Civic crowns new English flyweight boss
Championship boxing returned to Wolverhampton Civic Hall with Louis Norman becoming the new English flyweight title holder this afternoon.
Shepshed's Norman took the belt after a strong second half of a 10-round fight against Northampton's Nathan Reeve, taking the decision with all three judges.
Robert Chalmers had it close at 96-95, John Keane decided on 97-94 and Terry O'Connor scored 97-93. It took nothing away from a big battle between the two little men.
The card's other title fight saw Burton's Tom Shaw shed blood, sweat and tears to be crowned British Masters Bronze welterweight champion, in a fight contested over eight rounds.
He was sliced open by a clash of heads in the second round but battled on to lose just one round against Chesterfield's Kris Davey, deservedly handed the spoils by 79-73 with Chalmers.
On the under-card, Tipton's Ricky Summers finished a nightmare 2013 with a bang as a first round stoppage marked his first inside-the-distance victory as a professional.
His mother, Shirley, sadly passed on some months ago before injury problems delayed his comeback further. He stepped through the ropes for only the third time this year as a result.
It didn't tell as the light heavyweight bashed about the only-once-stopped Joe Walsh, with a clubbing right hook that perforated his opponent's eardrum and made him sink to the canvas.
Walsh rose but returned to his knees, clearly in great pain, with Chalmers taking action to end the bout with just 142 seconds on the clock.
Wolverhampton's Des Bowater scored a hard-fought super featherweight victory over a capable adversary in Swindon's Joe Beeden. A points shut-out was recorded at 40-36 with Chalmers.
'The Wednesfield Warrior' had to battle to take all of the four rounds in a test, working the body in the third and rattling Beeden with a stiff right hook in the fourth, but he survived to the bell.
Bloxwich's Luke Paddock added the experienced Graham Fearn to his winning record as he moved to 5-0 as a professional at light welterweight.
Paddock stuck to his boxing and picked shots around Fearn's high guard, rocking his head back with a right uppercut in the third. Another points shut out with Chalmers was the result, 40-36.
Redditch's Andrew Robinson, a product of Lions ABC in Dudley, bloodied the nose of Mark Till as he also recorded a four-round points landslide.
Swadlincote's Craig Wilshee dropped Luke Osman twice in the third round of their super middleweight contest to score 40-34 on points with Chalmers.
In the show's opener, debutant Paul Holt saw off Michael Stupart, again at super featherweight. The heavy-handed Brummie had his opponent running for cover to win by 40-36 on points.
Meanwhile, amateur super heavyweight Lloyd Ransom bowed out of the ABA Novice competition at the national semi-final stage after a majority points defeat on Saturday afternoon.
Cleaner work from Luke Watkins, from Fitzpatrick's in Swindon, led him to the final in Class A, for boxers who had two to 10 bouts. It took place at Great Barr Leisure Centre in Birmingham.
