A knockout success (From Swindon Advertiser)

A knockout success

7:50am Wednesday 21st December 2011 in Boxing

LOCAL boxing fans were treated to an explosive bill of boxing at Neilson Promotions’ white collar event at Swindon MECA on Saturday night.

Twenty-two local boxers went head to head and promoter Mark Neilson was delighted with the crowd and the action on offer.

“This is our second event at MECA and I am delighted with the turnout,” said Neilson.

“Once again we’ve managed to put on some great fights with local fighters, both novice and experienced.

“We did our best to keep ticket prices down as we know it is tough times for a lot of people at the moment and this proved the right approach with a near sell-out crowd”.

The main event of the evening saw Swindon MMA heavyweight Dave ‘Bam Bam’ Gregory pitted against Luke Martin from Trowbridge.

A tentative first round saw both fighters finding their range without either taking the initiative.

But matters livened up in the second after a flurry of punches from Gregory prompted Martin to respond with an accurate combination which sent the Swindon man to the canvas.

Medics were immediately on hand to help Gregory to his feet, who immediately congratulated Martin on the victory.

The penultimate bout of the evening saw Ringside Gym’s Luke Boswell taking on Arfan Khan from Swindon Raw.

It was toe-to-toe action from the bell with neither fighter giving an inch.

Hard-hitting Boswell landed some heavy shots during the bout, which was named fight of the night.

Khan seemed untroubled by Boswell’s heavy punches although the latter won the overall decision.

Another interesting bout saw the re-match between Swindon’s Jake Bonner and Trowbridge’s John Jennings.

Their previous encounter was an entertaining toe-to-toe affair and the pair didn’t disappoint second time around with Bonner clinching the decision.

Dragonslair MMA fighter, Nick Tuckett made his white collar debut and had too much strength for Dan Hart and earned a first round stoppage.

Pals Paul Payne and Gav Towler-Wilson, faced each other in another entertaining encounter with the former boasting too much class for his opponent.

Another fight between friends saw Rich Loveday take on Sean Curran.

In an action-packed encounter, Curran was forced to take two standing counts as Loveday secured a convincing victory.

The only draw of the night saw local heavyweight novices Paul Fletcher and Niall Howard share the decision after a toe-to-toe battle.

Other bouts saw Lee Penny, giving away nearly a foot in height to Jamie Canavan, claim an impressive points decision while Robbie Burton faced Luke Richards, who had only been in Swindon for three weeks, having travelled down from his native Liverpool.

Richards proved unpopular with the crowd due to his constant complaining to the referee, but it was his hand that was raised in what proved to be a hotly-contested result.

Finally, novices Aiden Hills and Neil Pickering contested an entertaining bout with Pickering taking the decision.

Neilson Promotions are planning another event in April and are looking for new boxers to join the bill.

Contact Neilson Promotions on events@neilsonpromotions.co.uk or by telephone on (07005) 100 135.

Full results: Luke Martin stopped Dave Gregory in round two; Luke Boswell beat Arfan Khan on points; Jake Bonner beat John Jennings on points; Nick Tuckett stopped Dan Hart in round one; Paul Payne stopped Gav Towler-Wilson in round one; Paul Fletcher drew with Niall Howard; Rich Loveday beat Sean Curran on points; Lee Penny beat Jamie Canavan on points; Marci Janecki stopped Mark Johnson in round three; Luke Richards beat Robbie Burton on points; Neil Pickering beat Aiden Hills on points.