[Ian Lord]

January 13th, 2006.
London, England. In an eliminator for the European middleweight title, currently held by Britains Maurice Hope, local lad Allan Minter took on Italy's Vito Antuofermo, and he didn't dissapoint in front of his home-town fans.
Minter took the first round comfortably, relying on his boxing skills to keep the rugged Italian at bay. The two men mixed it up on the inside in the second, with Antuofermo getting the better of the exchanges. Minter had a talking to between rounds, and came out and took the third the same way he won the first round, by keeping Antuofermo at a distance.
Minter coasted the rest of the fight, taking every round except the fifth, and dropping his foe in the last with a flurry of punches. Minter suffered a cut in the eighth round, which has become all to common for him, although it wasn't threatening as it was below his right eye.
The scores were 97-93, 98-91, and 96-93, all in Minters favour. This win sets up another interesting domestic scrap with fellow Brit Maurice Hope who currently holds the British, Commonwealth, and European title's at this weight. Minter is the mandatory contender for the British and European title's and Hope must defend them against him by the end of the year, unless he upsets the odds later this month and takes the World crowm from Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

In a bout between two top ten contenders, Uganda's Ayub Kalule met Frank Tate of the USA. It was a boxer v puncher match, with Tate relying on his boxing skills, whereas Kalule wanted to get inside and force the action, with neither man getting the advantage, hence the draw when the scores were announced.
Tate took the opening two rounds, scoring a flash knockdown in the second with a wild overhand right. The third was even, with neither man looking to have the advantage, in fact neither man looked as if thety wanted to throw a punch, and the crowd showed their displeasure. Kalule edged the fourth, then Tate took the next two rounds, albeit closely. After that Kalule took control, landing the heavier shots and swelling both of Tate's eyes up in the process, which looked as though it may force a stoppage. It didn't and the scores were 97-94 Tate, 96-95 Kalule, and 95-95 even.

Undercard Action.

Hot middleweight prospect Michael Nunn totally dominated his opponent Anthony Bartinelli, before putting him out of his misery at the 1.48 mark of round seven with a perfect cross. Bartinelli looked a bloody mess at the end of the fight and was well beaten, also tasting the canvas in the second.

Cornelius Boza-Edwards and Ernesto Espanan put on a terrific scrap over ten rounds, whic ended in a draw. The scores were 94-93 Edwards, 94-93 Espana, and 94-94 even. It really was that close. Edwards won the most rounds, but also tasted the canvas three rounds, going down in the third, fourth, and seventh rounds. These two will now face each other in a rematch next month as this was a lightweight elimination tournament matchup, and here's hoping that the second bout is as good as this one.

Livingstone Bramble won a unanimous decision against Harry Arroyo with scores of 98-94 twice, and 97-95. There were no knockdowns but Arroyo ended the fight badly cut and swollen.

A lot of fans made the long journey south to watch Scotlands Jim Watt meet Rafael 'Bazooka' Limon. Watt put on a brave display but couldn't seem to stand up to 'Bazookas' shots and was counted out in the eighth round, after being down in the opening two rounds. Watt took the third, fourth, and sixth rounds, with the seventh pretty even, but Limons shots finally took their toll after 41 seconds of the eighth.