On Friday night’s Frank Maloney promotion at York Hall in London, Tony Oakey put in the most impressive performance of his career by knocking out Peter Haymer to retain the British Light Heavyweight title for the second time..
It wasn’t an easy fight for Oakey as his taller opponent well knew the champion’s style from their initial clash of 2005 and Haymer made Oakey pay in the early rounds with long counter punches that maintained a favorable distance for the challenger.
But Oakey kept his attacks up and was soon getting to grips with the challenger, who preferred to clinch on the inside rather than to try and swap punches with the short, stocky champion.
By the middle rounds, Haymer was no longer able to pick off the onrushing Oakey with the stick and move strategy and much to his detriment, began to trade with the Portsmouth battler.
With Haymer’s height and reach advantage negated, Oakey began to extract revenge for his close and controversial loss to Haymer three years ago, battering his nemesis with rattling right hands and short, chopping left hooks.
Oakey’s short arms were in constant motion and despite his 32 years, he seemed to get busier with each passing round and Haymer was unable to keep up. By the sixth, Haymer began to look for one big shot at a time that would keep off the buzzsaw of spite that Oakey had become but his successes didn’t slow down the champion who charged full speed ahead.
The eighth saw Oakey finally start to flag due to the torrid pace he’d set but Haymer didn’t have anything on his shots and by the ninth frame, a blazing counter left hook from Oakey caught Haymer flush, hurtling the challenger to the canvas where he was counted out at 2:10 of the round.
Oakey improves to 25-2-1 (7) and is heading toward either a Commonwealth or European title challenge while Haymer falls to 17-5-1 (5).
On the undercard there was a parade of Frank Maloney prospects on display with all but one entering into the winner’s circle.
Fast handed super featherweight Akaash Bhatia, 10-0 (2), had a good workout against durable Bulgarian Wladimir Borov, 16-43-1 (6), along the way to winning his first eight round bout.
The only Sihk boxer in Britain, Bhatia impressed with lightning quick combinations and was never troubled by Borov enroute to a 80-73 points verdict. “Kash The Bash” is making rapid headway in one of Britain’s more competitive weight divisions and the 24 year old Harrow man is heading towards his first title opportunity in the near future.
Powerful welterweight Mark Thompson moved to 14-1 (8) with a bruising two round stoppage over the normally durable journeyman Darren Gethin, 8-12-5 (2).
Thompson, who had moved up to light middle on short notice last summer to give reigning WBC International champion Vincent Vuma the fight of his life in a losing effort, hammered his opponent with a blizzard of leather that painted punishment all over the head and body of Gethin, who did not come out for the third round.
The 27 year old Mancunian could be heading towards an opportunity for the vacant English welter title this spring.
Promising light heavyweight Tony Salam, 7-1 (3), was shockingly stopped by former Commonwealth Games champion and Olympic contestant Courtney Fry, 11-1 (5).
Awkward southpaw Salam’s lack of activity encouraged Fry to come forward and the prospect missed one wide punch too many as Fry crashed a weighty combination to the chin that sent Salam to the canvas for good at 1:07 of the sixth.
With the victory, 32 year old Fry may have worked his way into a title shot against either British Champion Tony Oakey or Commonwealth king Dean Francis.
Super featherweight Henry Castle, 16-4 (8), won the fifth bout of his last six appearances by outboxing French journeyman Frederic Gosset, 11-42-2 (3), on points 60-54.
Ex-British heavyweight title aspirant John McDermott, 24-3 (15), outboxed Norway based Russian Daniel Peret, 10-11 (3), over six frames to pick up the 59-55 points win.
McDermott, who has only come up short in domestic title bouts over the last three years, will head into a clash with Pele Reid for the vacant English crown in April.
Women’s boxing sensation Laura Saperstein, 2-0 (0), stepped up a weight class for the second straight time and pounded out a decision victory at light welter over the Ukraine’s Olga Varchenko, 0-1 (0), who was making her professional debut.
Saperstein was forced to deal with Varchenko’s wrestling and clinching style but gained enough room to rattle off numerous combinations and a few impressive right hands to pick up the 40-36 win after four rounds.
Welterweight Scott Woolford, 6-0 (1), picked up a 40-36 points win over Terry Adams, 6-10-1 (2), in a four rounder and Jamie Radford improved his record to 3-0 (1) with a 39-37 victory against Johnny Greaves, 0-9 (0).
Frank Maloney Promotions will return with to action on Friday, March 8, 2008 when slick southpaw Rendall Monroe of Leicester challenges big punching European super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez of Spain at the Harvey Hatton Leisure Centre in Nottingham, England.
Commonwealth bantamweight champion Jason Booth will put his crown at risk for the first time as he meets undefeated WBO Intercontinental titlist Lante Addy of Ghana.
Full support undercard features light heavyweight Brian Magee going against Tyrone Wright and light welter Scott Heywood squaring off with Gary Reid.
Tickets are priced at £75 and £35 and are available by logging onto www.frankmaloney.com or by calling the Box Office at 0871 226 1508.
Sky Sports will televise live on SS1 starting at 9:30PM GMT.