Ryan shines at his favourite fight hall

Woolridge on the attack. Pic: MSN Images/Manjit Narotra

BOXING at his favourite venue, Bescot Stadium, Walsall, proved inspirational for Ryan Woolridge, who dropped Octavian Gratii in round five before taking a wide judge’s decision victory.

The Bloxwich 23-year-old  is a huge Walsall fan and made his debut at the Bescot  in 2021. Friday was the first time he’d boxed in his home town since that night, with his last six bouts being spread across the Midlands.

Entering the ring to the very festive “Merry Xmas Everybody” and he and his team in Santa hat’s you could be forgiven for thinking Woolridge may have been overlooking his Romanian opponent. However, after all the fun of the ring walk, the tall southpaw light-middle got straight to work, using his size and range to pick apart his smaller opponent.

Woolridge worked hard to create angles and dug-in body shots which slowed down the 60 fight veteran. The knockdown came in round five, it didn’t appear to be a heavy shot and to his credit Gratii bounced straight back up and made it to the bell.

Judge Chris Keane gave the away corner one round but the knockdown and general dominance from Woolridge saw him rightly take the 59-54 points win.