MJ adds to Baker’s boxing education
Jay Griffiths in command. Pic: MSN Images/Manjit Narotra
CONOR Baker gained some valuable rounds and experience beating one of the sports busiest fighters, MJ Hall.
The super lightweight prospect from Tipton made his debut in October and after considerable time away from the sport has ended his year with back-to-back wins.
Hal,l boxing in his 115th bout, fancied a tear up at the Bescot, Walsall, on Friday night and let his hands go in the early stages.
Baker used good footwork and hand speed to land counter punches before he asserted his dominance in the later half of the fight, taking a 40-36 win.
Baggie Boy Jay Griffiths bloodied and beat Paul Cummings over four gruelling rounds, getting his third win of the year since joining the paid ranks in July.
The 28-year-old from Wombourne has a white-collar background but showed he has made the step up to the pro game with some quality work inside and great use of the uppercut. Cummings, boxing for the 86th time, was busy early, Griffiths’ better work told, with a 40-36 win.
After a tricky last fight Ryan Griffiths handled a potential banana skin of an opponent in Stu Greener wel,l getting the decision win. The 22-year-old from Dudley was dropped in his last contest against Stefan Vincent and made sure there wouldn’t be a repeat of that night, showing improved defensive work and a higher punch output.
Greener was lively as ever and kept Griffiths honest. He managed to win one of the four rounds but it was the latter who took the win, 39-37.
Ameen Khalid had to settle for a draw after four hard-fought four round’s against Tatenda Mangombe, 38-38. Mangombe, who hails from Zimbabwe but now boxes out of Chatham, has been on a brilliant run of form, beating contenders Lewis Morris and Lewis Wood in his previous two contests.
The pace of the fight was frantic and Khalid, the neater boxer who came in the fight unbeaten in seven, had to work for his openings and try to cope with the very unorthodox style of Mangombe. It got a little rough towards the end as Khalid was warned for hitting after the bell, but the Worcester man may feel a bit hard done by that he didn’t get his hand raised as he was landing the cleaner shots.
Callum Blockley was boxing away from his home city of Leicester for the first time and the Carl Greaves promoted 27-year-old will have been happy with his performance, beating Ukrainian Mykhailo Sovtus 60-54.
A Midlands title shot could be next for ‘Blocko’ who improves his record to a perfect 11 straight wins.