This past Friday evening at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre in Nottingham, England, Frank Maloney staged a promotion that saw super bantamweight Rendall Munroe take the European title from hard punching Spaniard, Kiko Martinez, by majority decision, televised by Sky Sports..
Munroe, 14-1 (6), masterfully controlled the pace of the bout to his advantage, never letting the Spanish bull set up shop on the inside and deterring Martinez, 17-1 (14), with a stiff southpaw jab. In the later rounds, Munroe put the champion in the unexpected position of having to fight backing up and peppered the Iberian along the ropes enroute to taking the 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114 majority decision victory.
In the chief support bout, Commonwealth bantamweight champion Jason Booth, 29-5 (11), fought off the spirited challenge of Ghanaian hard man Lante Addy, 5-1 (3), responding to the aggressive African’s efforts with stinging counters and heavy left hooks. Addy never stopped pressing the action but after 12 rounds, Booth emerged to retain his title for the first time via scores of 118-110, 118-111 and 117-111.
Veteran light heavyweight Brian Magee, 30-3-1 (19), was also in action, snapping the five fight win streak of fast-handed Nottingham man Tyrone Wright, 7-2-1 (3), taking the referee’s scorecard 58-54 after six rounds.
Promising light welter Scott Haywood, 17-2 (3), won his fifth bout in a row, outboxing Stoke strongman Gary Reid, 13-19-1 (8), on points 59-55, over six rounds.
Belfast heavyweight prospect Scott Belshaw, 7-1 (6), was shockingly upset by Russian journeyman Daniel Peret, 12-12 (3), in a six rounder, losing by a single point, 59-58. Welsh light welter Gary Buckland, 13-0 (5), stopped Alexander Spitjo, 4-4 (3), in three.
There were a quartet of four rounders on the bill. Light heavy Adie Whitmore, 7-0 (4), outpointed Hamed Jamali, 9-5 (1), light heavy Rod Anderton, 10-2-1 (3), decisioned Mark Nielsen, 6-6 (2), featherweight Barrington Brown, 5-3-1 (2), posted a winning verdict over Peter Allen, 5-29-2 (0), and light heavy Rasham Sohi, 3-0 (1), stopped Phil Goodwin, 2-1 (0), in the final frame.