New heavy Ibekwe scores first stoppage

Simon Ibekwe…stopped Jake Darnell in the second round

NEW heavyweight hope Simon Ibekwe continued his pro apprenticeship with an explosive stoppage of normally durable Jake Darnell.

On Saturday’s packed Eastside Rooms show – the second promotional venture by Anthony Manning, Darnell was stiffened by a right hook and dropped in the second by a carbon-copy follow-up.

The Blackpool boxer rose on unsteady legs and his corner threw in the towel before Redditch’s Ibekwe could inflict further damage. The contest was scheduled for four rounds.

Simon, aged 27, is now unbeaten in two and, importantly, Saturday’s performance showed he’s settling in the paid ranks.

Darnell, aged 30, may have won only two of 23, but, has only failed to hear the final bell five times, not a bad statistic for the sport’s big men.

Trainer Malcolm Melvin said: “That’s what you’re looking for. Listen, Darnell was there to be beaten, he’s there to give you the four rounds.

“We said, it’s about the performance and Simon produced a performance. I looked at the other lad’s record and he hadn’t been stopped for 12 or 13 fights.”

Melvin, a man with years of experience behind him, refuses to make grand predictions about what the future holds.

“Simon’s got a chance,” he said. “He’s working very hard and in that division it’s also about having a bit of luck. If he keeps progressing, he’ll do well.

“It’s early, early days. I’d like to thank strength and conditioning coach Richard Bennett, you can see he’s made a difference.

“Simon still needs to find that bit of consistency. There are times in the gym when he looks out of this world, other days you think, ‘is this the same lad?’.

“He works very hard and trains very hard. If he believes in himself he can do somet