[Ian Lord]

9th - London, England

Bill topper at the London Arena on a cold December night saw British middleweight champ Maurice Hope defend against mandatory challenger Alan 'Boom Boom' Minter.
It was the second time these two had met, with Hope stopping Minter in the ninth in May 2005 to win the vacant title. This was his first defense.
Hope, who began the year as British, Commonwealth, and European champ, had had a bad year coming into this fight, having lost all three bouts this year, although they were all in good company. Hagler for the world title in January, although Hope pushed him the distance, followed by defeats to Ayub Kalule and Sumbu Kalambay, in which he lost his Commonwealth and European titles respectively.
Now to the fight itself, and there isn't much to write about. It was nip and tuck throughout, with neither man willing to commit himself, drawing loud boos from the crowd at some points. At the end of the ninth, Minter was slightly ahead, althought he was beginning to fade. For once though, his face wasn't marked up. However, Hope, seeing his title slipping away, took the last three rounds to win a unanimous decision, with all three judges turning in scores of 116-114. Hope improves to 4-4 [1], and is now the official challenger to European champ Sumbu Kalambay, who fought in the chief support. He will also meet Ayub Kalule in an eliminator for the Commonwealth title.

In the chief support, European middleweight champ and former undefeated African champ Sumbu Kalambay, met New York hardcase Iran 'The Blade' Barkley, who always comes to fight. Kalambay came out strong for the first, winning the round comfortably, but was then dropped for a two count at the beginning of the second, following a vicous hook from Barkley. He quickly recovered and opened a cut over Barkleys right eye at the end of the round. A slight mouse appeared under Kalambay's left eye.
However, Kalambay took command in the third, winning the next four rounds comfortably, with the ringside doctor inspecting Barkley's cut in the fifth.
During the seventh round, despite frantic work from Barkley's corner in between rounds, the cut above his eye became more severe, with Kalambay working away at it. Again, the dotor had another look at it and allowed the fight to continue but, when later on in the round when he was summoned again, everyone in the arena knew there was only going to be one outcome. With the blood flowing into the eye of Barkley the referee, after consulting the doctor, rightly waved it off, to give Kalambay win number fifteen out of 15, six early. Barkley dropped to 12-8 [5].

Puerto Rican lightweight Sammy Serrano stopped Mexican puncher Bazooka Limon with fifty-six seconds of this ten round contest remaining. The end came when Serrano opened up a bad cut above the eye of Limon. The referee stopped the bout, with Serrano winning comfortably on all cards at the time, after outfoxing Limon all night long. Serrano improves to 5-3-2 [1]. Limon drops to 3-5 [2].

An entertaining heavyweight ten rounder saw former world title challenger Tony 'TNT' Tucker unanimously outpoint contender James 'Buster' Douglas with scores of 95-92, 95-91, and 94-94.Douglas was dropped in the second, and again in the eighth. He looked as if he was going to go in the tenth as well, but the bell rang, saving him. Tucker, who is now back from the wilderness, improves to 11-9 [7]. Douglas drops to 7-7-1 [2].

Talented heavyweight Greg Page, made short work of Marvin Camel, finishing him off at 2.25 of the first, with the referee saving Camel from any further punishment. Page improves to 16-6 [10, whilst Camel drops to 2-11.

There were wild celebrations from Anthony Bartinelli who, after losing his first twelve fights, finally got a win when he stopped Reggie Johnson after fity seven seconds of the eighth and last round. Johnson was ahead on the scorecards at the time but was felled by a combination. Bartinelli moves to 1-12 [1], whilst Johnson drops to 1-1-1.