Gary Sykes, Tyson Fury Put on a Show, March Forward

Boxing Scene Leonard Gunning10th March, 2010

SKY Sports weekly boxing magazine show rolled into Huddersfield, Yorkshire last Friday to witness local fighter Gary Sykes, 15-0 (4 KO's) lift the vacant British super featherweight title as he defeated Manchester's Andy Morris, 18-3 (6 KO's), in a 12 round 'War of the Roses' duel that kept a packed hall enthralled throughout.

Both sets of fans packed the auditorium well before the undercard had reached its climax and the rival supporters traded good natured banter in what could be best described at raucous exchanges.

The Wythenshawe-based Morris, accompanied by a chorus of cat calls, was first step through the ropes in a Hatton-esque outfit comprising the dark and sky blue of Manchester City Football Club. The crowd then raised the roof with deafening roars as Sykes was introduced and referee Ian John Lewis quickly got proceedings underway.

Morris (129¾lb) began the bout brightly utilizing his stiff jab and employing footwork that would Rudolf Nureyev would have been proud of as he danced under Sykes' telegraphed left hooks leaving the Yorkshire fighter appearing somewhat foolish on occasion.

To compensate Sykes (128¾lb) increased his work rate delivering significantly more punches than his Manchester foe, however, Morris tucked up well ensuring the majority of this barrage landed either on his gloves or glanced across the crest of his cranium.

Neither protagonist was willing to concede the centre of the ring and this provided for an enthralling battle of wits, wills and stamina. By the fourth round the fight had settled into a seesaw rhythm which continued to the end of the fight with Morris landing a stabbing left jabs to rock the head of Sykes back and 'Five Star' immediately replied with a pair of overhand rights which caught Morris flush. However, each time Sykes followed up the right with a left hook Morris dipped beneath his effort leaving the 'Pride of Dewsbury' with yet more egg on his face.

Into the fifth round and Sykes showed more spirit with sprightly efforts as he pushed forward landing a volley of head shots and Morris returned fire with a crunching left hook to the body. At the end of this session the fight was level on my scorecard but Sykes was about to open a lead that would see him clear a path to the title.

Sykes landed an early combination in the sixth that began to redden the left cheek of Morris, his right hand now seemed like an Exocet Missile but the left was still a Scud! Sykes continued lashing in lunging left crosses as the fight turned into a matador and bull type encounter with the Dewsbury man pushing forward as the aggressor and Morris the Matador gliding across the canvas turning the blonde haired Sykes in circles. But for all his fancy footwork and head movement, Morris failed to reply with enough telling shots of his own and thus failed to clock up rounds on the scorecards.

At no stage was Morris perturbed by the marginally young fighter's toil however Sykes did load up a little more in the eighth round landing two stern clean left hands which found their mark and preceded a crisp uppercut. As the rounds passed in this bruising battle both fighters took turns to delivering rapid fire combination to head and body. Sykes was now scoring more frequently and whereas in the early round Morris was making Sykes miss with wild swinging lefts these shots were now landing and each brought the home crowd to their feet.

The eleventh stanza produced the most exciting period of the bout as both stood toe to toe for prolonged spells, trading punch for punch and putting on a display of exciting all action boxing - Morris lashing at the body, Sykes unrelentingly pushing forward, Morris dancing and gliding - both walking onto heavy shots and they looked to detonate their bombs on each other.

Going into the final round I had Sykes up by five, although the fight overall was closer than that sounds, and Morris needing a stoppage. Morris came out like he had been reading my score card, landing a flurry to the head and another to the body, Sykes predictably pushed forward, walking through Morris' shots but landing only cuffing blows.

Both fighters raised their arms afloat at the end of the fight as well they might. My scorecard read 116-112 to Sykes but I was unsure how to score many of the initial rounds so I quizzed the press row and I got more varying answers than I can recall at this moment.

SKY Sports pundits Jim Watt and Adam Smith gave the fight by one and two rounds respectively, local press also had it to Morris, Boxing News gave Sykes the nod by one but crucially the three judges in attendance all scored the contest 116-113 and 115-114 twice.

On the undercard Tyson Fury, 10-0 (8 KO's), entered the ring donning a Manchester United shirt emblazoned with 'FURY 1' on the back and it was Fury by name and fury by nature as he blasted aside German heavyweight Hans-Joerg Blasko, who falls to 9-3 (6 KO's).

Fury rushed at his out-of-shape foe from the first bell and ensured the German was continuously reminded of the taste of leather as the Manchester fighter's jab was frequently forced in his faced.

A left hook to the body after 30 seconds saw Blasko wobble against the ropes and the heavily tattooed foreigner began to immediately back peddle following his first real experience of Fury's power. As Fury caught up to his opponent he delivered a right cross which sickened Blasko and despite raising to the count of eight he didn't appear very willing to continue. Fury then rocked his head back with a jab and Blasko was bundled to the canvas and surrendered only 2:14 into the first round.

Huddersfield light welter Tyrone Nurse, 12-0 (0 KO's), came back from a heavy second round knockdown to beat 'the Outlaw' Adam Kelly, 11-8 (1 sole KO), on points over 6 rounds. Nurse started brightly ensuring his reach kept the awkward Kelly at bay.

As the second began Wincobank fighter Kelly switched to southpaw which saw Nurse catching Sheffield fighter with a short left hook but as the round drew to a close Kelly unleashed a long overhand right which found the sweet spot and buckled the legs of Nurse and he was forced to take a count. Kelly was unable to capitalise on the knockdown and Nurse then won every round on my card bar the 2nd. Judge Steve Gray scored the fight in a similar fashion, 58-55 for Nurse.

Belfast's brick fisted super bantamweight Carl Frampton, 5-0 (3 KOs), blew away Hungary's previously unbeaten Istvan Szabo, 1-1 (1 KO). Frampton, a two weight Irish amateur champion, delivered a variety of clubbing right hands to ensure the referee had seen enough and called a halt to the bout in the first minute of the first round.

In a clash of East Leeds versus West Leeds, super bantamweight Josh Warrington, 3-0 (0 KO's), squared off against Danny McDermid, 0-1 (0 KO's). In the opening round both fighters ignored defense and began wailing away at each others body. It was high paced action with both obviously wanting to take bragging rights back to their home city. The second canto opened like the first with the pair clashing like rutting stags locking horns.

In the third round a fit and lean Warrington dug deep as his classier work and variety of shots began to tell. As this Leeds Derby went into the last round of the fight the action didn't fizzle out as both combatants tore into each other with hellacious intent however, when McDermid landed a blistering right cross which caught Warrington it made the Austhorpe fighter, who enjoyed over a century of amateur bouts, come to his senses and take his foot off the gas to coast to a points victory. Whilst the referee agreed with my scoring of 40-36 this didn't recognise the performance of McDermid.

Upright Irvine fighter Ryan Brawley 16-0 (1 KO) laboured to a points win over Sebastien Cornu, 7-4 (4 KO's,) and will be happy return to Scotland after this chess match which was scored 59-57 in favour of the winner of last years 'Prizefighter: The Lightweights'.

In another bout that split the vociferous audience Manchester's Jon 'Rocco' Hussey Jon Hussey, 13-2 (2 KO's), outworked and ground down Bradford's Danny Parkinson, 13-4 (4 KO's), over six rounds.

The pair fought an even first two rounds until a clash of heads opened a cut up Parkinson's left eye. Buoyed by the sight of blood Rocco clenched his teeth and landed a violent right hook to the head which exacerbated the Yorkshire man's laceration.

The momentum was well and truly with Rocco in the fourth as he unleashed a combination which finished with a right uppercut jolting Parkinson's head back and left him backing away from the exchange with a cut over both eyes. Referee Phil Edwards had a close look and brought the Bradford to his corner for his trainer Derek 'the Rebel' Roche to clean the blood from his fighters face. Parkinson didn't look eager to return to the action but gamely battled on to the finish.

In the end Rocco's arm was lifted aloft and he was awarded a point's victory on a 59-56 margin much to the delight of trainer Bob Shannon and promoter Tommy Gilmour.

The opener of the night was a lightweight contest between Manchester's Daniel Randell, 2-0(0 KO's), and Wolverhampton journeyman, Carl Allen 18-86-7 (5 KO's), over six rounds.

Randell moved in quickly, bobbing and weaving to back Allen up and landing body shots to try and get Allen to drop his guard. As the fight progressed the Joe Gallagher trained fighter enjoyed greater success with his faster, shorter, sharper work which penetrated Allen's now dropping guard but Allen was have some joy with crude and laboured swinging hooks which somehow managed to find an easily hittable Rendall.

Going into the final round I had the Manchester man a single round ahead and Allen sensed that he might add to his growing tally of draws by meeting fire with fire. Randell's guard was now sieve like and he was devoid of head movement. Allen capitalized landing right after unanswered right to earn a draw on my card. However, Rendall can consider himself lucky as referee scored the bout 39-37 in his favour.

Alastair Warren, 4-0 (3 KO's), impressed as he battered a floundering and forlorn Matt Scriven, 14-64(2 KO's), into submission inside two rounds.

Warren got straight down to business as he forced a bullying against the ropes and gave him a thorough working over which got more intense as the round progressed. The local fighter started up where he left off and teed off on a hopeless Scriven at will.

Whilst wailing on Scriven the Nottingham fighter peeked up from his turtle shell defense to wave Warren in and the Huddersfield fighter duly obliged unleashing a prolonged unanswered attack before referee Mark Lyson stopped the action 2.35 into the second round with 'Scriv' profusely objecting as he was lead back to his corner with blood streaming from his left eye.