On an Autumn evening in posh Mayfair, Michael Helliet of the Mayfair sporting club put on a three fight dinner show in the plush surroundings of the Millenium hotel opposite the Grosvenor square on a Thursday evening all part of a dinner show.
Returning to action after sustaining a shoulder injury last time out was Helliet’s light middle hope Wayne Alwan Arab a transplanted Zimbabwean whom fights out of nearby Hackney, also showing there wares were Southampton newcomer Matty Tew and debutant Nathan Skeen a transplanted Australian making his bow in the paid ranks at cruiser.
First up at light welter was Matty Tew, whom having his fourth pro outing, was cheered on by a group of his followers in one of the corner’s of the largish room were treat to a good solid performance from the Southampton man who continuously backed up Damien Turner, himself coming off of a loss to another Helliet hope in Phil Gill who was in attendance.
Each round replicated each respective session as Tew dug in some good body shots and maintained a steady pressure throughout, backing Turner up with almost every onslaught Tew showed excellent work rate in each round, Turner in the final stanza did try and up the pace but it was too little too late, but showed a lot of balls throughout though he was outpunched and outworked.
Tew ran out a deserved 40-36 points winner on referee Jeff Hinds card.
Wayne Alwan Arab coming back from a six month hiatus has I mentioned earlier had damaged his shoulder last time out when he decisioned Ian Eldridge over four, despite having not boxed since that time Alwan looked surprisingly sharp has he outboxed the teak tough Matt Scriven, who gives a good account every time he steps into a ring.
Arab outboxed Scriven in every department for the first three rounds, and his dominance showed as early as the opener as Scriven’s face was bloodied, testament to Arab’s sharpshooting counters.
Arab as well as using a stiff jab now and again got inside and went well to the body before getting out of harms way and using the left jab as he got on the move, and dominated up until the fourth and last session of this a middleweight four three’s, as Scriven tried to make a fight of it as he backed up Arab continuosly on the ropes in the final round and seemed to take the session, but at the final bell there was only one winner as Arab’s early work had mounted up a comfortable lead on third man Hinds scorecard, and was rightfully adjudged the winner by 40-37, which I felt was an accurate asessment of events.
Showcloser was Australian Nathan Skeen who now resides in England taking on tough Nick Gigg over six two’s at cruiser.
Broad shouldered and looking in good shape Skeen didn’t waste any time as he got straight to work backing up Gigg straight away, it was a good pace to begin with as Skeen took control as he thumped in some heavy body shots as he backed up Gigg, the first couple of rounds saw some good action but from around the fourth things became a little scrappy at times as there styles didn’t gel that good, Gigg who seemed content to survive did try and match Skeen punch for punch at times but it was Skeen who seemed to find the target that bit more, although I gave Gigg a few rounds as he showed stubborn resistance and did at times just did enough to nick a few rounds, I thought Skeen whose continuos pressure seemed to do enough to take a hard fought but deserved decision in the best fight of the night.
Hind’s tally was 59-55 in favor of Skeen who could be one to watch.
Michael Angelo Serra reporting from Mayfair.