Tommy Owens Promotions headed to Coventry to the Mercia Banqueting suite where they were hosting the ‘Battle of Troy". The show consisted of five fights with four of them being over four three minute rounds. The main event was the unbeaten and very talented River Wilson-Bent having his first six rounder, Refereeing on the night was Chris Deen. Results David Seymour v Ricky Leach (F) - 38-37 Seymour wins on points. Dilbag Singh v Dmitrij Kalinovskij (HW) 40-36 Singh wins on points. Michael Green v Paul Ducie (W) 39-37 Green wins on points.
Troy James v Dean Evens (SL) 40-36 Jones wins on points. River Wilson Bent v William Warburton (M) 60-54 Wilson Bent wins on points
Unfortunately I was not at the show but one of Birmingham's top managers, coaches and boxing guru Jon Pegg was to give his verdict.
Peggy's Thoughts
Great show at the Mercia suite Coventry yesterday to celebrate the career of Troy James
First up on the TOP card was a return for Michael Green who fought the tough and game welshman Paul Paul Ducie Green boxed well taking the first two rounds behind a great jab and some long punches as Ducie had to show a great chin as he absorbed a lot of shots. Rounds three and 4 Ducie started to land with some swings as he turned it more in to a scrap. Green kept his boxing together and fought up close when he had to to take this fight 39 37.Credit to both lads on punching right up until the final bell ref Chris Deane was the man in the middle for all 5 bouts.
David David Nelson-Seymour went up against the much bigger Ricky Leach in a warm up for his midlands area title fight with Matt Windle in Nov and it nearly all went wrong. After punch picking and boxing beautifully for three and a half rounds the entertaining SEymour deciding to get a bit more aggressive and have a brawl with the 7 pounds heavier Leach. Forgetting defence and just letting hooks fly David walked onto a tremendous shot just before the finish and went down very heavily. Clambering to his feet at a count of four Dave looked a bit unsteady and his corner were relieved when the final bell went midway thru the count. His early lead was more than enough to ensure the win but cornerman Warren Smith said he has to remove these lapses in concentration if he wants to win the coveted area belt.Score was 38.37
Another return after an absence was popular Dilly Singh who came back against Dmitri Kalinoski Singh landed heavy shots and boxed well on the front foot as Dimitri tried to counter any mistakes with fast right hands. Good to see the Paul Hudson trained battler back doing what he does best After winning every round of a well fought 4 rounder Singh made his intention clear one more fight then onto the area title early next year. score was 40 36
Bedfords hugely popular River Wilson-Bent bent took the step up to his 1st six rounder against one the most experienced men in the country Will Warburton last night. Will is an acid test that many young prospects have faltered against and he has some great wins on his record that make any fight with him a risky proposition. Strangely enough I had to do the stool in Wills corner as the house second for the evening Lee Spare helps Rivers trainer Brendan Norman in the corner.The one advantage of this was i got to hear first hand how impressed Will and his corner man were with the ever improving Bent. First two rounds Bent got to work but was a little too close as the vastly experienced Warburton managed to negate most of the big shots coming his way as River set a hellish pace.
Rounds three and Four learning while on the job River used his size and reach to create room and really bang in some hard body shots around both sides and if it wasnt Warburton in the other corner i have no doubt we would have seen an early finish. Ever improving Bent kept up the pace and switched continually from head to body as will slung back some real hard counters to keep the younger man at bay. This was a really impressive performance and one of the better iv seen against will by a young prospect in some time. Score was 60 54 and afterwards Bent visited Warburton in the dressing room to ask for advice on future fights which Warburton was happy to give and was full of praise for this young prospect. Big news coming for Bent this week.
Onto the main event and Coventry got a chance to say good bye to one of its bravest warriors in recent years in Troy James. Wanting his last fight to be in his home city Troy took on hard punching veteran Dean Evans over rounds. This was to be no walk in the park as evans came to win and Troy with the whole room supporting him had to be on his best form to stay in front. With Glen Glenn Smith in the corner helped by Paul Hudson and the rest of the red corner team troy was in safe hands though. Baning away with hooks to body and head a couple of times troy looked like he might force a stoppage particulary with the left hook under neath the elbow but Evans was fighting hard and always fired back. A bad head clash was worrying as i thought it may have caused a cut but Troy shook it off and kept working away. Troys signature good headmovement was evident and if this wasnt his last fight youd have swore he still had a few years left in the game. Finishing strong for all his fans Troy left nothing in the ring and won every round to send all his fans home happy including his partner natalie and there 4 kids who were all there cheering James on. Now getting ready to bring along the next generation of Coventry fighters along with Coach Glenn Troy has been a pleasure to work with and im sure we will see him in the near future turning lads into the champion he was. Enjoy the future Troy and thanks for such an exciting career