofC or Commonwealth titles.

In my view, Lindsay was the favorite coming into this fight due to his better power and slightly more maturity. The crowd was way in Lindsay’s favor in this fight, and screamed their heads off for even the slightest thing that he did in the ring. For a young fighter like Appleby, it much have been difficult for him to experience that. However, he fought remarkably well given the hostile crowd that was rooting against him.

Lindsay appeared to edge the first round, hitting Appleby with some nice combinations in the round. Appleby had his moments, too, and landed some big hooks to the body. However, Lindsay did the better work due to his right hands.

Appleby fought better in the 2nd round, coming on in the last minute of the round to hit Lindsay with some hard shots to the head and body. Up until now, it had been almost all Lindsay. However, Appleby began pressing the older fighter and forcing him to fight harder than he wanted to. Appleby looked a lot younger than Lindsay, almost as if he were a teenager facing a 30-year-old.

Though he didn’t have the power of Lindsay, Appleby had the much better youthful energy and was able to give Lindsay some major problems.

In the 3rd round, Appleby took the fight to Lindsay, landing repeatedly with right hands and outworking Lindsay in the round by a significant margin. The crowd, however, continued to yell loudly at the least thing that Lindsay did and he seemed to feed off the screaming.

In the 4th round, Lindsay landed some big combinations to the head, blooding Appleby’s nose. Appleby didn’t back down and continued throwing a lot of punches, pressuring Lindsay and hitting him with some nice shots. Late in the round, Lindsay appeared to hurt Appleby with a right hand.

He then hammered Appleby with 10 consecutive shots before Appleby was able to start throwing back again. By the end of the round, Appleby looked beaten up, his nose bleeding badly and looking swollen as if it may have been broken.

Despite taking a lot of punishment, Appleby continued to pressure Lindsay in the fifth round and seemed to have the better energy of the two. Lindsay continued to get in the slightly better shots, but he was bothered by Appleby’s work rate.

In the 6th round, Appleby took a lot of punishment in the early part of the round which seemed to soften him up. Lindsay then caught Appleby with a big left hand late in the round, hurting him. Appleby tried to clinch, but Lindsay landed several more big shots leading to the referee stepping in and stopping the fight at 2:36 of the round.



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