28.09.05 – At 7-0 Kilburn’s Ashley ‘Treasure’ Theophane looked like one of the countries leading prospects in the squared circle, he’d appeared on the under card of the Graham Earl/Bobby Vanzie British title fight and also at Alexandra Palace when Audley Harrison made his last appearance on BBC TV and possible his last appearance in a British ring..
Things looked rosy for the twenty-five year old as he went into 2005, his first appearance in the ring saw him fighting Judex Meemea, a London based Mauritian who is with the Sanigar’s on a Derek William’s show at the Hackney Empire in London. Meemea had just four fights to his name and had drawn three of them and lost the other on points. Although Theophane seemed to throw the cleaner shots throughout Meemea’s work rate seemed to gain him the result 58-57 on Ken Curtis’ scorecard.
At the time Ashley had this to say about the fight with Meemea.
“I was upset with my performance. That fight I was supposed to win hands down.
“But I had never seen him fight before and I was told he was awkward, so that was in my mind a lot. The first round I wanted to see how he was, I wasn’t too bothered about losing that round, I thought the second was a draw, but from the third to the fifth I thought I won and the last I started to move round the ring and relax because I thought the fight was wrapped up.
“I read a lot of the press reports and they all had me losing but I can’t see how. I have watched the fight around 5/6 times and yes he came forward and was throwing punches but most of them were hitting my guard or thin air. I wobbled him a few times but he never hit me as clean as I hit him. I wasn’t bothered about going for the kill as I thought I was winning. So I will learn from that not to leave anything to the referee.
“But that was my worst performance and I can’t live with that lose, so I will try getting a rematch. I got no problem someone beating me up, but I just don’t feel I lost.”
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So it was a blip on his career but Ashley was soon back in the ring again just a month later he appeared on Joe Pyle’s show at the Equinox and gained a four-round points decision over tough journeyman David Kehoe.
Sri Lankan Jus Wallie was next in line for Ashley over six-two’s again at the Equinox and another decision went the Kilburn fighter’s way to take him to 9-1, before he set off for America and some training at the World famous Gleason’s gym in New York in preparation for his next fight against Oscar Milkitas a Lithuanian who started his career with four wins in America before coming to England to continue his career.
With the promise of a deal in America Ashley entered the ring at the York Hall in Bethnal Green complete with balaclava and bullet proof jacket to take on the tough Lithuanian over four rounds. Milkitas started well and I thought he just shaded the first round, referee Davies warned both for not breaking cleanly. The second was equal on my card both again warned for not breaking cleanly, but then Theophane seemed to get his act together and took the last two rounds to win 39-38 on my card. Milkitas also received a cut under his left-eye but Theophane was again warned by referee Davies. “How many times do I have to tell you” he bellowed at Ashley.
When the final bell sounded it was Milkitas’ hand that was raised by the referee much to the disgust of Ashley and many in the crowd seemed genuinely stunned by the decision. Did the referee turn against Theophane for the warnings about breaking?
Ashley is of course once again left to ponder what to do next
“I was supposed to be going back to New York for another four weeks with a planned bout at the end of October, but now all that has gone.
“I haven’t got any faith in the scoring of fights in Britain. My style is appreciated in America but over here you seem to need to fight with your heart to get any decision.
“I am weighing up my options, I don’t know what I will do yet I am even considering packing it all in, all promoter’s seem to be interested in these days is the zero at the end of the record, now at 9-2 my record looks poor, however controversial the decisions have been”
How a career can change in a year with a couple of close decisions going against you, from being a prospect back in March, Ashley is now thinking about a life outside the ring and both fights could have easily gone the other way and today he would be 11-0 and ready to embark on a journey to America.