British Scene: Hall Shocks Napa To Claim Title, Jeffries Still Unbeaten But Unimpressive

Dave Oakes recaps the weekend's British boxing action.

Stuart Hall produced a shock on Friday night, claiming the British bantamweight title after Ian Napa retired at the end of the eighth round. The fight had been close up until that point but I felt Napa had finally started to establish his superiority in the three rounds prior to the unforeseen finish.

Hall started the fight well, he used his considerable reach advantage to keep Napa at bay and landed a few straight rights in the first three rounds, not many landed flush but they were clipping or scuffing Napa, who was struggling to get in range. Napa did enough to take the second round on my card, but that was as much to do with Hall’s lack of work-rate as it was Napa’s sporadic successes.

It was hard to separate them in the third round; Hall was still boxing cautiously and not landing a huge amount cleanly, whilst Napa was concentrating on landing body shots that he evidently thought would have a debilitating effect on Hall in the later rounds. The best punch of the round came from Napa, a double left hook to the body just before the bell that seemed to make Hall flinch with pain.

Napa continued with the body assault in a quiet fourth round that he just edged. Hall did land a solid right but he was far too negative in my opinion and let Napa steal the round through his more accurate work.

The pace of the fight quickened in the fifth with both fighters throwing more punches and both landing more frequently. It was Hall who took the round on my card though; he seemed to land the better shots, with the straight right being his most successful.

The sixth and seventh rounds were still close affairs but it seemed to me that Napa was starting to work out Hall’s style and weaknesses and he began to establish a modicum of control over the Darlington man. The body shots were still working well for Napa but he was now landing to the head more regularly.

To his credit, every time he was caught with a good punch, Hall came firing back with a shot of his own, not all of them landed but he gave the impression that he wouldn’t allow Napa to dominate proceedings.

Napa really upped his work-rate and aggression in the eighth, he landed a great overhand right early and then went to work with a ferocious determination that surprised Hall. Napa was really loading up on his punches and nearly knocked out a spectator three rows back with one wild haymaker that missed Hall by about four foot.

Yet again Hall fired back with the right but Napa was having his best round of the fight. I thought that he’d worked out Hall and was going to carry on in the aggressive manner for the rest of the fight. It turned out it was the last effort of a man who knew he was struggling physically.

There was no indication as the bell sounded to end the eighth that it was also going to be the end of the fight. As Hall’s corner geed up their man, Napa was telling his that he was spent physically and he couldn’t carry on.

I was shocked that Napa pulled out when he was seemingly beginning to boss the fight, but a fighter knows better than anyone how he’s feeling and with the obvious dangers that come with boxing, I’d much rather see a boxer save himself from any lasting damage rather than being too brave for his own good.

Napa has battled hard many times before in fights and no-one can accuse him of quitting without good reason - it’s not in his make up as a fighter. He said after the fight that the arena was stifling hot and that, combined with struggling to make the weight, made him feel like there was nothing left in the tank.

With the way the fight ended, and with the age Napa is, it may turn out to be the end of his career, a career that has had many high points but will be remembered as much as one in which he was awfully unlucky in so many ways.

The win for Hall has got to be the surprise of the year in British boxing. He deserves the victory for the way he kept trying to match Napa whenever the former champion was on the verge of gaining control of the fight. Hall showed a doggedness that will serve him well in future fights. He’s a very basic fighter, he concentrates on throwing one-twos rather than letting the punches flow and is a bit too upright for my liking, but you can’t fault the way he went about business on Friday night.

Tony Jeffries kept his unbeaten record after blasting out Matt Hainy inside two exciting rounds. There wasn’t much dexterousness in the way Jeffries went about his work, he just clubbed away recklessly until Hainy crumpled under his hefty whacks.

Hainy was down twice in the first round, both from clubbing rights; the first knockdown was followed by another heavy shot as Hainy was on the canvas. Despite dominating the round, Jeffries was getting caught far too easily and had his head rocked backwards by a big left hook as the round came to an end. The fight was all over in the second as Jeffries detonated a rib crunching left hook that left Hainy in a crumpled heap.

The shot that finished the fight shows that Jeffries has got a boxing brain, the way he brought Hainy’s guard up with head shots before landing the body shot was impressive, but he’s really got to calm down and keep a control of his emotions as he steps up in class. He would’ve been in trouble if he’d been in with a puncher, not many fighters can walk onto clean punches at a higher level like he did against Hainy and get away with it.

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