British Scene Weekend Recap: Groves & Olusegan Win, Moore Stopped by Khomitski

Dave Oakes recaps this past Saturday's Sky Box Office under-card.  Check here for the recap of the main-event between David Haye and John Ruiz.

George Groves put in an impressive performance to take the Commonwealth super-middleweight title in just his ninth fight of his pro career. He out-boxed and stopped Ghana’s Charles Adamu in the sixth round.

Groves made a fast start, dropping the usually durable Adamu in the first round. The champion had come out swinging wildly and was punished by the hard hitting Londoner, who landed a right hook that clipped the off balance Adamu behind the ear and sent him to the canvas. Adamu wasn’t badly hurt and got to his feet almost immediately.

The second round was another in Groves’ favour, with Adamu looking more like a fairground brawler than defending champion. His wild, erratic punching style left him wide open for Groves’ sharp counters.

Groves was landing at will in the third and fourth rounds, his right hook being particularly impressive. He dropped Adamu twice in the fourth, although the first of those looked to be more of a slip than a genuine knockdown. The second knockdown was definitely legitimate as Groves connected with two powerful right hooks that had Adamu dipping to the canvas yet again.

The fifth was another comfortable round for the challenger as he continued to avoid Adamu’s wild attacks and landed his own crisp punches. The end came in the sixth when the referee jumped in to stop the fight after Groves landed a decent right hook that sent Adamu back onto his heels, though it was mainly lack of balance that made it look worse than it really was.

I feel the stoppage was very premature, and despite the one-sided nature of the bout, Adamu was never in any serious trouble and should’ve been allowed to continue. That shouldn’t take anything away from what a good victory it was for Groves, he managed to easily beat an opponent that had caused Carl Froch problems and looked at home fighting at domestic title level.

Groves called out British champion Paul Smith after the fight and that’d be a great fight for both combatants as well as the fans.

Ajose Olusegan retained his commonwealth light-welterweight title in bizarre circumstances after Colin Lynes quit midway though the eighth round.

The fight had been a messy affair with neither boxer dominating. Olusegan took the first round on my card; he was the quicker of the two and landed a nice right hook counter a minute in.

The second round was more even; Olusegan turned from his usual southpaw stance to orthodox and was immediately caught by a Lynes hook. Olusegan landed a couple of shots of his own in response but was looking untidy.

Lynes got himself back into the fight in the third; he was trying to get his jab going and had some success with it early in the round. The best shot of the round was a countering right from Lynes when he was trapped in the corner; it stopped Olusegan in his tracks and was a reminder as to what Lynes is capable of.

Olusegan dominated proceedings from there on; he was still looking ragged but was outworking Lynes for the most part. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight ever witnessed in a British ring and boos began ringing out in the arena during an abysmally unproductive fifth round.

The end came somewhat unexpectedly, Olusegan landed a right hook to the body close in which Lynes seemed to take fine, but a few seconds later Lynes had sunk to the canvas and looked to be heaving and gasping for air. He was counted out before being helped back to his corner.

Lynes admitted after the fight that it wasn’t the body shot that caused his demise, he said that there wasn’t anything left in the tank and that he was now considering moving up to welterweight. This isn’t the first time that Lynes has been stopped in this fashion; he was pulled out inbetween round against Lenny Daws four years ago when he was suffering a similar problem.

It was an unimpressive performance by Olusegan, he seemed to be lacking in finesse and will need to sharpen up his act if he’s to get a world title shot. He’s currently ranked number 2 by the WBC but he’ll struggle to get his opportunity if he repeats this standard of boxing again.

Jamie Moore’s career may be at an end after he was pulled out by his corner at the end of the sixth round of a scheduled ten rounder. He had looked to be struggling throughout the fight against an opponent he would’ve beaten with ease a couple of years back.

Moore had made a sluggish start and was being caught far too easily by Sergey Khomitski, a decent but limited boxer. Moore showed glimpses of his class every now and then, including well timed counters in the third and a tasty combination to the body in the fifth, but he looked flat-footed and increasingly weary as the fight wore on.

The end came after Moore suffered a dreadful end to the sixth round. He was caught by a big right hand that hurt him badly and he looked like he was on the verge of going down as Khomitski unleashed a volley of shots, Moore taking most of them cleanly as he was trapped against the ropes. The bell saved him from getting knocked out or stopped as the referee was taking a close look at him.

After a discussion in the corner, Oliver Harrison, Moore’s long-time trainer, decided to pull him out. It was a compassionate decision and one which should be applauded, Moore has been a fantastic servant to British boxing and no-one wanted to see him getting knocked out.

I feel so sorry for Moore; he’s been one of the best British fighters of the past ten years and should’ve fought for the world title. He’s never received any help in his career, whether it was from his promoter, the referee (Jones rematch), through injuries, or the national press, whose ignorance of boxing would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragically depressing.

Moore should have been a star; he’s a likable down to earth family man who was never in a dull fight, he never ducked a potential opponent, never complained about anything and took his defeats like a man. In short, he was a fighter’s fighter. If this is the end of his career, then I hope he finally gets the recognition he deserves, an MBE should be on its way to the Salford warrior for what he’s achieved and what he’s put back into boxing.

I also feel he’s articulate and knowledgeable enough for him to be used as a pundit for Sky. He knows boxing inside out and would be a welcome addition to what seems to be an increasingly stale line-up at Sky.

Other Results: Carl Dilks beat Carl Drake inside six rounds, Peter McDonagh beat Christopher Sebire on points, Danny Randall out pointed Daniel Thorpe and James Ancliff surprised the undefeated Adrian Gonzalez by inflicting a points decision defeat on him over four rounds.

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