Review - MGM Scotland Edinburgh Fight Night - Saturday 5th December 2015
- britishboxingblog
- Dec 9, 2015
- 4 min read
Saturday 5th December saw your two British Boxing Blog correspondents make the road trip over the border to Scotland to cover the MGM Scotland promotion at the Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh.
The weather may have been miserable, but the boxing was anything but. The headline fight, a tremendous domestic Super Middleweight clash between unbeaten local favourite David Brophy and Swansea’s Tobias Webb was worth the admission fee alone, as both men served up a classic – a definite Fight of The Year candidate.
Brophy came out of the blocks flying, and his frenetic pace and power punching troubled Webb in the opening moments of the first round. Brophy was unleashing bombs, and certainly seemed to carry serious power, more so than the 1 KO on his record suggests. Webb was clearly hurt in the early exchanges and was sent crashing into the ropes after taking a heavy shot.
To his credit, Webb survived the early onslaught from Brophy and gradually clawed his way back into the fight. His boxing skills became apparent, and he eventually took heed of his corners booming instructions and made use of his long leavers to establish his jab towards the end of the early rounds.
The high octane, fast paced action continued during the middle rounds, as both men stood toe to toe and exchanged a flurry of punches. The willingness of both men to stand and trade in the pocket with one another certainly contributed in making it such an exciting fight. Neither fighter gave an inch, and was more than happy to absorb what the other had to offer in order to land a few punches of their own.
The fight came to the boil in the 7th round as a superb onslaught from Tobias Webb, including a peach of a body shot, clearly rocked the home favourite. A stoppage looked likely at one point as Brophy, clearly hurt, almost turned his back on the action and Webb seemed destined to be on his way to a stunning victory.
The crowd was loud in their vocal support of David Brophy and undoubtedly helped him through these difficult moments. To his credit, Brophy showed the heart of a lion to come through the major scare, and managed to regain his composure to finish the round strongly, firing back at Webb as the bell sounded.
The contest turned into a war for the final three rounds, as both fighters searched for the stoppage victory. However it was the Scot that finished the fight the strongest and took the initiative during the last couple of rounds.
Brophy, clearly buoyed with surviving the scare in the 7th, and roared on by the home crowd, made the most of his fitness and stamina and exploited Webb’s increasing fatigue to win the final rounds.
A deserved 97-93 score from the referee followed for David Brophy, and both men were cheered from the ring by the appreciative audience. A genuine domestic classic was witnessed by those in attendance, and it would be a crying shame if this does not feature in any of the FOTY shortlists.
Domestic fights are the lifeblood of British Boxing, and if MGM Scotland continue to put on headline fights like this, then they will thrive for years to come.
The undercard featured a plethora of emerging Scottish talent, and demonstrated the depth of the local Scottish boxing scene. MGM Scotland, under the guidance of passionate promoter Sam Kynoch have signed an extremely talented collective of hungry, young fighters, which should see a healthy future in store for boxing in Scotland.
A huge positive for us here at BBB is the amount of quality fighters who are all at the same stage of their pro career; recently turned over from the amateurs and with a handful of pro appearances, a lot of these lads can grow and progress together and hopefully have the opportunities to fight on regular MGM Scotland shows in the future.
There were several highlights on the undercard, none more so than two stunning stoppage victories for Brian Forsyth and Lewis Benson.
Forsyth, in only his third pro appearance, pummelled Sheffield’s Louis Rutherford, putting his opponent to the canvas 5 times by the start of the second round with a brutal display of body punching.
Benson was equally impressive in stopping durable veteran Matt Seawright with a stunning first round display of his boxing talents and punching power.
Edinburgh’s own Fighting Fishmonger, Tommy Philbin, was also impressive, winning every round with a confident display to beat Luke Allon 40-36.
Another fighter to win every round, was featherweight favourite Stephen Tiffney. Tiffney, who was backed by the most vocal boxing support we have seen in a long while, produced a punch perfect performance to shutout Qasim Hussain and send the travelling hoards home happy.
Lewis Paulin stretched his unbeaten record to 3-0 when defeating Dean Evans in an entertaining, fast paced contest. Evans, to his credit was a game opponent and looked to stop Paulin in his tracks; however the fast footwork and boxing skills of Paulin secured a deserved win.
As well as the little lads, there was also success on Saturday night for a couple of the big fellas too, with Stephen Simmons continuing his rehabilitation in the Cruiserweight division since losing to Jon Lewis Dickinson earlier in the year. Simmons looked sharp in stopping his tough but limited opponent, Imantas Davidaitis with a TKO victory in the 5th of 6th rounds.
Former Scottish amateur heavyweight star, Ross Henderson also continued his unbeaten streak since turning over to the pro game, with a comfortable four round points victory over Jakub Wojcik.
A special mention must be given to Dunfermline’s Gordon Brennan, who returned to the ring after a 6 and a half year absence to defeat Hull’s Andy Neylon in the opening fight of the evening. Ring rust was surprisingly nowhere to be seen as a fully focused Brennan won in convincing fashion.
Thomas Dickson also made his pro debut on the card and will be delighted with his performance, outpointing well renowned journeyman Kristian Laight in a 4 round lightweight contest.
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