Wilson-Bent delivers the perfect left hook

River Wilson-Bent…produced a text-book performance

IT was done and dusted in a little over two minutes, but River Wilson-Bent oozed class in his brief encounter with Pole Tomasz Felsz.

And at last night’s (Thursday’s) Excelsior Sporting Club show, the Coventry contender ended matters with the sweetest left hook I’ve witnessed this year.

Short and immaculately timed, it dropped Felsz like a stone. The Bournemouth based boxer struggled to haul himself up on limbs that disobeyed mental orders and was counted out by referee Kevin Parker at two minutes 19 seconds of the first of a scheduled six rounder.

Former world lightweight king Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, among the VIP guests at the glitzy Premier Suite, Cannock, event, could not have failed to be impressed.

Opponents such as Felsz, brim-full of ambition and fighting heart, but lacking technique, can drag superior boxers down to their level. They can make things messy.

Wilson-Bent made sure class told. He stayed relaxed, claimed centre ring, dictated the exchanges, then concluded matters chillingly. So chillingly, the following contest had to be delayed while Bournemouth based Felsz received medical attention.

Die-hard fight fans will remember the right hand River uncorked on TV to poleaxe Troi Coleman in a Midlands title fight four years ago, dubbed “punch of the year”.

In terms of technique and precision, last night’s left hook was better.

But it’s the performance overall – although short-lived – that will hearten those guiding 30-year-old Wilson-Bent.

Last time out, River faced a raw novice in SA Smith, a man with less competitive action than Felsz, who has now won two of eight.

The blood rushed to his head, he elected to fight fire with fire, became tangled in a slugging match and, after a bruising encounter, came away with a draw.

He dropped to Smith’s level and paid the price.

Last night River let his pedigree prevail.

Wilson-Bent (12st 7lbs) performed with the prowess of a man who has faced the very best and is now pitted against a novice. He fought at his level, not his opponent’s.

And his is a high level. He has had two very close fights with current European champ Tyler Denny, given Ammo Williams – one of the best amateurs in the world – a very hard night and last year featured in a thriller with Ryan Kelly for the Commonwealth silver title.

Both Smith and Felsz are a league below that.

Felsz (12 6lbs) was bizarrely proceeded into the ring by a child dressed as a leprechaun.

There would to be no crock of gold for the outsider.

He came to win – and that was his downfall.

Hands held high, Felsz attempted to force the action, but was nailed repeatedly by right hands to head and body. When River grabbed the initiative, it was curtains – step back, step in, land the left hook. Goodnight Vienna.

“He was there to be hit,” River told me afterwards. “This time, I was told to relax, I boxed smoothly and the last left hook wasn’t even the hardest punch I threw.”

He added: “I’ll take any fight that comes, I’m not scared of anyone.”

The Excelsior represented a much more intimate setting for a boxer who has appeared on major TV shows, but River stressed: “It doesn’t matter where I am, I always come to work.”

There were those who felt River Wilson-Bent was on the slide after drawing with Smith. At the Excelsior he showed he is live and dangerous.