British Scene Weekend Recap: Kirakosyan Spanks Lawton in Three

Dave Oakes recaps this past Friday's European super-featherweight title fight between Leva Kirakosyan and Scott Lawton.

Leva Kirakosyan captured the vacant European super-featherweight title on Friday night after demolishing Scott Lawton in three brutal rounds.

Lawton was given a tremendous reception by his hometown fans at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex, but their raucous hollering was soon cut short by the heavy handed Armenian born Russian.

The fight had barely begun when Lawton was dropped heavily from a Kirakosyan right hook, Lawton got to his feet immediately but was clearly on unsteady legs. He back peddled for the remainder of the round and had managed to stay out of trouble up until the final few seconds when a shuddering left hook from Kirakosyan shook him badly.

Before the fight, a few people thought that Lawton might be able to pull off the win if he could establish his jab and unsettle Kirakosyan with movement. It had become apparent after only the first round that there was very little chance of this happening and that it was now more of a case of how much longer could Lawton last rather than if he could win.

Lawton’s legs still looked shaky as he came out for the second round and he was in trouble yet again as Kirakosyan battered him from pillar to post. The end should’ve come when a hard left hook followed by a booming right had Lawton dancing and swaying like a drunkard on ice. The referee should’ve stopped the fight there and then but decided to issue a standing eight count instead, which was even more bizarre considering standing eight counts aren’t acceptable under British rules. Perhaps the referee thought the ropes had kept Lawton up and that was the reason for the count, either way, he should’ve just stopped the bout.

Kirakosyan didn’t have enough time to finish the job in the second round but wasted no time in the third, he charged out at the bell and took Lawton apart with sickeningly heavy shots. When another juddering right sent Lawton’s head spinning and his eyes rolling, the referee finally jumped in to save the brave Stokie from further punishment.

Lawton admitted after the fight that he was considering retiring, he’s 33 years old and having failed in four attempts at a domestic title, I can’t see what other options he’s got left as a fighter. Lawton’s a boxing man through and through, and even if he does hang up his gloves, I believe he’ll remain in the sport in some capacity, most likely as a trainer.

Kirakosyan is also getting on in age (he’s 36) and should look to take any big fights that are offered to him, whether they’re defences of the European belt against the likes of Nicky Cook or even a world title shot if the opportunity arises.

On the undercard...

Whilst one Stoke man suffered defeat, it was a good night for another as Chris Edwards regained the Commonwealth title after a hard battle with the surprisingly decent Abmerk Shindjuu.

Edwards started brightly taking the first four rounds; his all action style seemed to be too much for the Namibian to contend with. Shindjuu began to find his feet in the fifth and the following rounds were nip and tuck with Edwards’ high work rate being countered by Shindjuu’s awkwardness and ability to land sweeping hooks to head and body.

The fight was very close; this was reflected in the three judges’ scorecards which all read 115-114 in Edwards’ favour.

Gary Buckland got the win of his career against the unbeaten Sam Rukundo. Buckland got off to a flyer, catching the Ugandan coming in and dropping him with a well timed right in the first round.

Buckland took the next few rounds as Rukundo looked content to jab his way through the fight and not risk being caught again in a similar fashion to that of the knockdown. The fight turned just before the halfway point with Rukundo, finally realising that Buckland wasn’t as good as the first round suggested, upping his work rate and trying more than just the jab.

Buckland battled back in the later rounds to edge the fight 115-113 on my card (unofficial, of course), where as the judges had it wider by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 twice. Buckland is now in line to fight Commonwealth champion Lee McAllister next.

Danny McIntosh beat former British champion Tony Oakey, stopping the usually durable Portsmouth man in the second round. McIntosh jabbed his way through an uneventful first round, seemingly happy enough to take his time and box his way into the fight.

That all changed in the second round, though, when a McIntosh right hook had Oakey on the floor. An unsteady Oakey got up quickly, a little bit too quickly in my opinion, and elected to trade punches rather than buy himself time. He was hurt yet again by another couple of clubbing rights and fell backwards into the ropes. He took a knee but failed to beat the referee’s count, regaining his feet at the count of ten.

Oakey complained briefly about the stoppage but he’d only got himself to blame, he’s experienced enough to know how to beat a count. In my opinion, he was more hurt than he was letting on and I’d say he was still disorientated when trying to comprehend the referee’s count.

The hard hitting Scott Quigg became the first man to stop Nikita Lukin, halting the usually durable journeyman in the first round. It was a left hook under the rib cage that did the damage. Quigg is one to keep an eye out for.

Craig Watson had an impressive fourth round stoppage victory over the decent Barrie Jones. Watson was in control from the start and methodically picked Jones apart. Watson will surely be back in title contention this year having lost his Commonwealth title to John O’Donnell last year.

Matt Hatton stopped the woeful Mikheil Khutsishvili in the fifth round of a scheduled eight rounder. Hatton didn’t look particularly impressive but didn’t need to be when facing such weak opposition.

Anthony Crolla kept busy with an easy four round points win over Jason Nesbitt.

Stephan Foster Jnr dealt comfortably with the awkward Youssef Al Hamidi to outpoint him over six rounds.

Martin Murray had to battle hard against Shalva Jomardashvili to eke out a close points decision.

Sergey Gulyakevich forced Nikoloz Berkatashvili to retire after two one-sided rounds. I’m not sure why the Georgian was chosen as an opponent as he looked completely devoid of any ideas on how to box, much like his Georgian compatriot Khutsishvili earlier on in the night. Maybe it was a case of paying for one half decent Georgian (Jomardashvili) and getting two free.

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