AN injured left shoulder put paid to the hopes of local flyweight Tommy Frank when he first fought Rosendo Hugo Guarneros on Dennis Hobson’s drive-in boxing event in the main Sheffield Arena car park in December. At the end of their rematch in the overspill car park, it was the Mexican visitor who was left celebrating once again – the recipient of a split decision victory.
I thought Tommy, forced to work off the back foot for long periods by the more aggressive Guarneros, was just a touch off the pace. He was scoring, with some crisp, clean shots too, but I didn’t think he was landing enough in the closer middle rounds. I kept expecting him to kick on but it never really happened. Meanwhile, the terrier-like Guarneros, admittedly not always the most accurate with his work, just kept chasing. He refused to surrender his early-won gains and made sure in the later rounds.
Howard Foster had Frank 115-113 ahead at the finish, but Phil Edwards and Darren Sarginson both scored in favour of Guarneros – 117-112 and 115-113 respectively. For what it’s worth, I had Guarneros winning 116-112. The referee was Steve Gray.
Just one second remained in the fourth of a scheduled six-rounder between Reece Cartwright of Leeds and Wolverhampton’s Antony Woolery when referee Sarginson waved a halt to proceedings. A spell of sustained pressure from Cartwright prompted his action.
Already three rounds to the good, Reece noticeably quickened the pace going into the second half and Antony found himself increasingly under fire and having to work off the back foot. The late burst, hot on the heels of a more-than-decent left cross, signalled another gear change and there would likely have been more of the same had it been allowed to go on.
Another inside-the-distance winner was Sheffield’s Keanen Wainwright, who needed less than two rounds of a bout slated for eight to hand Buxton’s usually durable Irvin Magno the first stoppage loss of his career. There was certainly no cause for complaint at the decision of referee Sarginson, which came with 15 seconds of the round to go. Irvin was still unsteady despite having risen after being sent to the canvas.
Manchester’s Michael Gomez Jnr looked sharp against tough Nicaraguan Cristian Narvaez. The gritty Narvaez did what the Nicaraguan ‘opponents’ do best – he dug in, soaked up the pressure and replied just enough to keep it interesting. But in the main, it was a case of Michael pressing behind the jab and scoring with neat combinations and regular uppercuts. It came as no surprise that referee Andy Brook should turn in a card reading 80-72 to Gomez.
Popular local Perry Howe recorded his first inside-schedule win by halting hugely experienced yet limited Latvian Jevgenijs Andrejevs at 2-32 of the third and penultimate round. Andrejevs’ long black hair regularly formed a curtain across his face, which couldn’t have helped his cause. Even the application of copious amounts of tape by his corner didn’t manage to solve the problem. At one point he had more tape in his hair than he did on his gloves. A good advert for the manufacturer, no doubt. Mr Brook officiated.
The first bout on the show was a female four-twos between Bolton first-timer Linzi Buczynski and a regular visitor from Romania in the shape of Gabriella Mezei. The debuting Buczynski, growing in confidence as the contest progressed, ran out a 39-37 winner for Mr Brook. However, Mezei made sure that there was never too much daylight between the pair.
There were shutout 40-36 wins for two more new starters, the first of those being Buxton’s Adam Sircar. Busy throughout, Sircar came out on top at the conclusion of a watchable encounter with Stockport centurion Jamie Quinn. There was a victory too for Salford’s exceedingly popular Jake “Jumbo” Andrews, who delighted his army of supporters by bossing proceedings against Trafford’s game Scott Williams. The respective referees were Mr Sarginson and Mr Brook.
The Verdict Some awful weather and a lacklustre showing from the England football team sets the scene for a home defeat in the main event.