[kenyan_cheena]

THE LONDON TIMES

Tuesday 18 July 2006

Jackson jabs his way
into semi-finals

Story by James Simpson

East London native Ashley Jackson kept alive his quest to become the International Boxing League's first Inter-Continental Welterweight Champion last night with a 7th round knockout of the Australian Hector Thompson in Paris. Having scored an impressive and unexpected 3rd round stoppage of 2nd seed Miguel Velasquez last month Jackson started as a favourite to get past Thompson and did not disappoint. Jackson is fast becoming a national celebrity here in England, being especially popular with the ladies due to his handsome good looks and extroverted personality. Unsurprisingly then, he made his way to the ring escorted by a quartet of eye-catching blonde beauties, Robbie Williams' "Let Me Entertain You" aptly pumping out of the arena's speakers.

Jackson had admitted to being a "little bit naughty" during the six weeks since his win over Velasquez and it must be said that he did not look to be in tip top condition. Even so, he made weight for the fight and after the opening couple rounds his appearance would have been all but forgotten. After dictating the action in the 1st Jackson dropped Thompson with a flush cross midway through the 2nd and then continued to dominate until its end. Jackson is a southpaw and that potent right hand lead of his was constantly in the Australian's face, Thompson seemingly helpless to combat it. He showed signs of promise in the 3rd but it was only fleeting, Jackson back in the driver's seat in round four.

He stayed there for the rest of the contest, spectacularly flooring Thompson three times in the 7th. He couldn't beat the count after the concluding member of the trio, which came from a crushing right-left salvo. The bout was over at the 2:44 mark, Jackson a winner by knockout. His record is now 8-0(7) while Thompson suffered his first career defeat and fell to 7-1-1(4). Jackson was ecstatic afterwards, embracing his corner crew and acknowledging his supporters in the crowd. Still excited during the post-fight interview Jackson took the time to say thank you to all his "lads back home" and gave a special message to his parents, looking into the camera and saying "Your boy's makin' somethin' of himself now, 'ey?" with a smile showing from ear to ear.

In the semi-finals Jackson will square off against the man who was on show in the evening's main event, the 3rd-seeded Frenchman Francois Pavilla. Delighting his compatriots, Pavilla stopped Jackson's fellow Englishman Ernie Roderick on cuts in round six. It had not been the most fascinating fight to that point but that didn't bother the crowd, who cheered each time the Martinique-born Pavilla landed anything substantial. He's now 14-1(9) and will no doubt be the biggest challenge Jackson has faced in his career to date. In the other semi-final Japan's Akio Kameda takes on the German Reinhardt Kohler. It's something of an unexpected outcome, as Kameda stopped the 4th-seeded Aussie Justin Rowsell and Kohler defeated the tournament's #1 seed Roberto Cruz by unanimous decision. He produced a great effort to get past the Filipino in a hard-fought, entertaining bout.

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Quarter-final results

(#15) Jackson KO7 (#7) Thompson
(#5) Kameda TKO6 (#4) Rowsell
(#9) Kohler UD8 (#1) Cruz
(#3) Pavilla TKO6 (#11) Roderick

Semi-final matchups

(#5) Akio Kameda (9-1(6)) vs (#9) Reinhardt Kohler (8-1(4))
(#3) Francois Pavilla (14-1(9)) vs (#15) Ashley Jackson (8-0(7))

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