Kaisee leaves it too late in Euro title bid

McComb lets the punches go against Benjamin

KAISEE Benjamin found top gear too late in his European light-welter title fight with champ Sean McComb and paid with points defeat.

Down the stretch at Resorts World Arena on Saturday, Birmingham Benjamin desperately attempted to pull the fat from the fire, but could not budge the Belfast battler.

He had been outpointed beyond argument, the scores reflecting McComb’s clear edge: 97-94, 97-93, 96-95.

And immense credit must be given to the defending WBO titleholder. He faced a known puncher on the challenger’s turf, boxed smartly and showed old-fashioned bottle to stay with the late surge.

Both men played their part in a cracking, absorbing contest. The possibility of Kaisee turning the tide with one sledgehammer blow provided edge-of-the-seat excitement.

The 10 rounder underlined the frustrations of following 27-year-old Kaisee. A product of Eastside gym, he possesses talent to burn, carries concussive power, has a good engine and granite chin.

But he can wait too long to let the punches go. That’s what cost him against McComb (9st 13lbs 5oz).

That’s what cost him in his previous outing, a points loss to British champ Dalton Smith.

Benjamin (10st) has all the tools to be a top champ. He’s simply guilty of reaching for them late in the job at hand.

That was the case against McComb, a fighter – let’s be honest – he should’ve beaten.

Benjamin prowled, his left hand extended like a paintbrush, while McComb stayed busy and kept his fists churning.

I gave the Irishman the first three as he unloaded with both hands and worked the body.

By the third, Kaisee was bleeding from the nose, but was at last punishing his opponent to the body. Every time he was caught, McComb responded with a flurry and, by the fifth, I’d scribbled in my notebook: “Benjamin waiting too long.”

Yet in the eighth, I wrote, “the tide is turning” as Kaisee hunted down the champ with more urgency and sank in body shots from both hands. One to the midriff clearly registered, with McComb backed against the ropes.

McComb was finally out of his comfort zone and looking flustered. A right hand sank into the pit of his stomach in the ninth and Benjamin found home for a series of clumping, swinging rights.

Time, however, was running out.

Benjamin landed uppercuts and big rights in the last – a session the champ spent in full retreat. Kaisee, his corner and the partisan crowd knew he needed a stoppage. It didn’t come – McComb rode the storm and secured victory: not on ability, not on power, but on workrate.

That must hurt Kaisee and his Eastside team. Let’s be brutally honest, he blew it and is now on the outside looking in.