By William Mackay: In a long awaited rematch, Lenny Daws ( 20-1-1, 8 KO’s) stopped Barry Morrison (17-4, 7 KO’s) in the 10th round on Friday night to capture the BBBofC British light welterweight title at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green. In the 10th round, Daws dropped a tired out Morrison with a weak left hand that sent him down on his knees. Morrison sat there, looked at his corner, shook his head as if to say ‘no’, and then was counted out by the referee.
It was a game performance by Morrison, who looked quite good during the middle rounds of the bout but seemed to tire out by the 8th round. Morrison threw the better combinations in the fight, but had problems with Daws’s constant jabs to the head which seemed to wear him down.
Daws, 30 controlled the first two round using a constant jab to keep Morrison contained on the outside. There wasn’t much variety from Daws, but then again he didn’t need to do much more than jab because Morrison was fighting passively and without a lot of aggression at the point in the fight. Morrison looked like he was sleep walking in the first two rounds as he didn’t even try to put up much of a fight. He could have been resting in hopes of getting to Daws in the later rounds.
In the 3rd through 5th rounds, Morrison came on fighting well behind his jab right hand. Daws, still throwing little more than jabs, was no match for Morrison at this point in the fight and was badly outgunned by him. However, things turned around for Daws in the 6th round when Morrison suddenly gassed out and stopped punching as much.
This allowed Daws to retake command of the bout using, what else, his jabs to do the brunt of the work. It was mostly dull stuff to watch, but it was effective because Morrison looked like he had already fought a 15 round fight at this juncture and was doing little.
In rounds seven through nine, Daws continued to have his way with Morrison, bloodying his nose in the 9th and battering him almost at will. Morrison got more and more tired as the fight approached the 10th round. I figured that his corner would stop the bout going into the 10th, because he just didn’t have enough energy to compete with Daws any longer at this stage of the fight.
However, Morrison came out to the 10th round and took a handful of shots before being dropped by a weak looking combination. I just think Morrison was exhausted and finished. He didn’t look hurt and could have gotten up but what would be the point. He was simply too tired to carry on, so he stayed on his knees and was counted out by the referee.
Morrison has nothing to feel ashamed about. I think he could have beaten Daws if he had come into the fight in better shape. Daws is a limited fighter and if Morrison could have come in shape to fight hard for a full 12 rounds, he easily could have won the fight. As it was, Morrison looked spent by the 6th and might as well have called it a night after that.
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In a fight that was much more exciting and filled with two-way action, super bantamweight Matthew Marsh (12-1, 1 KO’s) defeated Josh Wale (8-2, 4 KO’s) by a 10-round decision. Referee Richard James Davies scored it 97-94. The bout was supposed to be for the vacant BBBofC English super bantamweight title, but March came in overweight so the title remained vacant despite his win over Wale.
Marsh, 27, had problems with the high pressure offense of Wale in the first half of the fight. Marsh was backed up often to the ropes where he had to cover up while Wales, a nonstop punching machine threw punch after punch at March. In the second half of the fight, Marsh’s better hand speed, movement and defensive ability allowed him to land the cleaner shots.
However, many of the rounds remained close because of Wale’s constant smothering pressure. Marsh swept the last four rounds, winning seven through ten with his cleaner shots. Marsh moved constantly and would sometimes stand his ground and nail Wale with several hard shots before getting back on the move.
In the 10th round, Marsh went after Wale and hit him and with a flurry of power shots to win the final round. Wale was cut around both eyes during the fight. Even though he lost, Wale made it very exciting throughout because of his nonstop pressure. He forced Marsh to fight at the top of his game. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between these two fighters because this fight was action packed throughout.
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