The Seaburn Centre in Sunderland, England was the site of British super flyweight champion Lee Haskins’ dominating defense against challenger Ross Burkinshaw on a Frank Maloney promotion this past Friday. English title holder Burkinshaw’s plan was to stay defensive in the early rounds in hopes that the awkward southpaw champion would tire but Haskins foiled the strategy with hard, accurate punching. Haskins was nearly perfect in his ability to split the guard of Burkinshaw with strafing combinations that ultimately caused the contest to be stopped at 1:09 of the fourth round..
Haskins improved to 19-2 (10) after making the first defense of his British title while Burkinshaw fell to 6-2-2 (4).
2008 Olympic bronze medallist Tony Jeffries, 3-0 (3), dazzled a packed hometown audience at the Seaburn Centre with a heavy shelling of Ilya Shakuro, 2-2 (1), of Belarus, forcing a first round stoppage.
Light heavyweight Jeffries showed impressive punch selection abilities and never let Shakuro get in the contest.
Undefeated light middleweight Brian Rose, 13-0-1 (3), mounted a career best performance against French brawler Francis Togba Tchoffo, 5-3 (3), using a stick and move approach that dropped Tchoffo in the second and earned Rose a 79-73 points verdict after eight entertaining rounds.
Promising heavyweight Dave Ferguson, 9-2 (3), outslugged Russian spoiler Daniil Peretyatko, 16-24 (6), to capture a 59-56 points win after six frames while welterweight stylist Chris Mullen, 5-1 (2), won all four rounds against tricky veteran Kristian Laight, 6-62 (5).
The boxing Dickinson brothers of Newcastle were both victorious in scheduled four rounders as cruiserweight Jon-Lewis, 4-0 (0), handled seasoned big puncher Hastings Rasani, 20-42-3 (16), by a score of 40-37 and light heavyweight Travis, 3-0 (2), knocked out Hamed Jamali, 9-7 (1), in the second.
Welterweight slugger Trevor Crewe, 2-0 (2), canvassed Danny Dontchev, 1-10 (1), twice for a first round stoppage while super flyweight Kyle King, 1-0 (0), enjoyed a successful pro debut by outpointing durable Delroy Spencer, 11-87-3 (1), over four.
Frank Maloney Promotions returns to the George Carnall Centre in Manchester, England on Friday, July 24 when Jamie Moore defends the European light middleweight title against France’s Jimmy Colas and Gary Davies puts his British bantamweight belt at risk against former champion Ian Napa. Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland heads the undercard.
Tickets are priced £85 and £40 and are available from the Box Office on 0871 226 1508 or at a discount from www.frankmaloney.com