Ryder Revives Career,Gill Defeats Doyle And Cheeseman Schools Byfield

By Steven Bateson

John Ryder’s career revival continued as he secured a shot at the WBA Super Middleweight Championship with a seventh round stoppage over Russian Andrey Sirotkin at the Copper Box, London on Saturday night.

Ryder’s career was wrote off after a split decision loss to Rocky Fielding in 2017 but three stoppage victories in a row have now propelled him into position to face a world champion in his next fight.

Sirotkin was expected to adopt a southpaw stance but came out orthodox and was able to establish an effective jab from the get go. Ryder was pressing forward but struggling to land anything of note in a scrappy opening round, the Russian taking the stanza after following a jab through with a solid right that snapped Ryder’s head back.

They traded left hooks in the second and Ryder closed the distance with hooks but still it was a very cagey affair, Sirotkin choosing to throw single punches whilst Ryder seemed more inclined to apply pressure rather than go to work with his own shots. The fight was yet to catch fire and it resembled more of a chess match as Ryder was trying to get to grips with the very bizarre style of the visitor.

Sirotkin continued to have success with a long looping right and although he wasn’t hurting Ryder with any punch he was scoring a lot more frequently than the Londoner. The bout was lacking in the drama and entertainment department but results wise it was Sirotkin who was putting rounds in the bank without doing any spectacular.

Ryder (now 27-4 with 15 KO’s) was looking a little flat footed and thrown off by Sirotkin’s tactics but he did up the pace in the sixth as he tried to force the Russian into fighting his fight. Still, however, Sirotkin was not a willing target and Ryder was unable to find the right kind of punches to swing the pendulum in his favour. The fight was very scrappy in close and Ryder left the sixth with a deep gash over his left eye off a clash of heads.

The cut did seem to spur some life into Ryder from the seventh and he stepped on the gas as Sirotkin began to wilt under the sustained pressure. Ryder was swarming to head and body with clubbing blows and the Russian’s legs were belying him; finally a right to the body put Sirotkin down and he had no desire to rise and continue as the referee waved it off.

Ryder has really turned his fortunes and career around and is now on the cusp of fighting for a World Championship, a clash with Callum Smith is quite likely sometime in the early part of 2019. He is a testament to never giving up and believing in yourself. He did struggle at times here with a very awkward opponent but he figured him out and got the job done.

Jordan Gill rose to prominence with a seventh round stoppage over the rugged Ryan Doyle, winning the Commonwealth Featherweight Championship.

Another fight billed as the classic boxer versus puncher but in this one it was the boxer who put on a show and even overpowered his more aggressive opponent.

Jordan Gill was about his business from the off and was snapping off his jab, keeping Doyle off balance and second guessing what was coming next. Doyle was trying to close the distance down and wing in the big bombs but Gill was able to slip away from them with ease, boxing his way to a comfortable early lead.

Doyle closed the gap and nailed an overhand right in the third but Gill was soon back on his heels with the jab before sinking a neat left hook to the body. Doyle was looking a little one dimensional as he loaded up but was missing wildly with his attempted knockout punches.

It was Doyle billed as the puncher but in the fourth he was rocked to his core by a right/left hook combination as Gill switched to a southpaw stance. It looked like Doyle was in serious trouble as his legs buckled from another short left and then he fell back into the ropes where his head was sent into the stratosphere by another left hook but somehow he managed to see out the round, withstanding heavy weather whilst trapped on the ropes.

The defending champion tried to box a little more in the fifth, trying to restrict Gill’s success, but whether fighting at range or in close he was just a step behind his opponent. Gill dropped Doyle off a left to the body in the sixth, although Doyle was off balance at the time, and although the fight was only at the halfway point it was already looking a foregone conclusion.

Doyle threw caution to the wind in the seventh as he tried to go to war with Gill but soon came undone after another thunderous left hook. Doyle was dazed and confused as he fell back toward the ropes and Gill poured it on with a vengeance which prompted the referee to jump in and wave the fight off.

Jordan Gill (now 22-0 with 6 KO’s) is a very talented prospect and he showed here that he also has another spite in his punches to worry anyone in the domestic division. He is likely to be put forward to challenge for the British title should Ryan Walsh get past Leigh Wood.

Ted Cheeseman produced a tremendous performance to stop Asinia Byfield to win the vacant British Super Welterweight Championship.

It was seen as a 50-50 fight, Byfield’s skills against Cheeseman’s pressure game, but it was anything but as Cheeseman had it all his own way on route to a comprehensive and hard-hitting points victory.

Cheeseman, as always, was on the front foot from the get go and looking to push Byfield back, stamping his authority on the bout. Byfield seemed comfortable, though, on the backfoot with jabs to head and body, although he was flicking with his shots rather than putting any power behind them.

Cheeseman (now 15-0 with 9 KO’s) seemed to sense the lack of power in his opponent after the opener and began to close the gap from the second, bullying Byfield back and snapping in hurtful shots to the body at every opportunity. Byfield was trying to answer back with body shots of his own but there was no venom in them or any substance to make Cheeseman back away.

Constant stabbing shots to the body were the punch of round three and then in the fourth Cheeseman took the pace up another notch as he trapped Byfield back on the ropes and forced him to absorb a relentless onslaught. Byfield’s movement had slowed dramatically and he was a sitting duck for combinations and then two stiff uppercuts right up through his guard as the round reached its conclusion.

Cheeseman then ploughed a right down the centre in the fifth, backing Byfield up, and as his opponent tried to turn out of the danger he ate another flashing right that dropped him on the seat of his pants. It was more a cuffing blow that caught him flat footed rather than a sense scrambler but it was another point on Cheeseman’s ledger, it was already looking a daunting task for Byfield to catch up.

Byfield’s lack of power was letting him down and he was just wasn’t able to keep Cheeseman away, the Bermondsey man able to slip a jab easy before hammering home a right hand in the sixth. Byfield did have a brief bit of success in the seventh as he let his hands go to head and body but still nothing that could force a relent in Cheeseman’s forward momentum. 

Cheeseman’s nose was bloodied, proof that Byfield was landing, but he continued to charge forward and had Byfield stunned again in the eighth with an overhand right as his foe tried to open up. Byfield was making a fight of it in close, showing his mettle and grit, but he was now relying on landing a Hail Mary punch that he quite simply did not possess.

Credit to Byfield for his heart but there may be question marks for his team about allowing their man to continue to take a sustained beating, Cheeseman just walking him down and landing at will. Byfield was incredibly fatigued and it was glaringly obvious that he had no chance of winning as the fight neared the championship rounds. 

Cheeseman hurt his man twice again in the eleventh with two leg stiffening uppercuts and then another overhand right as Byfield sagged back on the ropes. Byfield bit down on his gumshield and fired back with his own punches, emptying the tank, but Cheeseman merely shrugged at him and came back again.

They both went toe to toe in the twelfth and swapped leather, the fans giving both men a deserved standing ovation, but when the final bell sounded there was only one very clear winner. 

At domestic level, at the very least, Cheeseman is an absolute nightmare for anybody. He is a relentless fighter with an incredible punch output. There are some potential classics in the offing with the likes of Anthony Fowler or the winner of JJ Metcalf-Liam Williams but for now he will savour the fact that he is the British Champion.

Scorecards read: 117-110, 117-11 x2 (Quite fair on Byfield, it was hard to give him a single round after the first)

Isaac Chamberlain scored a dramatic last second knockdown to secure a points victory over Luke Watkins in a high pace ten round Cruiserweight contest.

It was a busy start from Chamberlain, letting his hands go in bursts, and he was constantly trying to time Watkins with a right uppercut as he walked in. Watkins was happy to push forward but was drilled by a crunching left to the body and a chopping right hand over the jab, the former punch becoming a signature of the fight.

Chamberlain (now 10-1 with 4 KO’s) kept to the same tactic in the second but Watkins had a little more success with a left hand lead, sharp right hand in close. Watkins was starting to show some better movement, dodging jabs, but Chamberlain’s output was still much higher and he was taking points on the cards off that alone.

Watkins was pushing on but Chamberlain countered off the ropes with a one-two down the pipe in the fourth which prompted a burst from him that included two bolo punches, playing to the crowd as they roared him on. Chamberlain was still throwing more and he was attempting to walk Watkins onto heavy right hands but as the fight approached the mid stage, Chamberlain started to take his foot off the gas.

The Brixton man was still catching the eye with his body work but far too often he was standing back to admire his work, allowing Watkins to press on and land with basic but effective scoring shots. Watkins nailed a heavy right in the eighth as Chamberlain took another break and then followed up with a flurry that added another round to his own bank.

The fight was now looking in the balance, despite the early dominance from Chamberlain, and both men were displaying fatigue. The ninth passed by with little action, Chamberlain probably just nicking it with a late attack that was set up off a right hand.

It all seemed in the balance in the tenth and final and both men certainly left it all in the ring as they slugged it out for supremacy. There wasn’t a backward step in sight as they swung for the fences but it was Chamberlain who was timing his shots better and was able to evade Watkins’ wild punches whilst putting together a procession of devastating hooks that had Watkins out on his feet and eventually forced him to take a knee. Watkins was able to get back to his feet after the final bell but he was certainly hurt and had he had to fight on there is every chance he would have been stopped.

It was billed as a crossroads fight and Chamberlain will be looking back toward the British Championship and a re-match with Lawrence Okolie whilst Luke Watkins will have to re-assess his next move.

Referee’s scorecard read: 95-94

Felix Cash boxed his way to the WBC International Silver Middleweight Championship, taking a ten round shutout decision over Holland’s Stephen Danyo.

Danyo, coming up from Welterweight, looked like a step up on paper but in reality he was completely outclassed and dominated by the flashy Londoner, who should now be navigated toward domestic title contention after picking up his first professional strap.

It was a slow start, both men keeping a tight guard, but it was Cash (now 10-0 with 6 KO’s) who constantly pursued the front foot and was already looking to go to the body by the end of the first stanza. Danyo seemed happy to keep on the backfoot and attempt to expose counter openings but they were few and far between.

Danyo tried to press forward a little more in the second but ended up eating a right uppercut, left hook combination on the inside and then in the third Cash was turning the screw on the bodywork, banging the left in on multiple occasions. Cash was working well off the jab as he bobbed around his opponent, trying to bring the right hand into play behind it as he relaxed into his rhythm.

Danyo was a little more forward thinking through the middle stages but he couldn’t land anything of note and was still taking hard body shots whenever he backed up onto the ropes. Cash caught his man with a sharp left hook counter in the sixth and then in the seventh he punctuated each attack with more eye-catching bodyshots. Danyo was tucking up well, displaying a competent defence, but he was giving away the rounds far too easily and his own attacks were starting to display a sense of desperation.

Danyo was never particularly damaged by anything but that may be more of a testament to his tricky guard than Cash’s inability to punch. The Dutchman wasn’t caught clean too often in the fight despite losing every round and he should be encouraged to move back down to a more natural weight class in order to reach any potential.

Cash’s punch power may not be destructive but his skills are very good, he has a terrific combination output, and he will be a threat around the British scene; a potential clash with Mark Heffron could be very intriguing early into 2019 should Heffron have another opponent lined up for his British Title challenge on December 22nd, Cash wouldn’t be amiss facing someone like Tommy Langford or Liam Cameron beforehand.

Scorecards read: 100-90 x3