Minaaz throws shots non-stop in wide win

Gurung and his team celebrate fourth win. Pic: Jack Perry

LEE Spare, trainer of Minaaz Gurung, accurately summed up my appraisal of the all action Nepalese fighter’s landslide win last night.

At Coventry’s Sports Connexions, the light-welter threw punches non-stop from first bell to last against experienced Jake Osgood. He won every minute of every round, registering a 40-36 shout-out from referee Ryan Churchill.

Gurung, from Nuneaton, needs to show more patience, Spare told me. He needs to step back and weigh-up his options.

“You have to look for openings, then let the shots go,” Lee said. “I was telling him to take a step back.

“The power is there, I feel it on the pads. But he’s so eager, he jumps in.”

“We are getting there,” the coach assured me.

That mirrors my assessment. Minaaz relentlessly threw punches to head and body – and at times his churning fists were a blur - against an opponent who spent long periods against the ropes, gloves cupped around his face.

The problem was, they were the same punches. Minaaz needed more variety.

Osgood took everything flung at him and, in the last two rounds, took it with a grin on his face.

It was all a little frantic. Minaaz would’ve been better served lowering the gears, working the angles and placing shots. He needed to think about his work rather than get swept away in a torrent of adrenaline.

Journeymen such as Carlisle’s Osgood, who was having his 50th fight (one win), are there to help a young boxer learn his craft.

They provide the opportunity to try things that have been worked on in the gym. Instead, Gurung blazed away, the attacks became predictable and Osgood, his left eye red and puffy, coped with what came his way. An awful lot came his way.

But we can’t be harsh on unbeaten Gurung, whose grandfather served in the Gurkhas. This was only his fourth pro bout and he is very much a work in progress.

Those at Eastside gym tell me Minaaz has a heart as big as a bucket. Last night we discovered he has a remarkable engine – truly remarkable following news Gurung was felled by a virus just five days before the bout.

“I had the maddest fever,” he told me. Of the fight, he said: “I should’ve been a bit more relaxed, he was a tough lad. I needed to think more.”

That he does, but he had far too much drive and ambition for Osgood, who was already covering up in the first as Gurung (10st 1lb 12oz) threw shots to head and body.

My notes for the second simply state: “Gurung working head and body but needs to slow down.”

He didn’t.

In the third, Osgood (10st 9lbs 2oz) spent long periods on the ropes, occasionally slinging counters back.

My notes for the fourth state: “Story of the fight – Osgood on ropes, hands round face. Gurung throwing to head and body.”

Minaaz Gurung is a brave, entertaining boxer with a colourful back story – he is this country’s only Nepalese born fighter.

He is also a boxer with much still to learn. He has shown the stamina and spirit needed to step up to 10 round class. Now Lee Spare has to instil in him the subtlety a champion requires.