Droitwich's Sian O’Toole ticked all the boxes as she shone in a fantastic display of boxing as she was crowned Midlands Area Featherweight Champion at the Eastside Rooms last night (20.12.23). O'Toole took on the tough and very game Beccy Ferguson over ten two-minute rounds headlining the BcB show of the year called ‘A Fight Before Christmas’. O'Toole proved in just her third professional contest that the twenty four year old has the skills to dominant the Featherweight division in a very competitive and entertaining contests that went the full ten rounds. This was Ferguson’s fifteenth contest of her professional career and she had already fought for the super Featherweight Midlands Area title losing to Vicky Wilkinson in November 2022. Ferguson (33) was on a role coming into this contest after winning her last three fights. O’Toole weighed in eight stone thirteen with Ferguson coming in eight stone twelve with Chris Dean reffing.
Ferguson came out strong and landed some good shots at the start of the first round as she looked to rough up O’Toole. O’Toole came back with good shots of her own and just edged the round. O’Toole had settled in the second and used her jab well with some nice one, twos landing the back hand several times to win the round. O’Toole moved well in the third as Ferguson looked to get on the inside, O’Toole landed great shots as she avoided Ferguson’s attacks. Ferguson seemed to step it up in the third landing some good shots, O’Toole moved well landing nice one, two’s on the back foot as she countered well. The fifth was Ferguson’s best round as she pressed O’Toole and had joy with her back hand and managed to rough O’Toole up on the inside, O’Toole had some joy in the round but Ferguson won this one.
O’Toole kept the distance in the sixth and got back to using her jab to control the space and landed some nice back hands, Ferguson had some joy but O’Toole took the round. Great movement by O’Toole in the seventh who continued to box well using her jab to control the fight, O’Toole was warned for using her elbow, with O'Toole sustained a cut above her left eye after a clash of heads. Shaky start to the eighth by O’Toole with Ferguson tiring to put it on O’Toole due to the cut she had sustained in the last round, O’Toole composed herself and got back to her boxing getting back on her jab and edging the round. Hard fought ninth by both fighters with both of them having joy in a very competitive round, would have to give it O’Toole on the cleaner shots. Ferguson pressed forward in the final round but O’Toole just continued to move well countering on the back foot tying Ferguson up when needed and getting the cleaner shots off,
Ref Chris Dean Scored the contest 98 to 92 O’Toole, I had it 99 to 91 O’Toole.
Sian O’Toole the new Featherweight Midlands Area Champion.
Dexter’s Thoughts
What a great fight to finish off 2023 and what a great advertisement tor female boxing. Sian O’Toole ticked so many boxes in her first ten rounder and her first title fight in just her third pro contest. O’Toole proved she can do ten rounds; she can stay composed under pressure and even sustaining a nasty cut she kept her head and boxed like a top-level veteran. But every great contest needs two fighters and even though the score card does no express this Beccy Ferguson gave O’Toole a great fight and asked her questions every round. To me it just seemed O’Toole was a step ahead of her and had already anticipated Fergusons attacks. This was a great fight and I can see O’Toole fighting for much bigger titles in the very near father as I’m sure BcB will be looking to get this talented boxer onto TV promotions, congratulations to Sian and I look forward to seeing her fight again next year.
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