Ricky “Digger” Summers took on the highly rated Andre Stirling on the undercard of the Degale, Eubank fight at the O2 arena London (23/2/19) in a light heavyweight British Eliminator contested over 10 rounds. Summers came into the fight against the unbeaten Stirling (10-0) on the back of two good wins since his first pro defeat against British champion at that time Frank Buglioni. At the start of the fight it looked like we might be seeing a big upset as Summers dropped Stirling with a great one, two in the second round. Stirling managed to weather the storm and saw the round out but did look hurt from Summers power. Stirling then grew into the fight and took control with Summer sustaining a nasty cut above his left eye which played a big part in Stirling’s victory. When the final bell went in the 10th round Stirling was the winner, the judges score cards were unanimous with Terry O'Connor having it 97-93, Howard Foster having it 97-92 and Michael Alexander had it 97-92. This was a great fight with Summers asking some big questions of Stirling with him showing he is at British level.
Summer went on social media and put this statement up, the Black Country Boxing wrote “Watched my fight back just was a terrible performance from my self I know I’m a lot better than that the inactivity showed massively in not fighting in nearly a year also first time I have been cut in a fight witch was blinding my vision from the second round. I’ve learnt so much from this I can’t wait for these cuts to heal and get back in the gym. But now it’s time to have some family time and rest up”. Dexter’s Thoughts. I watched Ricky’s fight last Saturday and was very impressed with the heart and determination as he took on one of the most highly rated light heavyweights around. Summers had him down in the second with a great one two and I got to give Stirling credit for getting up and weathering Summers attack for the rest of the round. With the combination of Summers not fighting for over a year, being cut and Stirling being free with his head Stirling took control of the fight and won on a unanimous decision. Summers can take a lot of pride from this fight and has proved that he deserves to be at this level. Summers is 31 now so I hope to see him out a lot this year after he recovers and can see him contesting for British or even European title in the next 2 years.