[Tosti]

LW – Johnny Van Heest (14-4-1) TKO8 Martin E Snee (7-4-1)

LW – George Taylor (8-5) MD10 Charles Norton (7-6)

Taylor made heavy weather of beating Norton. After hammering his opponent around the ring in the first round, Taylor fought within himself and managed to lose the fight on one of the judges cards.

BW - Pedlar Palmer (15-2-1) SD10 Eddie Avery (9-4)
Palmer pulled this one out of the fire.

After suffering two knockdowns, in the third and sixth rounds, Palmer staged an aggressive late rally and managed to convince two of the three judges.

A defeat against the unfancied Avery would have been devastating for the Palmer’s title ambitions.

BW – Nunc Wallace (20-4-4) D10 Danny Dougherty (16-3-2)

For reasons only known by Dougherty and his connections he decided to ‘let up’ on Wallace in the last four rounds and coast home.

Wallace made full advantage of the defensive tactics of Dougherty and punished him with some nice right hooks.

The first half of the fight had been all Dougherty, he dominated behind his left jab. After his sould destroying loss against Johnny Murphy last time out, this was another blow to the capable American’s morale.

MW – Young Mitchell (22-4-1) UD10 Irish Jack Burke (21-4-1)

With this ‘bloody’ victory the career of the troubled Young Mitchell (below left) took a distinct turn for the better.

With the battle hanging in the balance after 6 rounds Mitchell went to war. The turning point of the fight came in the seventh stanza when Mitchell landed a right hook to Burke’s temple which sent him sprawling across the ring. After surviving the rest of the seventh round the eighth was worse for him. Most at ringside thought the fight should have been stopped, Mitchell landed blow after blow on the defenceless Irishman.

Burke, to his credit, saw out the 10 rounds but the result was a formality. The years appear to be catching up on ‘Irish Jack’.

Commonwealth and Vacant European Welterweight Title

Abe Hicken (14-2) TKO6 Tommy West (17-2)

Hicken (below right) defied the oddsmakers by hammering Tommy West around the ring for 6 rounds.

West must have believed the bookies for as he entered the ring it looked like he trained for the bout at the local tavern.

The first round was extraordinary, West started like a man possessed. He landed three heavy right hooks to the head and attempted to follow up inside with a right uppercut, as he did so Hicken unleashed a right cross of his own and scored the battle’s only knockdown.

West tried hard to impose himself but Hicken was having none of it. He hammered West relentlessly with hooks and uppercuts, the Welshman as usual gave no thought to defence and eventually paid the price.
West’s lack of condition caught up with him early. Barely halfway through the war West was at a standstill, Hicken took his chance and pounded West around the square. The bout was rightly halted and Hicken was the new dual champion.