Boxing

 

Holiday Wears Down Artango!

by Tony Nobbs

27.09 - Philip Holiday, 148 lb, registered a TKO victory when Australian Ernie Artango, 146 ½ lb could not answer the bell for round eight of a scheduled ten on the Gold Coast in Queensland last night. After shading the opening two stanzas, the ex IBF Lightweight boss began to take charge in the third and gradually wore down Artango with a constant attack, mostly to the body. Both boxers were obviously carrying ring rust, Holiday being out for 15 months and Artango for 3 ½ years, but showed plenty of skill in a highly entertaining bout. Artango is no slouch and did some good work in spurts, especially from range but could not not match the experience of his rival in close. He connected low with 30 seconds left in the sixth and refere Derek Milham breifly called time out to allow Holiday to recover. When the fight resumed Philip went on the attack backing Ernie up with two right hands before going back downstairs at the bell. The former IBF # 3 Super Welter, Artango, came back in the seventh to land some clean shots but ended up spending his petrol money and was caught with a right hand in the closing moments.

Holiday,32, who entered the ring to "All Things Are Possible" by the Hillsongs Christian Choir takes his record to 37-5-1,22 ko but most importantly, is back in the winners list for the first time since August 1999 when he scored a ko 4 over Stephan Carr in his native Sth. Africa. Artango drops to 17-2-2, with 8 ko. In the dressing room post fight, Holiday said " Ernie would've done so much better if he had have got on his toes and boxed me. He didn't have the condition to fight the way I wanted to fight. I'm very happy, being out of the ring for a long, long time. I put pressure on myself by taking on a hard opponent first back and so did Ernie. I can't expect things to fall into place first fight. Obviously it takes practice and I thank God for getting me back in the ring and taking care of me."

At the end of the bout, the born again Christian kneeled in centre ring and rejoiced for several seconds. Trainer Bernie McFadden later added "We knew going in we had to put pressure on Ernie, not let him dictate the pace. Ernie is the best boxer in Australia at this weight, but after a few rounds we saw him tiring and Philip just kept to the plan". Prior to the bout there was a minute silence for local trainer Norm Stewart who passed away on Wednesday after an illness. Stewart was one of the gentleman in this game, an unsung hero somewhat who worked with the likes of Julian Holland, Gavin Topp and the promoter of this fight, Jamie Myer at different stages of their early careers.


Philip Holiday Finally Back To Work Tonight!

By Tony Nobbs

26.09 - Former IBF Lightweight Champion Philip "No Deal" Holiday (36-5-1,21 ko) returns to action tonight (Friday) in a ten round International non-title bout with former Super Welterweight contender Ernie "Cobra" Artango at the Southport RSL Club on the Gold Coast in Queensland. At last night's weigh-in, 32 year old Holiday eventually scaled 67.3 kg (148lb) on his second attempt after being required to drop 3 pounds. Artango came in at 66.4 kg (146 ½ lb).

Needless to say, it is an important bout for both boxers if they wish to get back into the world scene. Artango,33, with a record of 17-1-1,8 ko has not fought since outpointing New Zealander Alberto Machong in January 1999 and looked in terrific shape when he stripped down. In 1997, he was the leading contender for Raul Marquez' IBF 154 lb belt, being rated #3 with the top two positions vacant. He was based at the time in the U.S with Australian trainer Charlie Gergan but managerial changes and spots of inactivity saw him relocate back to Australia. He is a former Australian Middle and OPBF Super Welter Champ and turned pro in 1992, following in the footsteps of older brother Dale who campaigned successfully between 135 and 140 lb. The former Australian Amateur rep of PNG heritage is managed by Noel Thornberry and has been sparring WBA #10 Super Middleweight Ricky Thornberry as Ricky gets ready to meet Anthony Mundine on November 2, at Carrara Stadium, also on the Gold Coast.

South African born Holiday was last in action in June last year losing on points to Anders Sykes in Denmark and has been permanently based in Brisbane since early this year. He was scheduled to face Jawad Kaliq in England for the IBO Welterweight Title in June only to see the fight fall through. Both boxers were in training when this fight was put together last month by promoter Jamie Myer.

Considering the AFL Grand Final is in Melbourne on Saturday, there has been good media interest, due to the fact Holiday stopped Jeff Fenech in two rounds in the Hall of Famer's final bout in 1996.

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