The Ultimate boxxer series was back in Manchester (19.7.19) at the Ice arena with the cruiserweights taking the centre stage. Ultimate boxxer is a Prizefigher type show where 8 fighters battle for the Lions share of £50,000 prize money, the eventual winner will have to beat three opponents over 3 three minute rounds to claim the golden robe. The Midlands were being represented by 2 cruiserweights in the competition with Anthony Woolery whose record stands at 1 win and 1 defeat and Matt Sen who had only lost 1 in 6 fights with both fighters hailing from Wolverhampton. Also on the undercard we had the original winner of the first Ultimate boxxer show the very talented Drew Brown from Northampton.
Anthony Woolery took on the favourite to win the competition Mikael Lawal in the first quarter finals. Woolery was put down in the first round by a good right hand, he managed to get to his feet and fought back hard to see out the first round. In the second Woolery came back strong and really gave Lawal (9-0) a torrid time claiming a share of the round. Round three saw Woolery press and pressure the favourite all the way to the final bell winning the final round.
The 3 judges scored the fight 29-28, 28-28 and 30- 27 in favour of Lawal but this was a very brave and determined effort by Woolery who really impressed a lot of people on a very big stage.
Eastsides Matt Sen was in the final quarter final against another favourite in the competition Damien Chambers. Sen weighed in at 14 stone 1 pound with Chambers (5-0) weighing 13 stone 13. Sen started well pressing Chambers from the first bell, Chambers kept his composure using his jab well looking to set Sen up. Sen was warned by the ref for hitting Chambers on the back of the head. When the fight continued Chambers caught Sen with a barrage of hooks which where set up by the jab which put Sen down. Sen got to his feet and was allowed to continue Chambers caught Sen with a sharp straight left hand which put Sen down again. Sen got to his feet again and seemed ok but the ref deemed he was not able to continue to Sen's protest.
Sen took to social media after the fight and write this status. The Slugger wrote “So tonight didn't go as planned. Was ready for an out and out war but the ref stopped it relatively early on and in my opinion very prematurely. We are in the hurt business and I wasn't hurt at all but hey, I guess that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Some great exposure and some real exciting things to follow so win, win situation for me this. The journey continues and to top it off met some great people along the way. Thank you for everyone's support.
After the semi finals had finished the original Ultimate boxxer winner Drew Brown took on Lewis Van Poetsch in a 4 rounder on the undercard. Brown showed fast hands and good shot selection threw out the fight working Van Poetsch’s head and body well. Van Poetsch who was having his 117th fight covered up well and just seemed to be enjoying being on such a big platform. Brown won the fight 40 to 36 and moved his unbeaten record to 12 without defeat.
Mikael Lawal beat Damian Chambers in the final in the first round by TKO winning him the golden robe and the £15,000 winners purse.
Dexter’s Thoughts
It was great to see Drew Brown back on the big stage getting a good win against the seasoned journeyman Van Poetsch. Brown is 12 – 0 now and has got to be given a shot at a title, I think he has proven that he has moved beyond the Midlands title but I’m not saying Brown taking on the hard hitting Kaisee Benjamin wouldn’t be a awesome fight but I think he needs to be looking higher up now. I could see Brown fighting for the English or British and winning at Welterweight or even fighting for some form of European title and fingers crossed he gets his opportunity soon. Matt Sen rolled the dice entering this competition and was unlucky getting drawn against one of the favourites in the quarter finals. Sen got caught early and was put down twice, when he got up the second time he seemed to be ok and able to carry on. The ref stopped the fight with Sen telling him he was ok and I got to say when he got back to his feet he did seem fine. The ref had a hard decision to make and it is up to Sen to convince the ref he is ok, to be honest putting my ref cap on as it was just a 3 rounder I would have given Sen one more chance and would have stepped it the next time he got into trouble. I will say the ref must have seen something to stop the fight and Matt Sen lives to fight another day, he has been give big exposure and if he learns from this like he said in his status, it’s a win, win. Anthony Woolery’s stock has gone up even though he lost, he was put down in the first round and came back strong in the second and third. If it wasn’t for the knock down in the first I think he may have got though to the semis but I will say I was impressed with his heart and will to win.