Dave Oakes recaps this past Friday's Commonwealth and British super-bantamweight title clash between Jason Booth and Matthew Marsh.

Jason Booth claimed the vacant Commonwealth title on Friday night, in addition to making a successful defence of his British super-bantamweight title. He had to use all of his experience and ring savvy to grind out an arduous stoppage victory over Matthew Marsh. The end came due to a nasty cut above Marsh’s right eye but the fight had been very even up until that point.

It was Marsh who started the better, his movement was causing Booth all kinds of trouble early on, every time Booth tried to land a telling blow, Marsh took a step back or to the side that left Booth hitting fresh air. When Booth did manage to get himself in range, Marsh blocked most of the punches before countering classily.

Booth’s miserable start was made worse when an accidental clash of heads towards the end of the round opened up a cut above his left eye.

Booth did slightly better in the second – a round that I scored even – but it was Marsh who went on to dominate the next three rounds. The Londoner was controlling Booth with his stiff jab and clever movement whilst using his size and reach advantages to their maximum.

A firm left hook dropped Booth in the fifth, Booth was more embarrassed than hurt but it was a legitimate knockdown and it was starting to look as if it might be the end of the resurgence of Booth’s career. Booth lost the fifth round widely, the only positive in the round being that he opened up a slight cut above Marsh’s right eye; it was a cut that was to play a major part in proceedings later on.

The knockdown seemed to wake Booth up and from the sixth round onwards he produced a sterling comeback. He started to close the distance between himself and Marsh down quicker and was now slipping Marsh’s jab as well as getting his own shots off better.

Booth took the seventh round on work-rate alone; he attacked with the ferocity of a man who knew his title was slipping away. He was now landing punches to head and body as he finally found his rhythm and timing.

Rounds nine and ten saw Booth produce the kind of silky boxing he’s known for, he was picking Marsh off with fast combinations and was taking advantage of the fact Marsh seemed to be tiring. The cut above Marsh’s eye was noticeably worsening during the past three rounds, obviously not being helped by Booth targeting it with slashing jabs and hard looking left hooks.

Marsh started the eleventh round well but his eye was now bleeding that freely that the blood masked his face. The referee took Marsh to his corner to let the doctor examine him before waving the fight over.

Two of the three judges had Marsh ahead at the time of the stoppage, whilst the other judge had Booth edging. For the record, I had the fight level going into the eleventh. Booth admitted afterwards that he thought Marsh was winning the fight.

With the way the fight ended, and how close it had been up until then, a rematch is a must. There’s a strong possibility that Rendell Munroe will vacate the European title if he gets a world title eliminator, which could possibly see Booth and Marsh clashing for all three domestic titles in the rematch.

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