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12th - London, England
Bill-topper at the London Arena was a ten round welterweight clash between local lad Lloyd 'Honey' Honeyghan and American Marlon 'Magic Man' Starling. Honey was anything but sweet, and the Magic Man failed to conjure up a victory in this close fight.
Starling got of to an impressive start. Honeyghan took the opener but then dropped the next three, with Starling staying out of range and picking him off. However, from the fifth round onwards both men stood toe to toe, and this seemed to favour Honeyghan, but only slightly. All the rounds were close.
Starling suffered a cut above his right eye in the fifth. If it bothered him, he didn't let it show, although the cut was inspected in the final round.
Honeyghan took a close unanimous decision, with scores of 96-95 [x2], and 97-94 to improve to 2-1-1. The more cynical amongst us may claim a hometown decision, though this wasn't the case, as Honeyghan did edge it....slightly. A game to the end Starling dropped to 2-3 [2] and is a promoters dream. Like's to stay busy and will fight anyone.
American heavyweight 'Big' John Tate got blown away by South Africa's Gerrie Coetzee to drop to 11-11 [8]. He was counted out at the 2.32 mark of round one. Coetzee, 13-12 [5], stormed out in destroy or be destroyed mode from the opening bell. Tate was stunned immediately, and didn't lay a glove on the 'Bionic Man' while it lasted. After a salvo of blows to the head, Coetzee finished his man off with an uppercut. Tate dropped like a felled tree.
Crawley middleweight Alan 'Boom Boom' Minter had an easy[ish] night against record padder Anthony Bartinelli, winning every round before stopping him at 2.48 of round seven. Bartinelli had only just beaten the count after being floored following a combination of blows to the head. The referee asked if he wanted to continue. He looked dazed and the contest was waved off. Minter, who improves to9-8 [3], was worryingly cut again, over his right eye, in the first minute of the opener.
American welter Saoul Mamby won an eight round unanimous decision over the game Peter Buckley. Scores were 78-75 [x2], and 79-74. Buckley was dogged throughout, but was simply a few notches below Mamby, who now improves to 3-1 [1].
Heavyweight's Trevor Berbick and Colin Wilson stunk the joint out with their eight round majority draw. Scores were 77-75 Wilson and 76-76 [x2]. Berbick is now 9-10-3 [6], Wilson 0-8-1. Nuff Said.
In the eight round lightweight opener, both Art Frias and Viktor Baranov gave it their all. Frias got the majority verdict with scores of 77-76,79-74, and 76-76 . There were some lively, if somewhat messy, exchanges and both men dug deep. Both men are now 3-6 [1].
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