by James Slater: Last night, in Barnsley, England, a terrific little battle saw 22 year old Andy Bell of Nottingham outpoint reigning British super-flyweight champion Chris Edwards over 12 all-action rounds. In an intense and fast paced battle of attrition, the younger man prevailed by a unanimous decision over the 31 year old veteran. The scores were 117-111 twice and 115-113. To give you an idea of how hard each man worked, the punch stats showed how both fighters threw in excess of 600 punches each – with Bell landing roughly 20 or so more..
Champion Edwards, who had really began to make a success of a career that once saw him lose six bouts in a row, had a bad start. With the younger man’s fast hands and good boxing causing him all sorts of problems, the 31 year old from Staffordshire quickly fell behind on the scorecards. The pace was frantic, and remained as such right until the final round. Bell, who was taking a step up in class, scored a knockdown in round three, when a right hand decked a partially off balance Edwards. This served to further the champion’s plight.
With scarcely a clinch to speak of, both men gave it everything they had for round after round. Edwards’ face was starting to swell up by the 6th, and by this stage this writer had yet to give him a round. The tough old warrior succeeded in making it his type of fight at around the 8th round stage, however, as Bell began to tire. Edwards was no way near fresh himself, though, and a gruelling fight was well and truly underway.
The action, which had been superb to watch, inevitably became a little scrappy in the late rounds, so fatigued were both men. And who could blame them! Would the younger, but less experienced man be able to keep from falling apart in the last two rounds? The answer – much to the credit of the 22 year old who was engaging in only his 14th pro fight – was yes. Edwards did his best to come on strong, but Bell’s early lead, increased as it was with the knockdown, was too much for the defending champion to overcome. Bell was a worthy winner, yet as commentator Jim Watt remarked, this fight was so good it was a shame we had to have a loser.
With his great win Bell improved to 11-3(3). While Edwards, who was making the first defence of his British title, fell to a misleading 11-13-3(3). A rematch would be more than welcome. Firstly, however, both boxers have earned, and are in need of, a good rest!