By Dallan o’ Donnell: Blackpool’s Brian Rose defended his British light middleweight crown with a 12 round unanimous decision victory over Scotland’s Kris Carslaw.
Many fans said before the fight that Carslaw was not worthy of a title shot with Rose, but he proved doubters wrong by giving the performance of his life. He outworked the champion in every round but all the cleaner, eye- catching work came from Rose.
Rose was dominating the Jab in the opening round but got a quick reality check when Carslaw came out firing in the second. Rose looked uncomfortable and couldn’t get his shots off and could no longer establish his jab. In round three, a nasty clash of heads opened a huge gash on the front of Carslaw’s head and the urgency in Carslaw’s work was now evident, just in case the fight was stopped before the fourth round in which case it would have been a technical draw. But to his credit, Carslaw kept coming at Rose, but never really having an impression on the judges. Rose, now just one defence away from holding the Lonsdale belt outright, knew he was in a tough fight but still managed to look a level above his opponent.
With the gash on Carslaw’s head still in the forefront of his mind, it never really seemed to cause Carslaw any real trouble as the blood seemed to flow down his face rather than directly into his eyes. Rose landed some big shots but not known for knockout power, Carslaw managed to walk through them. The same could be said of Carslaw who landed big but never really threatened or seemed to have hurt Rose. They fought hard down the stretch and even going into the championship rounds, Carslaw still came forward trying to catch the judges eyes with hard-work rather than the cleaner, more pronounced work of Rose.
Rose won the fight with a unanimous decision victory, which in my view was the correct decision. Carslaw has now showed that he belongs at the British level and who knows, if he can win some big fights then he may have another shot one day. He seems a dedicated fighter, who took 4 weeks unpaid leave from his job to prepare for this bout.
Rose on the other hand looks as though he needs a break. As Jim Watt said in commentary being in the gym for 9 months with no break can leave you feeling mentally fatigued, and it showed at stages in the fight.
However it was a great performance from both men and it goes to show if the British belt is on the line then a fighter will up their game. Congratulations to Brian Rose and commiserations to Kris Carslaw.
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