By Ian Aldous: On Saturday night, Ross ‘The Boss’ Burkinshaw (14-5-2) continued his career upturn as he added the WBO European bantamweight title to the Commonwealth belt that he already owns. All four fights at the top of the card billed as ‘Who’s The Boss?’ were halted before the distance on an exciting night at the Octagon Centre in Ross’ hometown of Sheffield – despite crowd trouble marring the co-main event. I was at ringside to cover all the action for BN24.
Burkinshaw came into the fight on the biggest high of his career after winning the Commonwealth title as a late replacement at four days notice. He attempted to continue the momentum gained following that 2014 British FOTY contender with a title defence against Terry Broadbent, but unfortunately Broadbent pulled out with an injury. So, promoter Dennis Hobson did the next best thing and brokered a shot at the WBO European belt for his man just two weeks before fight night. His opponent from Belgium, Benjamin Smoes (9-4-1) looked remarkably out of shape at the Friday weigh-in when compared to the chiselled physique of Burkinshaw – The stage was set for the hometown boy to shine.
‘The Boss’ had the look of a man who wouldn’t be stopped by anybody and it showed immediately. Smoes face was reddened within the first half of the first round and he had a resigned look very early on. The first knockdown saw him violently rocked back into the ropes as though he was being bullied by the superior and bigger man. Moments later, a left hook flattened Smoes and referee Steve Gray waved off the contest at 2:46 of the very first round. You could possibly question the heart and desire of the Belgian, but I’d rather put the result down to the sheer determination of Burkinshaw to put on a spectacular show in front of his fans. Dennis Hobson is renowned for pulling off big opportunities for his fighters, so don’t be surprised to see Ross in a big fight soon.
The co-main event saw Muheeb Fazeldin (6-0-1) face Uzair Najib (5-1-0) for the central area super-bantamweight championship. The build-up to this bout was heated and you could feel the tension pre-fight as both men entered the ring. For the 2:25 it lasted – it was phenomenal action. Both men put 100% into every shot thrown and it was Fazeldin who got the better of things dropping Najib with a right hand and then pummelling him after another knockdown to force referee John Latham to stop the contest. Unfortunately this ignited a massive in-ring brawl with fans of both boxers entering the ring and swinging punches of the kind we didn’t want to see. It was a disappointing end to a thoroughly entertaining fight.
On the undercard, middleweight Lewis Taylor (16-0-1) continued his unbeaten start as a professional with a disciplined and punishing display against George Kandelaki (17-13-1). The Georgian import proved to be unbelievably durable as he took countless big shots from Taylor and always attempted to throw his own punches back. Despite this, referee Michael Alexander called a halt to the contest in the fifth round.
Also, Waleed Din (5-0-0) dished out a beating to Khvicha Gigolashvili (5-6) inside two rounds for the TKO win.
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