Terry Carruthers vs. Kieron Gray Fight Fest 2 – Judgement Day 21.06.2013

By Ross Tuohy - 06/28/2013 - Comments

Fight Fest 2 – Judgement Day 21.06.2013
Terry Carruthers VS Kieron Gray

By Ross Tuohy: The Paragon Hotel in Birmingham was filled to capacity this past weekend as Midlands fight fans sat down to enjoy a night of top class boxing. The atmosphere built as fans witnessed such spectacles as former England International and undefeated professional Tommy Langford triumph over Robert Studzinski in a six round brawl, the professional debut of Billy ‘Boy’ Mullan and the undefeated Tommy Ghent dominating Jay Morris. It goes without saying that the excitement had reached a fever pitch when it came time for the main event.

A ten round war for the vacant Midlands Area Middleweight title.

‘Crash Bang’ Terry Carruthers (27) from Birmingham, the home town hero and former Bet Fair Prizefighter Middleweight finalist, came into this fight on the back of a loss against Danish boxer Torben Keller in April at the Arena Nord in Denmark.

His opponent Kieron ‘Slammer’ Gray (35) from Telford in Shropshire also came into this bout having suffered his own defeat against the undefeated Gary McCallum earlier in June at the BellaHouston Sports Centre in Glasgow. Both fighters stepped into the ring with a deep desire to avenge their respective losses. While many could have argued that Gray’s age and therefore experience would tip him to be the winner the crowd rallied behind Carruthers and cheered him from the first bell to the last.

The fighters started well in round one each seeming to try and gauge the others style, strength and weaknesses, both boxed well with Carruthers using the jab effectively and keeping Gray on the back foot who used his defensive skills as well as a few well placed shots to keep Carruthers from gaining any decisive ground.

Round two saw Carruthers begin to ease into the fight and start to implement his game plan, favouring the inside he began pick his shots, peppering Gray with pinpoint blows which opened him up to punishing hooks to the head. While Gray did his best to cover up and even came back with a few shattering blows of his own, these headshots would prove to be his downfall.

It was in Round three that Carruthers hit his stride, changing tactics slightly and backing off from Gray, using the ring to his advantage and leaning against the ropes to force Gray to fire off a flurry of blows that appeared to glance off the younger fighter.

Round Four began with Carruthers continuing his strategy of keeping to the ropes, using the momentum to bounce back at Gray and launch a devastating hook, while this huge punch did not connect initially in the closing minute of the round it rocked Gray badly and Carruthers followed his up with a series of jabs which opened up a small cut underneath Gray’s left eye.

Gray’s corner went to work on damage control of their fighter but the younger man sensed blood in the water and came out with renewed vigour, even under the hot spot lights and surrounded by the choking heat inside the venue Carruthers looked to be the fresher fighter. While Gray did his best to limit shots to the wounded eye, the strain of the match was beginning to show.

Gray seemed to regain his composure during Round Five despite the pressure, doing enough to hang on until Round seven, limiting Carruther’s attacks to spread out combinations of punches but the damage was done and just before the start of the eighth round the referee declared Gray unfit to continue leaving Carruthers’ as the new Midlands Area Middleweight Champion after a grueling battle.

Both fighters were respectful from the first bell to the last and Carruthers thanked all those attending for their support.

As for Carruthers’ future endeavours inside the ring, he appears to have his sights set on Navid ‘Nav’ Mansouri who claimed the vacant English Light Middleweight Title this past May against Tyan Booth but only time will tell and one thing is for sure Carruthers’ fan base is chomping at the bit to see him fight like this again



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